If my parents are white, and, born in South Africa and I was born in the United States of America, do I qualify for an African American Scholarship or Affirmative Action or any similar situations? I mean, in the technical linguistic use of the term, I am an African American, right?
I’m asking this half serious and half not serious, I think it is an interesting way of looking at the situation, that’s why I’m asking.
Generally no.
could you expand upon that answer a bit…
According to some government guidelines to be considered ‘Black’ you must have “origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa”. I have no idea how they decide what a ‘black racial group of Africa’ is since there are no such things as races.
Yes, I think that is more or less correct. People of Egyptian descent are, I believe, excluded from such programs.
In 1990 one of my classmates in grad school, a white South African woman, realized that she had self identified as African-American in error. The term African-American was just starting to replace Black as the polite term. The application forms (paper in those days, didn’t have any explanation of the choices as they all seem to now).
It was quite an experience knowing her during those times of change in South Africa. To say that she had mixed feelings about racial issues would be an understatement.
Gotcha!
Except not. “African American” is a term that refers to descendants of black slaves, and to a lesser degree people who are treated socially like descendants of black slaves and identify as such. You know this.
They are those African peoples that, if they came to America, would be identified as black (or “African-American”), by white Americans. Simple! Once you understand the principle.
OK – since we covered the basic question; would there be a difference between Robert identifying as an African-American? Does the hyphen make any difference legally or in terms of the linguistics?
(I’m thinking of the various Polish-Americans etc that I’ve met over the years.)
So many other “gotchas” in your statement but I won’t even bother…
Wait, I thought we learned a few months ago that you could self identify as African American.
I am white, but part of my family is from Mexico (they are certainly white in a Mexican context) and speak Spanish at home - though I am far from truly fluent. Essentially, I am Latino in the same sense Louis CK or Viggo Mortensen are. I am not sure which box I should check. Obviously I could pick “Hispanic” - but I also recognize that the politics of doing so are problematic, especially in a university. I have seen similarly “mixed” people in my field pick Hispanic or Native American and get hired, perhaps, on that basis, only to face constant heat for lacking “authenticity” as they look totally white or have no experience in the community. Believe it or not, sometimes it is easier to be a white guy.
Yes checking a box can get you hired or admitted in some cases, but then you have to live up to a certain set of expectations as a student or colleague.
There is no way to “prove” one’s race, one way or another. But you might want to sag your pants and start adding -izzle to the ends of words if you’re going to try to pass for black.