yeah, after 400 years of his family living in South Africa he is definitely more African than he is Dutch, how could he be from somewhere that no-one in his family has ever lived in within living memory?
Although I agree with Next, why do either of you need to label yourself with ethnic terms when neither of you have actually lived in Europe or Africa?
Afrikaner-American
big787 wrote:
Afrikaner-American
No, he is white and not afrikan. He is dutch. Of dutch descendant. No african blood.
Barakus Obama wrote:
big787 wrote:Afrikaner-American
No, he is white and not afrikan. He is dutch. Of dutch descendant. No african blood.
Agree, totally dutch.
7/10
NOT African-American.
He may not have any African blood in his veins but his ancestors were directly influenced by African culture for 400 years. Several generations were born and died there. My vote is African American.
10-6,me.
African-American is used to denote race in the US.
I've never heard a person of Moroccan or Egyptian descent call themselves African-American
If he's not black or mixed, he's not African-American. He sounds quite stupid, really.
I'm in agreement with this. I have a friend who is white as white can be and is from South Africa. He was born there. His parents and grandparents were born there. He's African. He's as African as I am American. I was born here. My parents and grandparents were born here...before that though, they came from different countries. I don't identify with any of those other countries.Your friend is an African American. Just because we all immediately think of that as meaning a black person, doesn't mean they all are. Your friend is right.
well wrote:
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.
My immediate reaction was that your friend is right, and he is if you actually consider what the words should mean.
But then I thought about it a little more and realized that African American is just the recent "politically correct" way to refer to black people. In usage, it means the same as black or negro did before. It is a way of talking about skin color without referring to skin color.
I do believe, however, that people who are able to trace their ancestry back to a specific country should use the country, not the continent. People of slave ancestry cannot do this, and thus they must use "African American." If I were your friend, I might refer to my heritage as "Dutch South African."
I was born in South Africa to a South African mother(of English decent) and an English father. We emigrated to Canada as a family when I was two years old.
We all consider ourselves Canadian and don't usually have cause to define it further. If pushed I would say I have a white South African/British heritage.
He is being disingenuous and obtuse in defining himself as African American and he knows it.
As other have said nationality and ethnicity are not the same.
Nationality is define by the citizenship(s) you hold. My recollection is that South Africa will not allow/recognize dual citizenship. Hence he can not legitimately claim South African as his nationality not even by the sometimes expressed route of "by birth".
I expect that if he claimed African ethnicity on a job application it could be considered fraud.
You're both wrong. What does his passport say? American? Then he is American. Not Dutch. Not African. He can claim to have Dutch ancestry, and he can also claim African ancestry (South African to be more specific).
I was an abandoned baby adopted by a citizen of UK and an American citizen. My adoptive family on my Dad's side has lived in Bermuda for minimum 6 generations. My adoptive mother is from Pittsburgh( but she rarely admits to it).
I was found near the USA/Canadian border so my actual place of birth is at question although I carry a US Passport.
What am I?
Abandonian-American perhaps
Somas wrote:
I expect that if he claimed African ethnicity on a job application it could be considered fraud.
I seriously doubt that. job applications specifically state that they use that information for statistical and compliance purposes only and not to evaluate candidates. I believe it is illegal for employers to consider ethnicity (self-reported or otherwise) when interviewing or making hiring decisions.
A. Hipster wrote:
My immediate reaction was that your friend is right, and he is if you actually consider what the words should mean.
But then I thought about it a little more and realized that African American is just the recent "politically correct" way to refer to black people. In usage, it means the same as black or negro did before. It is a way of talking about skin color without referring to skin color.
I do believe, however, that people who are able to trace their ancestry back to a specific country should use the country, not the continent. People of slave ancestry cannot do this, and thus they must use "African American." If I were your friend, I might refer to my heritage as "Dutch South African."
"African American" can also refer to the subculture within America belonging to first slaves, and now their descendents. In that sense it is more correct than "black" because while they are more "American" than anything else, there are still distinct African influences. Even as a reference to race, the term "African American" implies relation to Africans brought to America as slaves. Recent immigrants are not usually called "African American" even if they are black.
???.? wrote:
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.
You are both tools for having spent more than 5 minutes discussing this.
Plus it should be "A friend and I."
Afrikaner or something else to show that he's originally Dutch would be the way to go. Him calling himself African makes about as much sense as me calling myself Irish because my ancestors invaded Ireland and stayed for a few hundred years. Question: is his last name Dutch?
13-8, to 1 that we are both wrong.
13-8-1,me. I believe that this is sufficient to end the argument, Thanks everybody who posted.
What better things do you have to do?