Black vs. Africian American
Celeste Blackburn SPHR
248 Posts
A customer contacted us after an employee took issue with the use of "African American" in diversity training literature. She argued that "black" would be the preferred term.
I did some research and found arguments for both. As someone who has no personal experience from which to draw, I see it as a studier of language and the debate and shift as part of a natural evolution in vernacular.
It seems to me that African American is currently the term of choice (after being somewhat "coined" by Jesse Jackson in 80s). But as tides constantly shift, we are moving toward a time soon when people will want a term that doesn't (1) separate them from other "Americans" and (2) doesn't tie them to a place of origin they don't identify with b/c of their skin color.
Have any of you ever encountered this debate in the workplace? Had an employee request that you use a specific term?
I did some research and found arguments for both. As someone who has no personal experience from which to draw, I see it as a studier of language and the debate and shift as part of a natural evolution in vernacular.
It seems to me that African American is currently the term of choice (after being somewhat "coined" by Jesse Jackson in 80s). But as tides constantly shift, we are moving toward a time soon when people will want a term that doesn't (1) separate them from other "Americans" and (2) doesn't tie them to a place of origin they don't identify with b/c of their skin color.
Have any of you ever encountered this debate in the workplace? Had an employee request that you use a specific term?
Comments
I think the designation black makes more sense because it seems strange to me to tie someone to a place/country of origin simply because of their skin color. I am not called a Mixed European American because several generations ago my ancestors came here from Germany, Holland, and Great Britain, I am just plain white. It also seems divisive to me to call someone African American because in the end we're all Americans, regardless of the color of our skin.
All that being said, “you just ain’t going please every body all the time.”
I recall a story of an American (white) that was visiting England and asked a black man on the street what it was like being an African American in England. The man responded in a very strong English accent, “Sir, I am neither African nor American. I am British!”
Obviously these terms shift over time. Like Frank said, it costs nothing to use the terminology that an ethnic group prefers (if there is consensus).
Personally, I prefer to be addressed as an "Anglo-Saxon" because it sounds tough and is probably closest to my heritage. But mostly because it sounds tough.
I wonder if we won't come to a time when younger generations hear "African-American" in the same way I used to hear "colored."
On a purely Oregonian sidenote: Paul, the mascot for my alma mater South Salem High School is the Saxon. My dad used to think it was the funniest thing that we were the Fighting Saxons. I wonder if that mascot will ever be changed because of cultural sensitivity issues.
Come to think of it, so would I.
You got to love these high school and college mascots. They remind of us a simpler, less sensitive time.