# Question about Affirmative Actions and similar policies **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2015, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430 "2015-08-10T04:55:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/1 "2015-08-10T04:55:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/2 "2015-08-10T05:04:07Z")
Generally no. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/3 "2015-08-10T05:05:32Z")
> [@brickbacon](#): > > Generally no. could you expand upon that answer a bit… ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/4 "2015-08-10T05:14:01Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/5 "2015-08-10T05:22:57Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/6 "2015-08-10T11:55:00Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/7 "2015-08-10T12:05:07Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/8 "2015-08-10T14:22:34Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/9 "2015-08-10T14:27:58Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > I mean, in the technical linguistic use of the term, I am an African American, right? 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.) ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/10 "2015-08-12T00:37:04Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > 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. So many other “gotchas” in your statement but I won’t even bother…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/11 "2015-08-12T06:05:32Z")
Wait, I thought we learned a few months ago that you could [self identify](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Dolezal) as African American. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/12 "2015-08-12T07:01:26Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > 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. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Grotonian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c2a13f/32.png) [@Grotonian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grotonian)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-affirmative-actions-and-similar-policies/727430/13 "2015-08-12T09:17:18Z")
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.