Wow, You're From Africa?

I’ve wanted to do an article on this for a while, but felt if I wasn’t careful, I might come off as a bit…racist. But I can assure you I’m no racist as I’m extremely mixed with black as well as various European backgrounds, so if you saw me you’d see… I’m not white; just wanted to make that clear before I go into what I wanna say.

African-American is a term I very much disagree with. Obviously, I don’t disagree that you can come from Africa into America, but it’s never really used like that, is it? Now, African-American is what black Americans want to be called, because apparently saying they’re black is offensive. Really? Saying someone is black is just as offensive as saying someone is white. It’s not completely accurate, but sometimes can’t be helped. Even in police reports, when they describe a sought-after criminal, the terms they use are white and black! Why? Because it’s the easiest way, other than light-skinned or dark-skinned, but that too can be confusing because sometimes light-skinned means a lighter shade of black. What’s so wrong with saying black and white when we know now that it’s just a way to describe physical features and not to belittle a group of certain people because of their skin colour. It can be used to do so, but why would you get offended if you overheard me saying you’re black or have dark-skin, in appropriate context, if you do? Do you want to be white? Or purple? I don’t get it.

But even though I disagree with some people’s sensitivity, I wouldn’t mind so much if they came up with an alternative that was actually accurate. You can’t say you’re African-American if you haven’t actually come from Africa in you lifetime. If that were so, EVERYBODY IN THE ENTIRE WORLD would have to call themselves African-American or African-Italian or even African-Chinese, because the entire human race came from Africa. Maybe not in their lifetimes, but their ancestors did, without a doubt. So what makes you so different that you can call yourselves something so inaccurate and have people refer to you as such because it’s “proper”? I’m sorry to say this, but it just makes you and all the people who go along and label themselves as African-Americans look stupid, and to someone who DOES have black family members, it’s insulting! If I were America, I’d be much, much more offended, which is what I don’t understand. The term African-American was adopted because it refers to the black people who were taken from Africa and brought into the States as slaves. The same people who fought their whole lives for freedom and equality. To be an American equal to all the white Americans, right? So they could go to their schools, and their stores and churchs and not be treated differently because of the colour of their skin, but just to be treated as an American. If you were born and raised in the United States and refer to yourself as African-American, shame on you! Trust me, if your ancestors were alive to see it, they’d say the same thing! It’s almost like you want to be set back to those times, like you want to keep bringing up slavery as a way white people “oppress” you. The thing I hate to hear the most is “it’s because I’m black.” I think that is total bullshit if I’ve ever heard of bullshit. Greatness knows no colour. People are people. Stereotypes make no sense until you provoke them. I do not understand how the States can be the most behind with accepting diversity and progressing out of racism out of all the first world countries, when they were the first to have immigrants! How can there still be segregation there when there are almost as many black people as there are whites, and in a lot of states, the black people greatly outnumber white people. I think until the so-called African-Americans can get off their high horse and realize they deserve to be called Americans as much as a lighter-skinned citizens, they’ll never progress and, whether they see it or not, they will be the ones advertising to everyone else that they are lesser Americans, and will continue to insult all the black people in the States who aren’t eligible to get on the Maury show.