Roxanna425,
I totally agree with you about West Indian heritage. My best girlfriend is from Jamaica and she identifies as being West Indian and black (here in the US but simply Jamaican when she travels home to visit family). I think the interchageable terms are more of an American thing since in other cultures and countries, there is a wide variety of references to a person's background (race/ethnicity). Not simply what someone looks like, since that could be totally misleading, but to what particular group a person identifies with on a personal level (which may or not be separate from what society may label them as). I know that there has been much debate over using race for "statistical purposes" in which a lot of persons of mixed heritage may find it annoying at best and offensive at worst to have to be reduced to a "box" that is checked on a form. Since many of us do not fit any particular category when it comes to our race/ethnicity, then it seems pointless.
I guess I never thought about black vs. African American. I know that my grandmother at times will refer to herself as a "young black girl from the South" but will not refer to herself as African American since, as she says, "I've never been to Africa". I have used both terms to describe myself, however.
kllee