I should've mentioned this in a more timely fashion, but during the coverage of Obama's Inauguration, one of the reports on RTÉ talked about how "African Americans around the world..." were something or other. Y'see - I didn't hear the rest of the sentence because I was too distracted trying to figure out what he meant by 'African-Americans' - was he talking about the black diaspora of the United States who didn't get to be there? Did he say 'the world' when he meant 'the USA', or was he just avoiding the word 'black'? The worst part is that it was a pre-recorded segment, not a live-broadcast, so it wasn't even a mis-speak.
I'm sorry, but 'black' and 'African-American' are not synonymous terms - and if they are - they shouldn't be.
Monday, January 26, 2009
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3 comments:
I guess this means Galtee's African American Pudding is different to their Black Pudding then?
Honestly, it's so refreshing to be on the same page on topics like this. Granted we think alike in many regards but this is exactly the issue I have with the heritage-infused titles we cling to in the States. If you're born in the States, you an American. I understand the convenience of using the hyphenated tags like "Italian American" but it's literally just politically/socially acceptable segmentation of our population (and culture). It's stupid.
Also a side note, on the topics of 'negroes' (.. ha. When's the last time THAT was okay to say? It's become a step just short of the N-bomb) I feel they should not be allowed to hold all Whites accountable for slavery. My family was still in Ireland when that crap went down. *I* didn't own any slaves. I'd probably come from a family that accomplished more than being a tightly knit association of drunks and psychopathes.
For that matter, if I have to specify "Puerto Rican" and "Mexican" over generalizing "Hispanics", then why is it okay to groups all caucasians together? Why are 'whites' the only exception to the privledge to bitch about their specific heritage? Maybe I don't want to be called White. Maybe I want to be recognized as of Irish descent. I feel that puts me a notch about those dirty French or the Brits. ..Ha.
Thanks for the comment, Myke!
You do know that Google will index this page, possibly leading to results like
"Myke Prohaska... topics of 'negroes'"
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