so, yesterday in class my caucasian classmate asked me why i disliked the label black, but i was okay with african-american. it's not a love-hate relationship. i do dislike the label black, but i'm not completely in love with the label african-american.
african-american is simply the best descriptor available at this time. while it would be nice to live in a world where that didn't matter, it's not going to happen in my lifetime. so, while we're using these labels, i prefer african-american.
why don't i like black? because i'm not. i'm not more black than a white person is white. black is also associated with negativity and evil. a little white lie, the black sheep of the family, etc.
i really should work on starting a more appropriate term.
african-american is simply the best descriptor available at this time. while it would be nice to live in a world where that didn't matter, it's not going to happen in my lifetime. so, while we're using these labels, i prefer african-american.
why don't i like black? because i'm not. i'm not more black than a white person is white. black is also associated with negativity and evil. a little white lie, the black sheep of the family, etc.
i really should work on starting a more appropriate term.
1 lovely comments:
mrcrazyone said...
I like the way African American rolls off the tongue. It is more time consuming and causes one to acknowledge our heritage.