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White African-Americans?

  • 30-03-2017 3:56pm
    #1
    fiachr_a
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,204 ✭✭✭


    Why isn't a white person considered African-American? If your white parents were born in Zimbabwe and then moved to America where you were born.


Comments

  • #2
    mzungu
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,306 Mod ✭✭✭✭mzungu


    fiachr_a wrote: »
    Why isn't a white person considered African-American? If your white parents were born in Zimbabwe and then moved to America where you were born.
    African-American is a term used only for those with ancestry from black racial groups in Africa, or those who descended from enslaved Africans.
    DEFINITION OF BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN USED
    IN THE 2010 CENSUS

    According to OMB, “Black or African American” refers to a person
    having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
    The Black racial category includes people who marked the “Black,
    African Am., or Negro” checkbox. It also includes respondents who
    reported entries such as African American; Sub-Saharan African
    entries, such as Kenyan and Nigerian; and Afro-Caribbean entries,
    such as Haitian and Jamaican.*

    *Sub-Saharan African entries are classified as Black or African American with the exception
    of Sudanese and Cape Verdean because of their complex, historical heritage. North
    African entries are classified as White, as OMB defines White as a person having origins
    in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

    https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-06.pdf
    African Americans Law and Legal Definition

    African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry.

    Most African Americans are the direct descendants of captive Africans who survived the slavery era within the boundaries of the present United States. There were many events and issues, both resolved and ongoing, that were faced by African Americans. Some of these were slavery, reconstruction, development of the African-American community, participation in the great military conflicts of the United States, racial segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.

    https://definitions.uslegal.com/a/african-americans/

    After being enslaved, things like language, tribal ancestry and family units were pretty much obliterated so there is no way to know what exact part of Africa their ancestors hailed from, hence the term African-American is used to cover it as there is no sure way of knowing.

    To answer your question, the person from Zimbabwe would simply be a Zimbabwean-American, no matter what their skin colour.


  • #3
    ScumLord
    Registered Users Posts: 28,789 ✭✭✭✭ScumLord


    What about if there was a black lad from south africa in America on holidays? Would he be an African African?


  • #4
    mzungu
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,306 Mod ✭✭✭✭mzungu


    ScumLord wrote: »
    What about if there was a black lad from south africa in America on holidays? Would he be an African African?
    On holidays he would still be a South African. Or if he moved there permanently he would then be a South African American.


  • #5
    Black Swan
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 47,218 CMod ✭✭✭✭Black Swan


    The Pennsylvania State University does not count Black employees born in Africa as African-Americans in their affirmative action statistics reported to the EEOC and OFCCP. Only those Blacks born in the USA, DC, or its territories were reported as African-Americans. Others were listed as foreign nationals on visa or naturalized citizens in the "other" categories.


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