| ???.? |
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Me and a friend are in a debate and after many 1 hour plus runs/arguments we cannot decide on who is right as we both stubbornly refuse to give up ground. We have agreed to abide by the decision of Letsrun, and that decision will be final. [bold] The Argument [/bold] The disagreement is over a nationality/ethnicity. Whenever somebody asks him what he is (as in German/Dutch/British) He claims that he is African American. Now for clarity His skin is very white and his ancestors originally came from the Netherlands. Yet some of his family moved to south Africa in the 1500’s and lived there until the early 1900’s. This is where our argument is, he claims that he can call himself African American because his forefathers lived in Africa even though they were not “African”. During his ancestors time in South Africa they only married other Dutch people and there is no African blood in his veins. We constantly argue whether or not he is in the “right” when he claims he is african. However they were citizens of SA, for almost 400 years I say that since originally his family is from the Netherlands that he is Dutch, just as I am German but for a period my family lived in Britain. So Letsrun, who is right? PS. AS I said before, whatever the conclusion to this thread is we have agreed to abide by because we are sick of arguing but neither of us will back down. |
| ask a stupid question... |
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Let's see. I'm from the UK. If I move to Hong Kong for work, have kids with another Brit, and as adults the kids move to America...are they Asian American? Don't think so, but honestly with your country anything could be true. |
| abide by this |
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He is indeed correct, as ALL humans are of African descent. |
| ???.? |
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One for me, One for him 1-1 |
| Consider This |
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"African American" usually refers to American-born blacks - descendants of slaves in the strictest sense. So even a black person from South Africa would not be "African American", but rather "South-African-American". So, for instance, Lagat isn't African American - he's Kenyan American. Now his kids? That's a tougher call. But your friend? Definitely not, under the most common usage of the term. Of course your friend is free to use terms however he wants, but you are correct that he is not "African American" as that term is commonly used. |
| well |
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Nationality and ethnicity aren't the same thing. For that matter, "race" is different from these two also. If he is an American citizen, his nationality is American. If 100% of his ancestors are white (i.e. all of his ancestors are white and are the descendants of people who are white), then his race is white. If his ancestors lived in Africa for generations, that makes him African. This "African-American" thing has nothing to do with race. Are people who are Canadian-American somehow a different race? Of course not. Summary: My $0.02 is that he could say, on an application or something, that he's ethnically African-American because his ancestors lived in Africa and were citizens of an African country for centuries. His race is white, and his nationality is American, but his ethnicity could be African if one ignores the intent of the meaning. |
| ???.? |
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the score stands 2-2 |
| Night Runner |
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Definitely South African just as people born in the US are Americans. We aren't talking race here, we are talking nationality. Got it? |
| Freshman Matt |
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Easy. Afrikaner-American. (Or Afrikaan-American if you prefer). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afrikaner |
| ???.? |
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2-4, Il let this go for another night or two. |
| hold that telefono pal |
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Is Khannouchi African-American? |
| Toshtastic |
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In the immortal words of Peter Tosh: "Don't matter where you come from As long as you're a black man, you're an African" Your friend isn't black, so I don't think he's African by the Tosh definition. I recognize that I'm not following the rules of logic. |
| now I get it |
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So black women aren't African? Gotcha. |
| Conundrum |
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If his ancestors lived for 400 years in Africa he can rightfully say he is African American. However 99% of Ameriicans will think that means he is black. |
| you are right |
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You are correct. He shouldn't describe himself as African-American. His background is Afrikaner in the same way yours is German. Sometimes people from North African countries try this and they are wrong too. It isn't the intention of the label. |
| ???.? |
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5-4 if we could get some kind of antagonist this could turn into a great thread. Anyway, liking the responses! keep them coming. |
| where was he born |
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One key piece of information we need is where he was born? If he were born in this country he is American, end of story. African american is a term used to denote race, not nationality or ethnicity...and in all reality african american terminology wouldn't exist if people were comfortable using the term "black". I am 4th generation german and have no other ancestory. My nationality is american, my race is caucasian, my ethnicity is German. Your friend's nationality if born in this country is american, his race is caucasian, and his ethniciy is dutch. |
| Moronic |
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Semantically is this correct as Africa didn't exist then. |
| ???.? |
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He was born in the US, 6-4 |
| Next! |
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If he's born in America then he's American. He could say his ancestors are African but unless he actually was born there then he's not. I'm American. I was born in America. I have ancestors that were born in England, Germany and Canada. But those are my ancestors, not me. That said he claims he's Afican-American. That's a little different but still stupid. I guess I should say that I'm English-German-Canadian-American. What it sounds like is your friend is trying to be funny and argumentative at the same time. Let him have his way and just refer to him as such. He'll get tired of you turning the tables and forget the whole thing. Maybe. |