# Are all African Americans really African? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 1, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825 "2006-07-01T01:19:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/21 "2006-07-01T18:11:53Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] **John Mace.** Barack Obama is not African-American. The blacks in his father’s family are all Kenyans who were never enslaved. His father was a Kenyan immigrant. But Obama’s wife is an African-American from Chicago and his constituents are African-Americans as well, and he strongly identifies with other African-American heritage having been brought up in Hawaii and educated in America. But he also strongly identifies with his Kenyan roots as well. Others have referred to him as African-American and he does not correct them. He’s black, he’s American, he’s of Kenyan descent, his kids are, by their heritage, half-African-American. He is not an African-American unless he’s adopted the term for himself, at which point I must remember to write him a letter thanking him for clearing it up for everybody. [/QUOTE] Funny thing about words is that you don’t get define them differently than the way people use them. I don’t like the term “White”, but I’m White whether I like it or not. Mr. Obama is an [African American.](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=African%20American) ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/22 "2006-07-01T18:24:26Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Funny thing about words is that you don’t get define them differently than the way people use them. I don’t like the term “White”, but I’m White whether I like it or not. Mr. Obama is an [African American.](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=African%20American) [/QUOTE] _:: Just shakin’ my head. ::_ ---
**Author:** ![Chouinard\_Fan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Chouinard\_Fan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chouinard_Fan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/23 "2006-07-01T18:46:55Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] The broadest accurate applicable descriptor for anyone of dark-to-light skinned genetic stock from African descent is the racial term, black. The correct ethnic term for blacks descended from American slaves in the United States is African-American. To do otherwise is like mixing up Scots with Irish, Welsh with Brits, or calling a Choctow a Cree. [/QUOTE] This is the first time I have seen black and African-American differentiated as racial vs. ethnic terms. Very interesting, I think I agree. In general American’s are horrible about making distinctions of race etc. (Except of course when it comes to putting each other down!) It seems ethnicity (the distinctions of which I generally think are important as family history and providing a renewing effect in the US) and race (which I don’t think matters for squat except when my group tends to have some tendency that my Doctor is concerned about) have become the same thing. Doesn’t anyone else realize that Hispanics are called that because some/many of their ancestors were from Spain, you know, where all those white people live? I don’t consider Hispanics anything other than white and/or native american (Aztec/Incan) by race (good luck defining race anyhow, I know there have been threads on this point alone) but I do consider them a very distinct ethnic group that adds a certain flourish to our melded American Culture. Incidentally, I had a Mexican History Prof. who was half Mexican and half German (so he told us) who was born ~20 on the north side of the US/Mexico border. He said how he remembered in K or 1st grade how many of the other kids called him ‘Indian’ because he was so dark. He remembered contending this vehemently and standing firm on his ‘I’m from high Spanish stock’ assertion. Well he looked at us and said ‘look at me, I’m so dark, how could I be that much Spanish blood? What made me, a Mexican-American, think I was Spanish? What made me think being Spanish was so important?’ This has really influenced my views on how we all come to our racial/ethnic self-perceptions. Are they really all so accurate we need to shoot/hate each other? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/24 "2006-07-01T19:04:59Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] _:: Just shakin’ my head. ::_ [/QUOTE] Shake it all you want-- you’re still wrong. It seems like you’re tying to make a political statement by defining the word narrowly, but the fact is, in the U.S. the terms “Black” and “African-American” are used interchangebly. The dictionary cite I gave confirmed that. Just because you may not like that fact doesn’t make it any less of a fact. Mr. Obama’s case is a bit different because his ancestry is half African and half European. So he could just as easily be called European-American. The fact none of his ancestors were enslaved is a point of politics, perhaps, but not of ethnicity. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/25 "2006-07-01T19:07:09Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Shake it all you want-- you’re still wrong. It seems like you’re tying to make a political statement by defining the word narrowly, but the fact is, in the U.S. the terms “Black” and “African-American” are used interchangebly. The dictionary cite I gave confirmed that. Just because you may not like that fact doesn’t make it any less of a fact. Mr. Obama’s case is a bit different because his ancestry is half African and half European. So he could just as easily be called European-American. The fact none of his ancestors were enslaved is a point of politics, perhaps, but not of ethnicity. [/QUOTE] This is all very true. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/26 "2006-07-01T20:33:05Z")
The mistake is thinking all people who are (a) black and (b) in America must therefore all be of the ethnic group “African-Americans” and want to be referred to as such. Hate to shatter your ego, but no. I have plenty if practical experience living, studying, dating and working alongside black expatriates from all sorts of African countries and elsewhere to know this perception is false. Fifty years of immigration is expanding the definition of what it means to be a black American. As all these black ethnic groups mingle, it is similarly narrowing what it means, in a sociopolitical and historical context, what it is to be an African-American. Too many people assume black people in America are African-Americans because they don’t look at people’s ethnicity, national origin and background. Plenty of people on close examination do not fit the bill. Actor-former-Laker Rick Fox, model Melyssa Ford, actress Cree Summer, track star Donovan Bailey, jazz great Oscar Peterson are all Canadians. You gonna call them African-Americans, too, just 'cuz they work here? Both African-Americans and other black Americans respect these differences in our heritage and ethnicity between us. We’re usually fine with it. The kinship afforded being _black_ is enough. Only people who insist on making the term “African-America” fit all black people here get bent out of shape about it when black people like myself say, “Um, no, that’s not how it works.” P.S. I keep warning y’all about relying on dictionaries as if they are the final say on reality. ---
**Author:** ![ululate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/59ef9b/32.png) [@ululate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ululate)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/27 "2006-07-01T20:53:39Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] Too many people assume black people in America are African-Americans because they don’t look at people’s ethnicity, national origin and background. Plenty of people on close examination do not fit the bill. Actor-former-Laker Rick Fox, model Melyssa Ford, actress Cree Summer, track star Donovan Bailey, jazz great Oscar Peterson are all Canadians. [/QUOTE] Canada? Is that in North America? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/28 "2006-07-01T20:59:53Z")
Right. Y’know – that part of the continent where runaway slaves in the United States escaped to freedom, particularly after the Fugitive Slave Law in 1851. Let’s not pretend we’ve historically considered blacks in Canada, the United States and Mexico as if they’re all part of the same ethnic group, because then I’d really have to laugh and shake my head. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/29 "2006-07-01T21:08:58Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] The mistake is thinking all people who are (a) black and (b) in America must therefore all be of the ethnic group “African-Americans” and want to be referred to as such. Hate to shatter your ego, but no. [/quote] I didn’t make that mistake-- I specifically said that the definition is independent of what any one person may or may not want. It doesn’t matter. The mistake you are making is thinking that you (or anyone else) gets to own the definition of a word. I have no stake in this issue either way, I’m just pointing out the fact that if a word is used in a certain way, then that is its meaning. Maybe when the term “African American” was first coined, it meant what you say it means. But word meanings change over time. Which leads me to… > [@](#): > > P.S. I keep warning y’all about relying on dictionaries as if they are the final say on reality. Of course they aren’t. Words may take on additional meanings not in a dictionary, but I hardly think it’s accurate to say that meanings which are listed in a dictionary are wrong. I understand exactly what you’re trying to say. You, and perhaps many other people, would like “African-American” to mean something very specific. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that to most people. Them’s the breaks. BTW, I certainly agree that in the case of non-residents, adding the -American ending to their ethnicity is incorrect. In that sense, the overlap of “Black” and “African American” runs into trouble. But that’s no different than the problem in calling Ichiro (of the Seattle Mariners) an Asian-American or Japanese-American. PS: You might want to join Wikipedia and edit the entry on Barak Obama (emphasis added): > [@](#): > > Obama won the open Senate seat while on leave from the University of Chicago Law School where he was Lecturer on Constitutional Law. He is the only **African American** currently serving in the U.S. Senate, the fifth in U.S. history, the third since Reconstruction, and only the second Democrat. I’m sure Mr. Obama doesn’t refer to himself as an African-American, as you say. But most people in this counry would call him either Black or African-American. Oh, and you might want to edit the entry in [Biography.com](http://Biography.com), too: > [@](#): > > In 2004, he made a successful bid for the United States Senate, becoming only the third African-American elected to the Senate in more than a century. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/30 "2006-07-01T21:10:25Z")
[QUOTE=ululate] Canada? Is that in North America? [/QUOTE] Yes, but not relevant. “American” is normally used to mean someone from the United States of America, not from Canada or Mexico. I don’t know of any other commonly used adjective to describe USAians. ---
**Author:** ![ululate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/59ef9b/32.png) [@ululate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ululate)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/31 "2006-07-01T21:17:19Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] Right. Y’know – that part of the continent where runaway slaves in the United States escaped to freedom, particularly after the Fugitive Slave Law in 1851. Let’s not pretend we’ve historically considered blacks in Canada, the United States and Mexico as if they’re all part of the same ethnic group, because then I’d really have to laugh and shake my head. [/QUOTE] See, that’s just it: if you were black, you could go to Canada and receive very different treatment than you could in the States. And if you were a black Canadian who came to Alabama, you’d get treated just like a black New Yorker or a black Haitian who came to Alabama. We _ **have** _ “considered blacks in Canada, the United States, and Mexico as if they’re all part of the same ethnic group”: havens of bigotry were hostile _ **regardless** _, and havens of tolerance were, y’know, tolerant. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/32 "2006-07-01T21:20:00Z")
**John Mace.** Calling black expatriates “African-Americans” would be perfectly acceptable if they themselves accepted the term. They don’t. Back with cites in a minute. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/33 "2006-07-01T21:26:03Z")
**ululate.** How would you categorize lumping all black people who happen to be in the United States as if they were in the same ethnic category? Tolerant or hostile? Back with cites for **John Mace** in a minute. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/34 "2006-07-01T21:31:28Z")
Mr. Obama disagrees with you, **Askia** : > [@](#): > > [‘African-American’ Becomes a Term for Debate](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/29/national/29african.html?ex=1251432000&en=0bcaf902834f7e0e&38;ei=5090&38;partner=rssuserland) > > For a moment, the Ethiopian-born activist seemed to melt into the crowd, blending into the sea of black professors, health experts and community leaders considering how to educate blacks about the dangers of prostate cancer. But when he piped up to suggest focusing some attention on African immigrants, the dividing lines were promptly and pointedly drawn. > > The focus of the campaign, the activist, Abdulaziz Kamus, was told, would be strictly on African-Americans. > > "I said, ‘But I am African and I am an American citizen; am I not African-American?’ " said Mr. Kamus > > \ > > Some black Americans argue that black immigrants, like Mr. Kamus, and the children of immigrants, like Mr. Obama and Mr. Powell, are most certainly African-American. (Mr. Obama and Mr. Powell often use that term when describing themselves.) > > \ > > “For me the term African-American really does fit,” said Mr. Obama, 43. “I’m African, I trace half of my heritage to Africa directly and I’m American.” ---
**Author:** ![ululate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/59ef9b/32.png) [@ululate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ululate)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/35 "2006-07-01T21:34:56Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] **ululate.** How would you categorize lumping all black people who happen to be in the United States as if they were in the same ethnic category? Tolerant or hostile? [/QUOTE] Well, if it’s _“I’m hostile because of the color of your skin”_, then it’s hostile. And if it’s _“I’m tolerant, and notice skin color the way I do hair color or eye color”_, then it’s tolerant. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/36 "2006-07-01T22:12:37Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] The bolded part of your definition is incorrect, **tomndebb.** Afro-Caribbeans in America are not called African-Americans except people who misapply the term. Even if they have immigrated to this country 40 years ago they are not African-Americans because their ethnicity, history and culture are not the same. We are all _black_, but blacks who immigrate here from elsewhere have distinct ethnic heritages from Haiti, the Caribbean, the West Indies, Dominican Republic, etc. that preclude them from being African-American. If an Afro-Caribbean who immigrates here has children with an African-American, the children may consider themselves a mix of both groups. The broadest accurate applicable descriptor for anyone of dark-to-light skinned genetic stock from African descent is the racial term, black. The correct ethnic term for blacks descended from American slaves in the United States is African-American. To do otherwise is like mixing up Scots with Irish, Welsh with Brits, or calling a Choctow a Cree. [/QUOTE] You’ll have to take up your complaint with the two people who have immigrated from Jamaica, the immigrant from Trinidad, and the immigrant from Aruba who have all identified themselves in my presence as “African American” at one time or another (although they all generally identify themselves as black, which is the word I generally use). The problem with trying to make the claim that you do is that you have no control over how other people are choosing to use words. You can call them “wrong” if you wish, but since they are out there using the words and you do not seem to have been able to prevent them, it seems that you have been unsuccessful in asserting your definition. Given that there is no standard definition, (even Jesse Jackson did not make the definition clear in his announcement following the Labor Day conference when he announced the “official” change), I think you are fighting a losing battle. And, since this lack of clarity permeates society, including the various black people who should have been informed about what terms you will allow them to use, I do consider the term to be less than successful. I do not oppose the term or mock it. I do not get mad that it exists. But when you have people being (foolishly) overly literal about Charlize Theron, people disagreeing about who can use it (you and my immigrant acquaintances), and people from areas where “_ancestral-land_-hyphenated-American” is not a common descriptor of ethnic groups, so that they fail to understand even what was intended by the term, you have a term that fails to clearly convey a meaning–and, in language, I consider that a failure. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/37 "2006-07-01T22:22:11Z")
Dictionaries are descriptive these days, not prescriptive. That means they define words in the way that correlates to sustained usage. (I think the standard is that there must be at least ten independent uses of a term before it gets added, and that the term not be a vogue word but looks likely to stay in the language for the foreseeable future.) I’m afraid **John Mace** is mostly correct on this. Obama is an African-American under any standard or popular definition of the term. If enough people push hard enough and use the term enough to have a different set of connotations then an additional definition will be added to the dictionaries. And careful speakers will try to distinguish among the meanings. But we are not even a visible fraction of the way to that future. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/38 "2006-07-01T22:48:17Z")
Here’s a brief [news blurb](http://webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti-archive/msg03650.html) featuring prominent African-American Rev. Jesse Jackson talking to Haitian Americans in Florida during the Elian Gonzalez case. [Here,](http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2005/11/26/haiti-on-the-internet-a-chat-with-alice-eddie-backer) Haitian-American blogger Alice Eddie Backer talks about growing up in Haiti before moing to New York. At no time does she refer to herself as an “African-American.” Poke around this page and you’ll find many references to many other Caribbean kinships before they talk about African, African-American or even just American concerns. These folks by and large consider the Caribbean their ethnic commonalities override lumping them in with African-Americans. this is further demonstrated by their own accents, foods, clothes, music, politics, and more. Here’s a [resolution](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.+Res.+777) calling for a Haitian-American Heritage Month. Notice how in citing W.E.B. DuBois’ ethnic origins as a Haitian-American, the resolution nevertheless makes a clear distinction by acknowledging his expertise in African-American culture. (Of course, back then we were all “Coloreds” and “Negroes” – none of this pesky ethnic distinctions I’m pointing out.) / On Preview / Say what now..? What the hell is this? I was only gone for an hour! I had to eat! > [@New York Times article](#): > > Some black Americans argue that black immigrants, like Mr. Kamus, and the children of immigrants, like Mr. Obama and Mr. Powell, are most certainly African-American. (Mr. Obama and Mr. Powell often use that term when describing themselves.) **Yet some immigrants and their children prefer to be called African or Nigerian-American or Jamaican-American, depending on their countries of origin. Other people prefer the term black, which seems to include everyone, regardless of nationality.** This is exactly what I’ve been saying, but you left that part out, **John.** I want to thank you for clearing that up. This is the first time in a year of looking at interviews and reading books where I’ve actually read where Barack Obama refers to himself _explicitedly_ as an “African-American.” Okay. His family ethnic history is NOT the same as African-Americans descended of American slaves, and he’s saying the same thing people who say Charlize Theron is African-American do: “I’m American and I’m of African descent.” _But that’s not accurate._ Arrrghhh! But, Barack is a different boat as adopted ethnic identities go, since he’s also _black_, _raised in America_, and _married into_ an African-American family like Colin Powell did, he has more rights and credibility to the term than, say, Dave Matthews or Caron Bernstein. It seems that the definition of African-American is slowly changing and expanding where it someday might be inclusive of all immigrant blacks. But this was NOT the case when the term was originated in the late 1800s. It was NOT conceived to be inclusive of all blacks in America when Jesse Jackson and others revived the term in the 1980s. Right now, (I say, grasping on the last vestiges of my stubborness), I tend to doubt it ever will. But: this is a term that’s been more in flux than I’ve cared to admit. (Damn my ethnic group for habitually making large scale nomenclature changes every thirty years or so.) Right now, in July 2006, this is not a prevailing sentiment among black immigrant families, particularly if their Afro-Caribbean, to be call themselves African-Americans or adopt the term. We may be on the cusp of that changing. I am wrong, **tomndebb** and **John Mace** are right. But let’s try and revisit this six months from now and see which way the cultural pendulum is swinging then. – Askia Humbled Cushite ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/39 "2006-07-01T22:48:40Z")
[QUOTE=Exapno Mapcase] All (or virtually all) blacks in America are African-Americans. However, not all Africans in America are black. [/quote] You’re making my point for me. > [@](#): > > Continental boundaries are more a matter of common definition than formal geology. Yes. > [@](#): > > And all of sub-Saharan Africa is historically black and historically what is meant when people say “Africa.” So using African-American is inaccurate, like I said. It does not apply to all of Africa, but only a sub-set. > [@](#): > > Idiomatic English does not precisely correspond to scientific definitions of words and never has. This does not invalidate idiomatic English except in the most formal and precise of settings, none of which enter into this thread. Well, it enters into it if I say it does. I was explaining why I don’t like or use the phrase, and you can’t just come back and say that it’s obviously ok for people to be inaccurate. It may be ok with you, but it’s not with me. That’s my entire point. > [@](#): > > P.S. If you’re black and from Cuba, then your ancestors came from Africa. Same is true for all the rest of Latin America. The slave trade was everywhere, not just in the U.S. Obviously. However, “blacks” from Latin America often have even fewer vestiges of African culture than American ones, IME. They don’t think too much of themselves as African-Dominicans, but rather as Dominicans. At least I’ve never heard it being discussed. The racial divides that lead to such strong awareness don’t seem to be so great. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825/40 "2006-07-01T22:55:52Z")
[QUOTE=Cardinal] So using African-American is inaccurate, like I said. It does not apply to all of Africa, but only a sub-set. [/QUOTE] African-American is not inaccurate. Also, if the early indicators are correct and the term is being applied to (and more importantly adopted by) all immigrant blacks from the African diaspora in the U.S., the term is anything but inaccurate: it’s merely broad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-all-african-americans-really-african/362825.md?page=3)