C Elegans wrote:I know you're a mess, that's why I can't get used to labels like "African American". People who have an ancestor from a region they can't point out on a map are supposed to be "African American". And in California, I've seen lots of white girls who are more tan than Obama. If you are not called "Irish-German-Native American-American", why should anyone be called African American then? I don't get it. I don't like the way ethnic groups are divided, cathegorised and labelled in the US, and I don't like the segregation. But that's another issue. I like how they define ethnic background in New Zeeland. Since everybody have some Maori descent and some European decent regardless of how they look, you are Maori if you have some Maori descent and wants to identifiy yourself as Maori, and you are European/white if you have some European descent and wants to identify yourself as European. Which means that you can meet blond Maori people; fine, it's a matter of which culture you choose and which tradition you prefer to follow, not the skin colour.
Despite the fact that America is a "melting pot", race and ethnicity are still problematic in America. It's difficult to explain, and a lot of people are sensitive about it. But I'll give it a shot.
The simplest reason why people are called "African American" is because that's what they want to be called. That's the easy part to explain. It's more difficult to explain why they want to be called that.
There are parallels to other ethnic groups, up to a point. For example, some Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans also like to be identified by their ethnicity. It makes them proud of who they are. But there's an important distinction between those groups and African Americans. Italian and Irish immigrants came to America with their ethnic identities intact, and they and their descendants wanted to preserve their identity. People can do that sort of thing in America. You can be an American but live your life according to the old customs if you prefer. On the other hand, there is actually a great deal of friction between various ethnic groups even today. Sometimes it's political. For example, Americans of Taiwanese descent distrust Americans of Chinese descent due to problems between Taiwan and China. Historically, Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans have been at odds with each other, for reasons I don't really understand. There is also a lot of racial prejudice in America. There are also all of the age-old conflicts between people of different religious backgrounds--Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and so forth. The result is tribalism. I'm not sure how a European sees the situation, but here in America, I think most people would be surprised if people DIDN'T identify themselves by their ethnic background. "White" people who either don't know their own ancestry or who have grown up with a more modern identity such as "Southern Baptist" (which renders ancestry a moot point) are such a predominant group, they don't seem to make a fuss about their ethnicity--at least not on the surface. But not far below the surface, you can be sure that they distinguish themselves from people who are "different" than they are. In that sense, they're just as tribalistic as anyone else. In other words, being white in America is kind of an ethnicity in itself, but since it's the predominant ethnicity, it is considered the norm, rather than an ethnicity, if that makes any sense. Instead of calling themselves "white Americans", they just call themselves "I", "me", "we", and "us".
Here's what makes African Americans unique: they have always been treated as second-class citizens. Mexican Americans and Asian Americans have also suffered from racial discrimination, but African Americans carry a special kind of wound that has been passed down through the generations. Unlike Mexican Americans and Asian Americans whose ancestors came to this country with their cultural identities intact, most African Americans have ancestors who were brought to this country as slaves. They were mistreated and beaten into submission. They were bred like cattle. They were forbidden to learn how to read. They had limited ability to choose their spouses. Sometimes they were forbidden to marry. They developed a defeatist attitude and certain kinds of passive-aggressive behavior that they passed on to their descendents, and the effects are still felt to this day. Many people whose ancestors were slaves have certainly risen above all that because their parents wanted a better life for their children and they pushed their kids in the right direction. They don't have any natural limitations, and under the right circumstances, they can prosper. Others have not been so lucky, and they're still struggling with self-esteem issues. Racial prejudice, persecution, and denial of opportunity have continued to take their toll.
I suppose you could call Barack Obama a "true" African American because his father was from Kenya. But he barely knew his biological father, and he grew up in a mostly white familiy (his stepfather--the father of his half-sister--was Hawaiian), but even Obama had to struggle with self-esteem issues because of the color of his skin and the reaction it provoked in others. He says that his first awareness of racial prejudice was like "a fist in the stomach". One day when he was young, his grandmother asked his grandfather to give her a ride to work because a panhandler had approached her on her way to work the previous day and it made her uncomfortable. When Obama asked his grandfather why it bothered her so much, his grandfather said it was because the man was black. Obama never doubted that his grandparents loved him, but just think about how much that messed with his mind.
African Americans have struggled with their identity for a long time. They're not able to claim their African heritage the way that other ethnic groups have been able to preserve their own cultural identity. Slave ships, auction blocks, and forcible separations between family members created a permanent discontinuity. You probably know what I mean by the "N" word. African Americans want to discard the identity that was given to them by whites. They want their own identity--one they can be proud of. So they have chosen to call themselves African Americans, and they've been trying to understand who they are and how they can find a place in America that gives them the dignity and opportunity they deserve. For starters, they wanted people to stop calling them by the "N" word. Many years ago, they thought they were making progress if other people called them "colored" or "Negro". "Black" is a more recent term, and although it is widely accepted today, some African Americans didn't really like it, and it took them a while to get used to it. Civil rights leaders such as Jesse Jackson promoted the adoption of the term "African American" to put less emphasis on skin color and bring their cultural identity more in line with other ethnic groups such as Italian-Americans. If black people are going to be distinguished by their ethnicity (and it looks like they always will be, at least for the foreseeable future), then they want the same respect as people of other ethnicities.
As you have suggested, "African American" is problematic because most African Americans don't know anything about Africa and don't have any connection to Africa besides the fact that their ancestors came from Africa a long time ago. Some of my ancestors came from Prussia about 150 years ago, but I don't think of myself as a German-American, because I just don't feel any sort of connection to them. I guess some African Americans think they feel a connection to their ancestors just because they are still wounded by their status as second-class citizens. It's a delicate issue, so I try not to sound like I'm criticizing them.
When I look at Obama and listen to him speak, I don't think of him as a black man or an African American. I see an intelligent, thoughtful man of humble origins who understands what life is like for ordinary Americans who weren't born with a silver spoon in their mouth, and who might turn out to be one of the best Presidents we've ever had. (Of course, if he talked like Chris Rock, I'm sure I would see him as a black man.)
But I acknowledge the fact that African Americans are elated because "one of their own" has actually been elected President of the United States. Until the results were finally in, they didn't think it was possible in their lifetime. If it gives them hope and makes them believe that anyone can succeed in America, no matter what color they are, and if Obama wants to acknowledge that, then it's alright with me.
I realize you were making a distinction between race and ethnicity when you mentioned the Maori people and people of European descent in New Zealand, and I probably haven't addressed that issue to your satisfaction. But I really don't know what it would be like to live in a country that ignored race. I hope this doesn't sound rude or too personal, but did being of Asian descent have any effect on your self-esteem when you were growing up? I know you identify yourself as a Swede, and maybe Sweden has such a monolithic culture, you don't see why ethnicity is such a big deal. You might think that America should be openminded about racial differences, but we're a redneck, backwater country, and you can't force a change like that to happen just because you want it to. A lot of people want this country to change, but it's not going to happen in the foreseeable future. "Even" someone as open-minded as I am is very aware of racial tensions in this country, and other Americans are not going to let me forget about them, and that makes it impossible for me to ignore race.
