A "Native American" or "Indian" by any other name...
By ParaTed2k
@ParaTed2k (22940)
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
December 28, 2010 2:56pm CST
When it comes to terms we use to refer to groups of people, we seem to trip over ourselves a lot. None of our terms seems to be based on fact or historic significants. They all seem more out of convenience than anything else.
The obvious one is Native Americans.. Indians... whatever. I say "whatever" because both are more based on politics than ethnicity. I've had friends among the Pima, Navajo, Pueblo and Lakota tribes. None of which used any particular term as a "catch all" for the different tribes. They told me that there is no word in either of their cultures that cover all of them, because they don't consider themselves "one" anything. Each tribe has always been a separate "nation"... in fact, almost all of their own languages definition of the tribe name are derivatives of the english word "people" or "human being". I wish I was still in contact with any of them, so I could find out what term their language uses to refer to other tribes... do those terms mean "people" too?
Then there are the ever controversial terms for Black skinned people. Of course ,there are the blatantly racist ones, so we'll just leave those out, but are the "politically correct" and acceptable ones any less stereotypical?
In the US we're taught to use the term "African American"... but that makes little sense because very few of them are close enough removed from Africa to have any real connection to the continent. They only get back to Africa through all sorts of other countries in their ancestry.
The term "African American" makes less sense if an African American family moves to (say) Australia. Does their ethnicity change with their address?
I've also notice that the US seems to be the only nation that has that problem. In most languages the term used to refer to the local Black population is some derivative of the term "Black".
I also have to wonder if African people have a term for all Black people, where ever they may live?
You can't even rest assured that "White" or "Caucasian" is a fair term. Are all "White" people of the same descent? Are all people of "White" skin so homogeneous that one word could cover all of us?
2 people like this
7 responses
@speakeasy (4171)
• United States
28 Dec 10
Personally, I do not see why we have to call any of them anything other than - "people".
Once you start labeling people you open the door to prejudice and generalizations. If you have to describe someone, why not just use the same type of terms that you would to describe other features like height and weight instead of generalities that don't necessarily even fit. Plus, with so much intermingling and intermarrying, many of the labels do not really fit any more. For example - is Obama "African American" or "Caucasion/White". When I look at him, I see a "tall skinny man with a light tan and short curly black hair which is turning grey". His nationality is "American", he is "Hawaiian" by birth, and a "Democrat" by choice.
Do we really need even more "labels"?
1 person likes this
@Aussies2007 (5336)
• Australia
29 Dec 10
Actually, I am getting sicker by the day of political correctness.
In the very near future, it is going to bite us in the ar.se.
Lets face it... political correctness has made people total morons.
I don't give a f..uck whether a black lives in America, or Australia, or France. To me, he is black. And where do blacks come from? Africa.
Should I treat him any differently because he is black? NO
If he wants to live with me, he adapts, or f..uck off back in Africa.
Our only duty, is to give everyone a chance to adapt and live with us.
We do not have to accept people from other countries pushing their culture onto us in order to change us in accepting them. F..uck them. We are who we are. Take it or leave it. Enough is enough. 2011 is the turning point. No more political bull.sh.it.
@Angelwriter (1954)
• United States
29 Dec 10
My way of doing it is to use whatever term the person I'm referring to prefers. You're never going to know beforehand, because even among people of the same ethnicity, there are different preferences. Take me for instance. If you had reason to bring up my race* when talking to me, I would personally prefer black. Although, I'm not going to pitch a fit if you were to call me African American. I would think any reasonable person would feel the same way. I would say when talking in a public setting, rather than one on one, probably African American would be the safest way to go, simply because it's widely accepted. But, again, if someone says they prefer something else, the easiest solution is to call them what they prefer.
*As far as not mentioning race at all, as some people have said, I don't like that idea. Obviously, I wouldn't want people to bring up my race every time they talk to or about me. Most of the time it isn't relevant and it would get ridiculous. But, sometimes it is relevant. And it makes it sound like some dirty thing that's not worthy of mentioning. And sometimes it gets ridiculous to not mention it. Like if you're describing how someone looks to someone else. And you trip all over yourself to give a description that doesn't include race at all. Especially when race could be the most identifiable trait.
And I highly doubt there's one world term for all black people. Because we're not a monolith.
@anniepa (27955)
• United States
29 Dec 10
Great topic, Ted, you're really outdoing yourself these days. I know while I was growing up the boys (and even sometimes us girls joined in) liked to play "cowboys and Indians". Is that "allowed" today, I wonder? Of course, if it's not it's probably for the best since it's not the correct term to begin with. I've thought for quite some time that "African American" doesn't always really fit. I could call myself a (name every European country there is) American but none of them would really fit since I'm many generations removed from any of those places. I guess I'm simply a white American female. By the way, is it more acceptable to describe a Caucasian as "white" than to describe an African American as "black"? When you think about it, in many if not most cases neither are really accurate!
I agree with the previous poster, we don't need labels for everything. Basically we're all just people and if anyone needs to describe me, go ahead and describe me as you see me.
Annie
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
29 Dec 10
That's a good point. I have a problem with "___-American", as expressing your ethnicity in that way separates you from other Americans. It's divisive and isolating.
We'll kill ourselves with our PC. Dividing a nation by singling out ethnicity makes us weaker, not stronger.
@RebeccaScarlett (2532)
• Canada
29 Dec 10
There is so little reason to discuss race nowadays...and in some urban areas people are so many degrees of "mixed" that you can't identify race at all...
Many teenagers where I live that might call themselves "black" actually have light brown skin. "White" people aren't white -- they are various shades of pink and tan. Italian people can look "white" or middle eastern -- "brown."
I agree that we need to get over this. The only reason to mention someone's skin color at all is if you are trying to describe them to someone who has never met them, but might need to identify them. ("My half-sister will pick you up. You'll know her when you see her because she's half-black: she's got blue eyes like me but African hair" or something like that.)
@sid556 (30953)
• United States
28 Dec 10
Wow, Ted, You do an awful lot of pretty deep thinking there. I never really gave this much thought but ya know...it is all true. Just why do we need to call black people anything other than people. Why does it matter? it shouldn't but it seems to for some reason. I'm White and from what family history I've checked into, I'm English, Irish, Indian and lord only knows what else. I'm told I look Finnish ...don't know and don't care. I have a good friend who is very black...it would feel weird to him as Afro-american. I've known him for at least 45 yrs and he was born right and raised right here in the states. So was his mom and dad and grandparents. I can't imagine thinking of him as anyone but Tim.
