Comments on: Teresa Heinz Kerry: African American

By: LJD

LJD — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 17:25:10 +0000

How ironic is it: the more Democrats tout diversity and identify America as the "melting pot", the more they want to separate people with such terminology? It would be far more appropriate to separate on political affiliation. What about Bleeding-Heart Americans or Marxist Americans? You may not know their lineage, but you at least know what you're dealing with. I love the previous comment... I too, am a Native American. (Maybe the dinosaurs are the TRUE native Americans). There is no rule of thumb... What it comes down to is using a term that will not piss anybody off, which changes from time to time and depending on the venue... I live in a New England town that is extemely white, where the lefties are incredibly militant about political correctness. Of course, having never lived with any "minorities" they have no idea what they're talking about. God forbid I should refer to an old friend from CA as "My Niggah". I, on the other hand, was living in L.A. during the riots and have much experience with "diversity". People need to get over... A man is measured on merit, not the color of his skin. (Oops, I said "Man" what I meant to say was "Non-gender-specific, un-sexually oriented, Earth-based.... Oh the heck with it.)

By: Attila Girl

Attila Girl — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 09:16:13 +0000

Asian means what *oriental* used to mean.

And Afro-American was replaced by African-American, probably because it wasn't confusing or divisive enough.

I wish we could just use something descriptive, like Black or Negro. Something that doesn't have to be parsed nine ways to Sunday.

By: Simon World

Simon World — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 07:42:00 +0000

Enemablog
A change in format for the weekly link round-up. A combination of a busy working week a lack of decent material to link has conspired to keep my folder of links rather thin. So instead I'm going to feature a few blogs I read on a constant basis (daily...

By: sqd

sqd — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 06:13:56 +0000

The advertising on both sides is slowly but surely sinking into the abyss. The next few months should be a pungent trip through the city sewers.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Fri, 13 Aug 2004 01:33:54 +0000

The sociologist Charles Moskos makes a distinction that I think is useful. Teresa Heinz Kerry, Kim Du Toit, and Condoleeza Rice are all African Americans. Condoleeza Rice is also an Afro-American. Barack Obama is probably not Afro-American by Moskos's standards (father Kenyan immigrant, mother Kansan of European descent, reared in Hawaii).

By: dw

dw — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 19:52:31 +0000

Charlize Theron isn't an African-American. She's South African. The problem with "African-American" is that, to the black community, it means "a person who is descended from slaves taken from West Africa." Thus, Ethiopeans and Kenyans are, technically, not African-American (not to mention blacks from southern Africa), and this has caused a lot of problems. Obama, of course, is Kenyan. There has been some scuttlebutt among the African-American community about how he's not part of "their story." Asian-American is a very funny label, since an Iranian-American is as Asian-American as a Chinese-American. And since they're all "wunderkinds," descendants of Laotian boat people don't get the breaks, since they're obviously smart like those Japanese. Doesn't matter, mind you, that their incomes are half what the Japanese make. Maybe it's time to set aside race. Problem is, that leaves income disparity, and that's a double-edged sword that no Republican or Dem would ever want to pick up.

By: McGehee

McGehee — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 19:33:34 +0000

Why is this party still taken seriously?

Call it the soft bigotry of low expectations.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 19:01:07 +0000

heh- The Dems play the race card then say: "It's disgusting that the president's political allies are now using race as a political weapon," Why is this party still taken seriously?

By: beo

beo — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 18:59:11 +0000

What would you call a black man from London? He wouldn't be an African-American, obviously. Yet he is the same race as a black man from North Carolina. So, how can the term "African-American" be racial in any way? Think about it!

Also, I was born in the US, so I am a Native American. Deal with it.

By: La Femme Crickita

La Femme Crickita — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 18:36:50 +0000

The Dumbocrats are upset about a so-called 'race
card?' Scusa, but we need to ask WHY she is saying
she is African American. She isn't black, she is
considered 'white' though of Iberian descent.
Why can't she say she is a Portuguese-American?
Is she ashamed of her roots?

By: mypetjawa v. 2.0 (beta)

mypetjawa v. 2.0 (beta) — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 17:50:08 +0000

I'm Black. I can feel it. (Except Rick James) Well known 'African-Americans'...

By: Rusty

Rusty — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 17:39:31 +0000

Right, just like Charlize Theron is 'African-American' I'm down brotha.

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 17:27:01 +0000

I find "Asian" to be the most annoying of the PC monikers. People clearly use it to mean what "Chinese" used to mean. They definitely do not mean to include Israel, Iraq, Turmkenistan or India in the appellation. I had a friend who annoyingly only liked to date "Asian" women. So, I taught him a lesson. I got the darkest skinned Tamil Indian I knew (she was a friend of mine who agreed to go along with the prank) to go out on a blind date with my friend. I promised him that I had found him the "hottest Asian chick I've ever seen". To judge from the collapse in his facial features, my friend wasn't quite as enlightened as his PC verbiage might have led one to believe.