Society gives Obama the title of African American before they acknowledge him as a black presence in America. He is seen as not being Black enough because he is biracial and does not only associate with one of those races but both. This brings up a heavily debated topic: Black vs. African American. It seems that the connotation that comes with the word "African" is negative while the American is ignored. Though someone may have African ancestry they are still American. Also it does not make one person more black than the next if he/she is of African descent.
African is beautiful and is not something that should be frowned upon. I think that by having a President that is of African descent, it will allow others to develop a more educated sense of what it really means to be African through his experiences and through his televised return to his father's native country.
What do you think about this topic? Is Black better than African American? You decide!
5 comments:
I think that the two are synonymous for the most part. I will say that I'm black one moment and maybe African American the next. I personally do not think either one has a negative connotation but rather one is more politically correct.
In this day and age people try to be so politically correct especially when discussing the delicate matter of race. I feel that the term African American is a fallacy and I prefer Black American and I will tell you why. 2 reasons:
1.) We as Black people are the descendants of Africans but we are just that, descendants. Most of us haven't seen any part of Africa and know nothing more about it than what we see on the commercials that ask you to donate to the hungry. Furthermore, if we did visit Africa, we would feel out of place and may not even be welcome. They don't consider us to be Africans so why should we? We have become much more integrated into this European culture and way of life.
2.) The term African American is in its nature a fallacy in that there are White and Chinese South Africans, born and raised there. They are Africans. If they immigrated to the U.S. they would be African Americans. Therefore this term does not properly indicate what we want it to and thus Black American or even Afro-American would be more suitable choices. This is why I call myself a Black American and not an African American.
I don't think that anyone can be the judge of whether or not being Black or African-American is better. Because race is a "touchy" topic, I think that Being Black and Being African-American should be presented in discourse as two separate entities, with associated convergent and/or divergent experiences. Also, the sociogeographical context of race must be considered when engaging in this particular discussion. Being Black and being African-American has different connotations in the US versus Africa.
As a biracial American that lives and experiences the world as a black person and as an African-American, I take pride in having a President that represents the intermingling of races. However, neither American Society nor African Society is ready to accept biraciality (If they did, there would be no need for this blog). Hypodescent, the rule that automatically assigns the children of a mixed-race union in the less privileged, is a prevalent indicator of race for biracial persons (Omi and Winant). Mainstream societies seem to have whats is known as an “Us and Them” complex where individuals accept you, if you are what they are, or they deny you, if you are not what they are. President Obama is deemed African-American, by some mainstream majority Americans, because that racial group is considered a minority race in American society. On the other hand, President Obama is considered Black, by some Africans, because that racial group is considered substandard compared to a pure African racial identity. Denied by both mainstream societies, President Obama’s personal racial identity is not accurately acknowledged.
I do not think that we ought to discuss why President Barack Obama is automatically subjugated and categorized as a person of color because we already know that he has “one-drop” in him, automoatically making him different from monoracial persons (monoracial persons seem to be part of the majority, or social elite). Moreover, I think that in order to have a deeper understanding and respect for Africa and “Africanness”, we have to understand why society subjugates biracial person who’s phenotype (the way that he or she physically looks), does not reflect his or he racial identity. What does “African” look like? What does “American” look like? Why can’t we accept the “two-in-one”? Once we accept the multi-faceted characteristics and experiences of each racial entity, as mentioned earlier, I believe that we can attempt to acknowledge the complex characteristics, experiences, and self-proclaimed racial identity of the “two-in-one”.
Colored, Dark-skinned, Light-skinned, African-American, Chocolate, Brown, or Black there are so many titles, who is to decide what is politically correct?
We as a people,"black/african-americans" have much to be proud of. Barack Obama is one of many black symbols to look upon with pride. Being black and American is wonderful. Having a President of the United States who has those same qualities and looks like me, is something very special.
I find that one identity refers to ethnicity while the other refers to race. For instance, my race is black while my ethnicity is African American because of my social background. An individual chooses whether to identify as Black of African-American because race is a political and social entity. I find that Black American infers a person of multiple identities rather than simply African descent, but I don't have a preference of what is politically correct or not.
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