Warp wrote:
> Mike Raiford <"m[raiford]!at"@gmail.com> wrote:
>> If anybody should be considered African-American, it would be him. I 
>> hate the term, because it makes no sense in it's current usage. It used 
>> to be you could call people black, or white ...Now it's politcally 
>> "incorrect" so, we come up with BS terms like this ... Africa is a huge 
>> continent, some people are black, some white, some other skintones.
> 
>   The term has always bothered me as well. Especially since it's used
> for *all* black people, even those who have never even been in the
> American continent. How does that make any sense?
> 
>   Even more jarring is that it's also used for dark-skinned people who
> are neither African nor American. (Many people in the Pacific islands or
> south Asia, for example, could very well pass for Africans, even though
> they aren't.)
> 
>   I agree with the student in the original story: If he was born in Africa
> and is currently living in America, isn't he by definition an African-
> American? Why would skin pigmentation have any effect on this?

I don't support our racial categorizations, but I suspect that the 
fellow's ancestors all trace back to Europe, in which case he is 
classified as Caucasian and not African.  The fact that his family did 
time in Africa is regarded as immaterial.

I personally think that anyone who wants should be able to claim himself 
or herself as the progenitor for an entirely new race.

Regards,
John

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