Is identifying, as a Black America or African American racist?

1. 59

   cjhunsingerposted 9 years ago

   Is identifying, as a Black America or African American racist?
   
   Ones skin tone has, arguably, nothing to do with intellect, ambition or talent, as is demonstrated, so often, by successful people of a varying skin colors. If one demands an equal position; is this achieved by a noted separation and division due to ones color or is this best achieved by an identification with those to whom you wish to be equal to? If skin color becomes the identifier, racism than becomes the motivation.

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2. 78

   dashingscorpioposted 9 years ago

   No I don't believe acknowledging one's race or culture makes them racist. In fact America is a melting pot. Just about every "group" has it's neighborhoods, museums, customs, and various organizations.
   Just about every major city has a  "Chinatown" and no one calls that racist. Chicago has "The Irish American Heritage Festival" every year, New York has the "National Puerto Rican Day Parade".
   Celebrating diversity is far from being racist. In fact it's intended to instill pride in the members of that particular group by showcasing heroes and achievements that are often overlooked.
   I'm neither Irish or Latino but you better believe I enjoy celebrating St. Patrick's Day and Cinco De Mayo!

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   1. 59

      cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Dashing-I think you missed the point here. Being German and brought up in a mixture of cultures and neighborhoods in the 40's, no one ever called themselves a hyphenated American.
      This is the difference.

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   2. 78

      dashingscorpioposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      African American is just a replacement for previous words that were used by (others) to distinguish blacks from whites. In the past the "N" word, than "Colored", "black" and "African American". Blacks chose it over the others to be classified as.

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3. 0

   Sri Tposted 9 years ago

   Most modern labels come from outside the group. The world places people in categories. The applications say, what race are you? But why does it matter? Human should be the only factor. So it also comes from a Federal level. If you check with the original indigenous people of any culture, they called themselves something completely different than what the American government chose to call them. So people call themselves this and that for others sake, because it's obvious who they are to themselves. They are human. They don't need a label. Pride comes later on. And pride is much better than low self esteem or conditioning from other races.

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   1. 59

      cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Sri--Pride comes from self respect and a sense of accomplishment and purpose, not from the color of ones skin embraced by an identity. At best I  am a  sapient being and at worst I am of German ancestry, who may have 20,000 years earlier left Africa.

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      Sri Tposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      True, but for centuries blacks were conditioned to think there was something wrong with being black. So in the 1960's they changed it into pride to remove the negativity that was connected to being black. Some still struggle with being dark today.

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   3. 78

      dashingscorpioposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      cjhunsinger, When someone says, "I'm proud to be an American". They're proud of what accomplishment? I think it's human nature for people to feel pride in belonging to a group even if it's by happenstance and not thru any personal accomplishment.

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   4. 59

      cjhunsingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      dashing--Yes. Pride of belonging is coupled with the idea of contribution to the betterment of what you have pride in. Does one contribute or simply is along for the ride?

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   5. 78

      dashingscorpioposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      cjhunsinger , I think most people are spectators in life!

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