I am writing this diary as "my opinion". It is in no way a blanket statement that is meant to represent the black community. I am writing about my feelings surrounding this issue.
Now that that is out of the way.
There seems to be a growing backlash against using the term "African-Americans".
I just finished reading a post on my baby board filled with mothers who just couldn't understand why black people want to be called AA. It was toted as a PC gone wild example.
I personally happen to like the term AA. I will not be offended if you called me "black". However I am not black, I happen to be brown.
Colored seems like a more appropriate term but I completely understand why it is offensive to many people in the community.
I like the term "African-American" because I feel that it is a generic way of acknowledging my ancestors. Thanks to slavery, I am not able to trace (easily) where my origins begin. Being bi-racial, I can trace my ancestors from my mothers side (English with a hint of Native American), but my fathers side is a blank slate.
I would like to be able to say that I originate from x tribe in Africa. I would love from a cultural prospective to learn more about that tribe. True be told, I am probably a mutt of several African tribes.
I have been to Africa many times and its interesting to listen to the natives of different countries discuss their tribal roots.
There are many diverse opinions in the black community surrounding this issue.
Many black people from the Caribbean resent being lumped into the AA category. I do find this amusing because they ultimately arrived in the Caribbean the same way as those of us in America (through slavery).
Others feel that our experiences and culture in the USA is fundamentally different to Africans therefore we should identify as Black American.
The more important point is why does anyone else care how I self-identify? Shouldn't I be able to label myself as wanted.
I have heard the argument, "Aren't we all just American?" And yes, we are but I feel that our diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds are what make us so interesting. I feel in a way that it's an attempt to "whitewash" or make all of us the same.
I have the same irritation when someone proclaims that we should all be color-blind. No, we shouldn't be color-blind. We should be color-neutral. We should celebrate that we are all different shades of the rainbow and we should celebrate that we bring a vast array of cultures to this country.