LOL, thanks, I was just thinking..."Where in the fuck did they come up with THAT???"
:p

African-American: Having citizenships in an African state and an American state (nothing to do with the color of skin)

Native American also indigenous American: Born in an American state

Asian-American: Having citizenships in an Asian state and an American state (nothing to do with the color of skin)

Please note that there are 3 Americas, North America, Central America and South America

State is another meaning for country.

Funny...I've never heard such moaning over what people call themselves culturally. Never. (that wasn't directed at you Felines, just in general).

It seemed to be perfectly ok to say "Irish-American" "Italian-American" and so forth, but as soon as "African-American" comes into the picture, suddenly it's nuclear meltdown time with some folk...goddamn! In fact, it seemed perfectly ok for the Irish, Italians, etc. who were born in America to just call themselves "Irish" or "Italian" and they weren't even born in Ireland or Italy!!!! Imagine that! They're allowed to identify themselves by culture, but blacks suddenly can't?? That's bullshit.

*pissed...* :mad: (again not at you, but in general)

Understood, but I said "affected" not "offended". Any and everyone should be offended by racism, classism, sexism, etc.

I couldn't agree with you more. People ask me if I'm Polish. Nope. I'm native American. "Oh! What tribe?" "No, you don't understand, I was born here, too."

Let's all dump the Whatever-American and just call ourselves American because that's what we are. No more, no less. Darker skinned people are no more African than I am from Russia. The abuse of the English language for the sake of political correctness is appalling.

Ever been chased down the street by a gang of kids with bats solely based on the color of your skin?

That happened to my father when he was a kid living in the Cherry Hill section of Baltimore City.

Ever been turned down for a promotion based on race?

Again, he was (years ago), working for the Social Security Administration.

Ever been called a nigger? Again, my father hasAND I HAVE, so if the answers to those questions is NO, then NO I feel that you DON'T know racism at it's deepest and nastiest.

What happens regarding schools and scholarships is a drop in the bucket compared to half the shit that still goes on out there to "minorites". What happened to James Byrd in Texas was only about 6 years ago, not 20, 30, 40, 100 years ago, and as long as shit like that can still happen, then there will always be problems with "race relations" in America.

Ah but there is something to be said about ethnic/cultural pride that FNF thinks is so "wrong". But, you made a good point regarding the whole "American" tag. You said that you were BORN here, so yes you are American, but that's not where "your people" are from, so to speak. Everyone has immigrant ties, no matter how your forefathers and mothers came here, willingly or by force. I guess I don't consider "country of birth" as "ethnic background". Plus, isn't it sort of redundant to say that you are American when asked by another American (unless you appear to be from another country).

Many people enjoy identifying themselves by culture, and I don't see anything wrong with that. I hear Latinos all the time saying, "I'm Puerto Rican" or "I'm Mexican" etc. Or, "Oh I was born here, but my people are from...." So, I don't see where the problem lies...people can identify themselves however the hell they please. It's not up to me to tell them what to say. *shrugs*

I described a couple of incidents in another reply in this thread.

My people come from Earth.

Actually, I don't claim to have any "people". I have a family: my mom, my husband, sisters, etc. I guess they're my "people".

I'm just sick and tired of everyone wanting to be a victim. "They made me do it" attitudes are cop outs. No one wants to own up to their actions or lack thereof. Come on! Whatever happened to good old fashioned honest work?

All those things are evil and the people who did them should be punished. However, I don't think that makes what those boys did wrong.

I was small, weak, and bookish in school - and I got beaten up a number of times. Do I deserve a scholarship for that? Where does it end if we take the view that society owes some group special privileges.

Give me a fricking break...

Chased down by kids with bats? It's ok, really. Assholes will find a reason not to like you no matter what color you are. Had he been white, they might have chased him down because they thought he was a fag or looked at them the wrong way. Whoop dee doo.

Turned down for a promotion based on race? Oh you poor soul. Well I can say that the white man knows how that feels just as well as the black man these days. Did I mention the scholarship/college admission thing? Well it works for jobs too. Cut that racims bullshit out, it goes both ways. Just as many blacks keep their jobs no matter how shitty they do them and get promoted because the managment is scared shitless that they'll scream "Racism!!!" if they fire or fail to promote the lazy ass.

Been called a nigger? Awww. Well it saddening that there is one additional insult people can use on you instead of the more typical, cunt, bitch, slut, whore, but hey at least they can't call you white trash. Also, in the 8 or so years that I have been in the US I have NEVER heard a WHITE person call a black person a nigger. It was always the blacks calling each other niggers...or niggahs...

Quit blowing the idiotic shit out of proportion. The racism that goes on is NOTHING along the scales of the discrimination against the gay community and I see nothing along the lines of Scholarships for Fags or the Society of Gay Engineers.

Yeah I may not have been called a nigger or chased around with bats for being black, because I'm not black; they had to find a diffrent reason. Despite being white, people found just as many reasons not to like me. Oh and in middle school there was this black kid who liked to call me "white Russian shit", why I don't know. It never bothered me much and I never saw it as a "race" thing, I saw it as being "different".

You're no worse off than I am, black or white, there is always something to hate. Maybe you would have been worse off way back when slavery was perfectly fine, but that was a long time ago, and times change. I don't see the Jews demand compensation from the Egyptians for the pyramids. Deal with it.

It's actually known now that the Egyptians didn't use slaves to build the pyramids.

I think that culturally separating yourself from other people like that actually causes racism.

Racism is caused by people not understanding anything about a culture.They only see the differences and not the similarities. They say, "He ain't like us.. let's git 'im!". If, instead of separating themselves culturally, blacks made an effort to show others that they are just like everyone else, there would be less racism. This would be incredibly easy, since we have a lot more in common that we have different. But instead, blacks take their uniqueness as a sense of empowerment. That's great for them, but what about the people who still don't understand them?

With that said, I know it's not really such a black and white issue (ha!), and I think a lot of people <i>have</i> actually realized that there is little to no discernible difference, and racism is much less as a result.

You've just never been around when I go into my "I'm an American, not a hyphenated one, dammit" speech.

I actually feel strongly about this issue as well.

One of the deals of being an AMERICAN is that our forebears gave up alliegances and ties to their former homes, and embraced this NEW country.

This was the case up until only recently in our country's history, actually.

The extraterrestrials that did the initial design work helped them.