Seriously though, how did a statement like "African American" become the go-to category for all black people? It seems extremely racist and insensitive to assume that anyone with dark skin is of African or of American descent. Patty Mills is a perfect example. As far as I can tell, the Aborigines were native to Australia, correct? So there's a guy who isn't of African or American descent, and yet I'm sure they would call him African American while he plays in the US. It's just so extremely ignorant.
All Americans are African-American, as Africa is where the human species first resided on the planet.
I was thinking about that when I was next to a couple of the Timbers players the other day. Diego Chara is black as hell, but he's full blooded Columbian, and Donovan Rickets is from Jamaica. And I think officially Steve Nash is African-Canadian right?
Something that I never used to think about until I was told differently is how some people from Mexico, Central America, South America, etc, do not like being called Hispanic. They want to be called Latino/Latina because they don't consider themselves Hispanic. I thought that was interesting and I had no idea that feeling existed.
That's why I just say Black. Saying African-American is so dumb as 90+% of black people in America weren't born/will never go to Africa probably.
What it boils down to is that the media/corporations are so scared of offending someone, they will knowingly say the wrong thing because virtually nobody will get offended or raise a stink over being called African American. They might think it's stupid, but they're not going to call up the ACLU. Whereas there might still be some people who feel offended when they're called black. That's the best reason I can think of that it's still so widely used.
Closet the majority of my black friends have been to Africa is probably Clackamas Town Center or the Adidas outlet in Troutdale!
This is true. I work with a couple, one is from Colombia and the other Peru. They corrected me once saying I should use the word Latin.
I hate being called white. I prefer melanin-challenged. It's just so insensitive to make a reference to my physical handicap of not being able to handle UV radiation as well as other people.
Was there a recording? If so, it fasttracks the derailment of Ferry's career. Not seeing how he gets out of this one. As said earlier, he should have proof read if it was someone else's words.