Inan’Ta

I will assume you (rodog) like Scribbler believe that we all came from Africa and that the original Africans are black. And for the sake of the argument I will also agree with you guys when you say as the immigrants from Africa moved north their skin color changed. Is it fair to say that we all came from Africa and each group Asians/Europeans ect.. has adapted to their new environment to the best of their ability. And is it fair to assume that these Asians and Europeans are Africans who had adapted to their new environment and there is no such thing as race?

Xibit

Thank you for spelling that out.

So, once again, a person from South Africa is a South African American. That goes for Charlize Theron and Teresa Heinz Kerry and Desmond Tutu, should he decide to reside in or become an American citizen.


First, notice how you've referenced the ethnic background of your parents. While you view people's "fixation" on "titles of themselves" as "tedious and boring" you didn't mind mentioning your parents' ethnic background. For what particular reason, I don't know...

Second: what do you say to people who "know what they are" in terms of what their parents' ethnicity/ethnicities "make them"?

Third, for so-called Black people who, when they look at their parents and grandparents and don't find/know of any Hispanic, Scottish, Irish, Polish, etc. ethnic lineage, what? What is their or their parents or grandparents ethnicity? I mean, you accord yourself or, rather, your parents and grandparents an ethnicity/culture regardless of how "American" there were or became.


The problem with that is that as human beings we are social creatures. We exist, know and see the world through our particular cultures and societies.

I submit that the African American or Black Experience is, indeed, an American Experience. That is, for Blacks/African Americans there is no way to be "just American" (whatever the hell that means). No way to be "American" that is separate from being Black/African American. That is unless someone can define or speak to what that is - i.e. what it means to be "just American."

Inan’Ta

LOL!!!Rodog

First it was climate now developed countries have taller people? Have you not seen the Tall Africans that come from developing countries????
And you wonder why I’m not buying this staff…..

Xibit

Such factoids are wholly irrelevant, especially here.


There is a serious problem with the idea presented above. Just as the world was sphere-shaped when (certain) people believed the world was flat, "there was no such thing as race" when (certain) people literally believed via "semi-science" (or whatever basis of belief) that there was certain particular races.

The physical reality didn't change to fit the "new research." It was the other way around. Obviously. But the physical/biological science angle hardly helps us deal with and interpret social science reality.

Please provide info. on the "new research" in anthropology that has forwarded the idea of scrapping human categories based on culture and/or ethnicity due to how "old" the concepts are.

Xibit

I wasn't disagreeing with you. I just highlighted the idea in your post. In fact, I was agreeing with you to the extent that you showed how the idea, the "no race" factoid, is irrelevant.

You just happened to say that the factiod is irrelevant because a lot of people do believe in "race" (and, therefore, make it race "relevant" because they have and continue to act on their beliefs).

Inan’Ta

DUH! There is no such thing as race.

Alun

"Professor Lewontin discovered that any person's race accounts for only about 0.24 per cent (or 6 per cent of 25 per cent) of his genetic make-up." (source)

There is such thing as race, it just isn't nearly as important as some older forms of pseudoscience argued.

Inan'Ta, I don't believe scientists know specifically why Europeans are white and Africans are black, but according to evolutionary science, you can expect isolated populations to diverge genetically. For many thousands of years, according to the single origin theory, Europeans and Africans had little contact with one another--despite the fact that Europeans were descended from Africans--and black skin isn't as important a trait in a colder climate, so Europeans could have evolved into having white skin while the African climate still favored black skin.

A similar divergence is the likely cause of all racial distinction; races are more different depending on how long their ancestors were separated (which very roughly translates to geographic distance).

Now, on topic: Most people don't care enough about ethnicity to distinguish between Nigerian-American and Ethiopian-American because most people don't know much about Africa. Our education and history is centered around Europe. We probably wouldn't know the difference between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean if we they weren't so "Western" economically. The same goes for the Middle East, much of Asia, and Central/South America.

Another difference is that Africa has birthed something like a thousand languages, and that's a lot of cultural distinction to keep track of.

__________________
"I have nothing new to teach the world." -Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi

Xibit

Hmmm... I would hazard to guess that 'most people' with a Europe centered educational background understand that there are nationalities/ethnicities such as Irish(American), German(American), Italian(American), Spanish(American), etc. Likewise, 'most people' are aware of there being such places as Japan, China and Korea and 'most people' are aware that there are at least generic ethnic groups in America from each. Whether they can distinguish between various ethnic groups is irrelevant. The issue here is with what was stated from the beginning:

"...while terms like Nigerian-American (or terms like Japenese-American, etc.) exist, people take swipes at African-Americans (aka Black Americans) because there are Whites, e.g., from African countries."

So the distinction issue was never about whether 'most people' are familiar with or happen to "care enough" about Africa or her various ethnic/nationality groups. The issue is with those who feel the need to disparage the nomenclature-term AFRICAN AMERICAN in complete disregard to its distinct character and the obvious distinction between the national/ethnic nomenclature of people with an unbroken connection to their national/ancestral/ethnic/cultural homeland or center and those, Blacks/African-Americans who, by historical circumstance, don't have that same unbroken connection.

The fact that certain people choose to disparage the AFRICAN AMERICAN nomenclature betrays the idea that they "don't care enough." For some reason, they feel compelled to speak pejoratively about the nomenclature-term; often without provocation.

Perhaps, I could understand the reactions I've seen better if the actual term had particular cultural/ethnic relevance to them - i.e. if they were 'Black'. At least then any rejection or objection to the term would be part of their expression of what does or doesn't define and, therefore, pertain to them personally.