I hate being called "African-American"
Rogue
In article <4mltb8$k...@news-e2d.gnn.com> Yaksha, Yaks...@gnn.com writes:
>Why is it that some guy with white skin who is two generations removed
>from Ellis Island is 100% "Mericun", but I'm still a
>something-American even though my folks have been here
>god-knows-how-many generations? Why aren't people with white skin
>called European-Americans or Euro-Americans? Calling ourselves
>African-American denies our unique admixture of cultural heritages.
>Lastly, my ancestors literally helped build this damned country
>with their blood, sweat and tears... I'm as American as anybody.
You're absolutely right! Actually the only true Americans are what are
deceptively called 'Indians'. The rest are just intruders except "blacks"
who were transported against their will.
FYI: I'm 'white' and not so proud of it because of what my 'racemates'
have done to the Americans and Africans. :-(
Hmmm... this may not be the proper newsgroup for this topic.
Followups to soc.culture.african.american, soc.culture.indian.american
PS.
Shouldn't we have also: soc.culture.european.american? Just for equal
rights? ;-)
Africando
Yaks...@gnn.com writes:
>Why is it that some guy with white skin who is
>two generations removed from Ellis Island is 100%
>"AMericun",
To me those people are culturally deprived. Too many
people come to this country, dump their
original language and culture, soley to be a damn Yankee.
Why not be both? Why not have two cultures. I think
it's very enriching.
I admire the Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and
others who stand up for who they are and not allow
themselves to be to be belittled and whitewashed by an
egocentric, culturally self-centered American nation.
>though my folks have been here god-knows-how-many
>generations? Why aren't people with white skin
>called European-Americans or Euro-Americans? Calling
>ourselves African-American denies our unique admixture
>of cultural heritages.
You have many people who proudly call themselves Italian-Americans,
Irish-Americans, Polish-Americans,
Pakistani-Americans, etc. And rightfully so.
>Lastly, my ancestors literally helped build this damned
>country with their blood, sweat and tears... I'm as
>American as anybody.
You're absolutely right! We as "Americans"
of African heritage share a proud history and legacy
which goes all the way back to the African continent.
Things that OUR American history books systematically
excludes. That needs to change.
I don't know about anyone else, but I'm proud of my
African ancestry.
Scott Schlachter
Like Rogue, my skin color is also white. But, unlike him, I am not
ashamed of it. I feel that the fact that so many of the early european
settler leaders had so incredibly little respect for the native American
tribes and nations, was a tragic disgrace in human history (the
Russians, the French, the Spanish, as well as the English). In the
extreme cases this even manifested itself as genocide. The taking of
slaves from the African nations, is just as equally tragic, and
disgraceful. However, I did not do these things. As a matter of fact,
none of my ancesters did these things, to the best of my knollege (I
have traced back my ancestors entry into America on both sides of my
family). But, MOST IMPORTANTLY, I did not condone these things then,
and I would not now. In my oppinion, they are HISTORICAL examples of
human tragedy, to be learned from, and not dwelt upon.
Every day, I make a concious effort not to prejudge anyone that I do
not know, based
on the color of their skin, or the way that they dress, or the
neighborhood that they live in, or the amount of income that they make,
or the accent that they have, or anything. Sometimes it is hard to do
(I have a "thing" about prejudging people to be "yuppies" by the car
that they drive...), but I consciously try. Do you? I have been the
recipient of racism, and it sucks (I don't like the word reverse-racism,
because I don't think that it isn't any different from "regular"
racism). I have been eating lunch with a friend who has a non-white
skin color, and witnessed racial comments towards him from two "white"
dudes that were sitting near us, and that sucked too. I know that I
will be victom of racism much less than those who are "minorities" due
to the fact that I am a white male, but I get it too sometimes, and I
hate being stereotyped just as much anyone else. It is human ignorance
and ugliness manifested in a single thought, and it is something that
children are not born with.
So, what do we do? Honor every single (remaining) treaty with native
American tribes, regardless of any environmental impact whatsoever?
Keep "headcounts" for minorities in our colleges and workplaces? Are
you so sure that it is the right thing to do to promote different
treatment of human beings in our country based only on the color of
their skin, or where their ancestors came from? Won't that seperation
only promote racism? For the argument that (for financial aid, and
college entry elligibility) this type of favoring will allow kids from
economically repressed environments to get an education that they would
not normally have access to, why not make it based on INCOME rather than
race? I'm not going to pretend to be able to solve all of our racial
problems today. As a matter of fact, I have no idea what the answer is
to the whole problem. What I do know is that prejudging someone because
of their race is racism, regardless of who is judging or who is being
judged. As stupid as this may sound, I guess that I feel that Rogue was
just racist towards me...
We live in a country that is a melting pot. Our diversity, in my
oppinion, is one of our greatest strengths. If I meet you tomarrow, I
promiss you that I won't prejudge you by the color of your skin, or
where your ancestors came from, I can only hope that you will treat me
the same.
Rogue wrote:
>
> In article <4mltb8$k...@news-e2d.gnn.com> Yaksha, Yaks...@gnn.com writes:
> >Why is it that some guy with white skin who is two generations removed
> >from Ellis Island is 100% "Mericun", but I'm still a
> >something-American even though my folks have been here
> >god-knows-how-many generations? Why aren't people with white skin
> >called European-Americans or Euro-Americans? Calling ourselves
> >African-American denies our unique admixture of cultural heritages.
> >Lastly, my ancestors literally helped build this damned country
> >with their blood, sweat and tears... I'm as American as anybody.
>