Okay, okay, I'll admit it.
Now, for a long time I was one of those "hate everyone equally" people. Then I moved to a town that was between two of the biggest ghettos in the western United States. Naive little girl that I was, I thought that the poor disenfranchised peoples of the ghettos would have somehow turned their experiences into Lifetime-esque stories of strength in the face of adversity. Well that certainly wasn't what I encountered.

I do not respect a lot African Americans under the age of 40. Not blacks in general, mind you, I find that African non-Americans generally have a sense of modesty and style that African Americans lack. And older African Americans seem to have mellowed out a bit, dress like they have jobs, and tend not to talk as though using proper grammar is a sleight against their gangster heritage.

My experience with young African Americans always followed one of two routes:

1. African American men - at the time, I weighed 200 pounds. The stereotype about black men loving Rubenesque white chicks is no joke. I could not walk down the street without "daaaaaaamn, girl! Yous so fiiiiiine! Baby! Hey, baby! Red!" The moment that I thought summed up my experience with African American men goes like this: I'm at the market, looking at some salsa on the bottom shelf. Self-concious about my weight, I don't want to bend over for it while anyone is around. I look up the aisle, it's empty. I look down the other end. Empty. I bend over for the salsa, and immediately hear "DAAAAAMN!" Some African American guy has magically materialized behind me.

After I lost 50 pounds, the hooting and hollering quit. Weirdos.

2. African American women - MURDER EYES. They always gave me serious attitude because they thought I was trying to steal their men, even though I was just minding my own business while I was waiting for the bus.


And that is why I now love living in a town that is predominantly caucasian.

Sincerely,
Exempt
AKA The Racist White Chick
(Exempt OH WOW, VICODIN, Fri 2 Apr 2010, 22:31, 10 replies)

Not directed at you in particular
but why is it "African American" and not just "American" or "black American"?

If the out-of-Africa theory is to be believed, I'm African-Irish. And I work in a mainly African-English office with some lovely African-English and African-Scottish people.
(blueberrypossum wants to Jaffa your Cake, Sat 3 Apr 2010, 1:37, closed)

It's because
officially it's bad to say "black" in the US when referring to an ethnicity, so the crusaders of an earlier decade decreed that African-American is dignified and not negatively charged in any way.

Except that it's cumbersome and nobody wants to use it. The US has always had a bit of weird culture towards black people, and that seems to get more encoded with each successive generation while most people just try to live their lives.

Note that I'm from Canada - we still say "black". We use the awkward "First Nations" to describe the descendants of the people who lived here before Europeans showed up though.
(Ejaculantern was caught desecrating pumpkins on, Sat 3 Apr 2010, 7:06, closed)

Yep.
I personally think the whole "African American" thing is a silly result of going overboard with political correctness. In general conversation I think it's lame, but here I'm just using it here to refer to a particular group of black people. I've met a lot of Africans and black people from other countries who are totally normal and nice, but my ghetto experience really turned me off of African Americans.

As a (blindingly) white person, I don't feel I have the right to comment on what term is "correct," but I don't know what's so damn offensive about calling black people black when it's normal to call white people white (though I suppose by the same token it's not cool to call an asian "yellow"). It just seems like anyone who would be offended by that is overly sensitive and needs to put their energy towards something more productive.

Anyway, I'm all for the "out-of-Africa" theory of tacking "African" in front of every ethnicity.
(Exempt OH WOW, VICODIN, Sat 3 Apr 2010, 7:46, closed)

"The US has always had a bit of weird culture towards black people"
Slavery summed up.
(thefuckestuppest cheapened this, on, Sat 3 Apr 2010, 10:24, closed)

I wasn't referring to the slavery,
I was referring to subsequent relations.

Besides, slavery gets shit done.
(Ejaculantern was caught desecrating pumpkins on, Sat 3 Apr 2010, 21:11, closed)

confused - African American v African non-American
isn't an African non-American just an African then? (or possibly just a black person who happens not to be American, given you can't say for sure where someone is from just by looking 100% of the time)
(zenmeban thinks the weather could be better, Sat 3 Apr 2010, 16:36, closed)

two replies:
1) i've decided a long time ago that i'm going to continue to call black people black until such time as they decide to call me european american. so there.
2) the black-guy-magically-materialising-in-the-grocery-store-aisle had me laughing so hard i cried. good times!
(fai is rocking khaz modan server as of, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 6:47, closed)

1) I think all black/other raced people should know their heritage before they expect to be called "(Anything) American." If you don't know what your roots are, you obviously don't care enough to be called it. And Africa is a majorly diverse continent, so I find "African" American to be a bit of an offensive generalization.

Just sayin'.

2) Yeah, it really happened. For a few seconds my brain just came to a complete halt and all I could think was "DID THAT SERIOUSLY JUST HAPPEN?"
(Exempt OH WOW, VICODIN, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 9:37, closed)

Lol yeah....I know that West Indians over here don't particularly like Africans, so to be called an African-anything would probably wind them up no end!!!
(Beklet is inexplicably angry, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 10:55, closed)

"African non-Americans"
f
f
s
(bacontrout got ska, Sun 4 Apr 2010, 12:21, closed)