We’re obsessed with placing people in categories based on race, by which we mean their skin color. “African-American” is too general a label; it’s become the only politically correct way to describe black people. Ironically, it’s both incorrect and offensive.
I’m mixed — half-black and half-white. I don’t consider myself half-African-American, as “African-American” is an incorrect description of black people. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with being African-American, it’s used as a racial umbrella that is supposed to cover all black people, regardless of their actual nationality and culture.
My family comes from Jamaica on one side and Germany the other, but my ancestry is tinged with so many countries’ colors that if you were to stick a correct cultural label on me, I’d much prefer Jamaican-Nigerian-Scottish-German-Cuban-American, or, probably, something longer. But I identify as just black and white, not African-American and white, plain and simple.
Race, like any other social construct, is built on assumptions and trains us to associate certain characteristics with different groups of people. Dark skin must equal African, but the term African-American cannot rationally be used to describe all black people because it’s just too broad considering how diverse the African continent is.
It does no good to lump people with a little more melanin in their skin into a single group labeled “African-American.” Africa is not made up of just one people; it’s the second-largest continent with thousands of cultures spread over 47 countries and six islands. The Democratic Republic of the Congo alone is home to between 200 to 250 identified tribes, all with different customs and dialects. This number is almost doubled by the 371 known tribes in Nigeria.
Black people come from places other than Africa. They come from Asia, Europe, and North and South America. Labeling them “African-American” does not honor their cultural heritage or the nation they identify with. “African-American” mislabels everyone who isn’t from the African continent.
And what about the white people from South Africa who speak Afrikaans, a language descended from Dutch? We wouldn’t look at them, in the U.S., and call them African-American. For all intents and purposes, they are white. Only upon asking them their ethnicity will you find out they’re from South Africa, and even after learning of their actual race, we still wouldn’t call them African-American simply because they’re not dark-skinned. Some Northern Africans, who aren’t very dark themselves, wouldn’t be called African-American either.
“Black” doesn’t imply culture or background, just like white doesn’t tell you if someone’s from Australia, Iceland, Russia or Norway. There’s nothing wrong with calling someone white, and yet, calling a person black is offensive. But I haven’t met a single person who got upset when someone described them as black. Ask a black person what his race is, and “African-American” is the last word he’d use.
The United States is all about being politically correct, which is just a fancy way of saying “accurate yet inoffensive,” but, it sometimes has the opposite effect. “African-American” may be the universally recognized and correct way to describe a black person’s race, but race is tied closely to culture, and generalizing that someone is of an African background just because of his ebony, mocha or tan skin pays no respect to his personal or cultural identification.
No one calls white people European or Middle Eastern Americans, even though their light skin tells you that they came from Europe or certain countries in the Middle East. If they’re asked, they’d probably identify with the country they’re from, not the continent. Why should black people be forced to do the opposite?
No other set of people have had to undergo a search for the right word to call them. Blacks have been called “Negro,” “colored,” “African-American” and “black.” “Negro,” implies slavery, “colored” brings to mind segregation and “African-American” indicates they come from Africa. The simplest term is, in this case, the best. So, if you’re going to look at someone and try to guess their race, don’t be stuffy and say “Are you African-American?” It’s too general in the wrong way. “Black” is general enough in all the right ways, especially if you’re only judging by skin tone.
