re: Why do Black Americans refer to themselves as African-Americans?

Why do any of us have to be identified by skin color? WTH is a Caucasian anyway? If I’d never heard the word I’d think it was Chinese Eskimo or something.

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Try this sport...some white folks thought it was acceptable to OWN human beings. Some black folks thought it was acceptable to SELL human beings. If no one was buying no one could be selling. Buying was the impetus for the entire institution...without the morally bankrupt christians owning the slave the savage non christian black person could not have sold the slave, at least not to white people. Yes, black people are humans and as such some are pure evil. That being the case does not in any manner lessen the immorality inherent in owning another human being as property....at best the two are equally appalling....but the owner could, with a signature on a piece of paper, absolve themselves of their immoral action...in fact many did...for that very reason....but the majority did not. This does not take into consideration that MANY of the black people who did indeed round up other blacks and sell them into a life of bondage did so because it was their family or someone else's family. Given the choice most weak humans would probably do what they could to protect them and theirs...and for the rare individual who did not their decision would have made zero difference...they would have been enslaved and so would as many as the white slaver could round up. It was the demand for an inherently evil and sinister "product" which was to blame, and that lies squarely on the shoulders of those white people who made the decision to own other human beings. Or anyone of any race who made that decision....

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You can leave off the sport part, you sarcastic prick. I said condense, not expound with more blathering. You could have just as easily said "white man is the debil" or "slavery bad" and everyone woud have gotten the same meaning from your verbal diarrhea.

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some white folks thought it was acceptable to OWN human beings. Some black folks thought it was acceptable to SELL human beings.


How do you sell something you don't own? This particular hair-splitting is at least unique and funny, though, so I hopes you expound on it.

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Folks sell shite they do not own on a REGULAR basis today and have throughout the history of our species. It is VERY common, for example, for one entity to sell real estate to another when they do not have legal title to do so...so common, in fact, there is an entire industry around mitigating this risk. You only need to be in possession of something to sell it...you do not have to own it. Happens with cars and boats and TVs and guns and all sorts of shite every day. Implied ownership through possession does not mean actual ownership my friend....

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they use the word "ni**a" as much as any of the others.

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It certainly isn't African American

Many ref to themselves as the n word...

They refer to themselves as African-Americans in front of White folks.

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This does not take into consideration that MANY of the black people who did indeed round up other blacks and sell them into a life of bondage did so because it was their family or someone else's family. Given the choice most weak humans would probably do what they could to protect them and theirs...and for the rare individual who did not their decision would have made zero difference...they would have been enslaved and so would as many as the white slaver could round up. It was the demand for an inherently evil and sinister "product" which was to blame, and that lies squarely on the shoulders of those white people who made the decision to own other human beings. Or anyone of any race who made that decision....

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You are one dumb motherfricker.

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So they didn't actually have the title to the black people they were selling, they just falsely enslaved them and then transferred their false ownership to the white debil, but the white debil is still mostly at fault for offering to buy them.

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I don't think they falsely enslaved anyone, I think they very literally enslaved them.

And yes, the white buyer is the problem. You are pretending as if the black person rounded up the other black people and somehow marketed them to the white man. I guess they placed an ad in the paper? No, actually what happened white folks showed up and started rounding up black folks and realized it was damned hard work, and being white folks and therefore wont to find ways to avoid hard labor with the old maxim of working smarter, not harder. They decided "Hell, we'll tell some of these black folks that if they don't round up enough folks for us we will enslave them instead"...and then did so no matter how many slaves were delivered in some cases.

There had been slavery in Africa since the beginning of time. They are humans so they fight wars and treat one another horribly. The winning faction would enslave members of the losing side. They would also go about capturing one another and enslaving one another...but there is HUGE difference in what this meant in Africa and what it meant in Europe and the New World. In Africa if a person found themselves enslaved they knew that it was not a life sentence.....you didn't know that, did you? Nope, it was basically a sentence much akin to our locking people up for breaking the law. Slaves in Africa were also free to own property, including other human beings, they could marry and their kids WERE NOT SLAVES. I know that means nothing because the evil of slavery in the United States was caused by black people...I get it...but the fact is that slaves in Africa served a period when they were enslaved, were entitled to own property, while enslaved, were entitled to marry whom they chose, while enslaved, and when they had kids their kids were free. This is drastically different than what was done in Europe and the new world. But I am sure this means nothing to you because the evils of slavery in the US lies squarely at the feet of black people.

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It's funny, I have a few friends who get very insulted when they're called African American. Some of them were born in Jamaica and naturalized, some have Jamaican heritage and one couple is from Barbados. They are very proud of their Caribbean heritage and cultures.

They've told me on a few occasions that white people who use the term African American around them is an easy way to tell that they're uncomfortable around black people.

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I was fortunate enough to spend 6+ months twice in my life in Kingston. By the way New Orleans don't know shite about throwing a party...but that's another story for another time. I have also been fortunate enough to work with many citizens of the west indies and have spent a lot of time in the west indies. There is a pretty sizeable population of people in the region who are indeed black and who identify as AFRICAN only. It is a part of Rastafarianism but it extends beyond that and into more "mainstream" citizens. There is a radio station in Kingston which bills itself as "The #1 Reggae Station in all da world...". On Sunday morning this station's format changes to a political talk radio format for about 4 hours. The most common item talked about, in my experience, is how there is no such thing as a Jamaican and instead what white people refer to as a Jamaican is, in reality, an African displaced. This is no small, fringe idea in the West Indies...it is a pretty widely held opinion among the descendants of slaves in the region.