[ManyTimesBlessed]

It is very important to me that I adjust my vocabulary to whatever is considered appropriate when talking about race.

I am wondering, though, of the title for those of African descent. I have heard that "African American" is preferred, but others say "black" is more appropriate. Are both okay? The problem with African American, for example, is that people from Haiti or even some of the people from the coastal areas of Guatemala are not African, but they have similar coloring and features. Isn't it wrong to assume that someone with a dark completion is from Africa? Also, our daughter that we are adopting from Africa is just African or Liberian, she isn't American yet. :-)

I want to be sure I don't offend anyone and I also want to teach my children respectful ways to talk about race, so any help you can provide would be great.

Thank you.

~Rachel


P.S. I want to note that I realize it is best to refer to people in other ways like "That sweet lady we met at church who let us hold her baby" instead of "that Asian lady who let us hold her baby". But, sometimes you do need talk about people's races and I want to make sure I'm doing it correctly!

[teranga]

Hi Rachel,
I have a number of friends who are black, and some of them prefer AA and some prefer black, so...I don't think there is a "right" and "wrong" with that in general--it's more individual preference.

I prefer black personally, when I do not know where someone is from, for the very reason you say. I have a Senegalese friend who does not like being called AA at all. She says her culture is nothing like the AA culture, and she is not American. Just b/c she lives in America does not make her American. She prefers being called Senegalese, but if someone does not know her, she would rather be called black than AA.

I think it can get confusing with today's diaspora too. I mean, what about a black couple who were born and raised in Germany and move to the US and have a child. Is that child German-American, like white children of German parents would be called? Or is he African-American, because he is black, thereby totally negating his German background...there si a crossover of race and culture which can get confusing. Or is he a black German-American, in order to better clarify race and culture at once?

I would say that for me, I do not think there is a right and wrong, and so I think about what I am trying to say with the label. I realize my Ethiopian-born son (which is how I say it) will be perceived as AA, and I realize he will become part of the AA culture as he grows, BUT his background is not AA--his background and culture is Ethiopian, and I don't want that to just fade away as he gets pegged solely by his skin color.

How's that for a straight answer?!

Teranga
mom to 2 bio children and 1 child adopted from Ethiopia

[teranga]

ps--I shouldn't have said "today's diaspora." I realize it's been going on for a very long time and same argument could be made for, for example, Jamaican Americans being called African Americans when their cultural connection is more to other Jamaicans than to black Americans....

Just wanted to add that, as I realized I wrote "today's diaspora" as if it were a new thing...

[kdb2007]

I think it can be easy to get caught up in semantics. I am mixed and so is my daughter. (Each different races as she is adopted) and I get so annoyed with ignorant people sometimes.

Both of us were born in America and we are Americans. I personally hate labels and especially HATE the question "what ARE you?" or "where are you from?" I take offense to it and come back with a comment about my heritage but that I am an American woman (or a Texan!) and then say right back...what the heck ARE you and where did YOU come from?

These days sometimes being politically correct or literally correct with labels just adds more to the confused division of the human race. I teach my children (1 bio/1 adopted) that we are blessed to be of mixed cultures and that is what our country is about.

I agree with the posts above in regard to the org. question. If you must label someone- do it by their heritage.

[MB80sgirl]

I agree. America is a melting pot. If you were born in America, you are an American, not a hyphenated whatever-American. That said, I usually say "black" because you dont know if in fact the person is African American or Haitian, Jamaican, African, or some other nationality that is black. I use the word black to describe someone the same way I'd say someone was blond or brunette or tan or pale or whatever.

[joskids]

My husband is AA and prefers "black" as he is not African, he is an American with brown skin.

I don't call myself (on a daily basis) an Italian-American. I call myself "white" although, lately, I'm almost ashamed to have to admit it.