European Americans

a reply to: odzeandennz

Dude, I just keep getting the idea that we are arguing two vastly different points.
Kevin Hart is an American, as I wrote.
If you listen to his comedy, he makes jokes about black women (so he doesn't feel the need to be politically correct) and rich white guys. Kevin Hart is one of millions of Americans who associates himself as one particular color, and who associates others as another color. Typically people will call the Euro Americans as their more common name--whites--and if the term "white" weren't accepted, people would probably refer to them as European Americans to distinguish what type of American they were.
I understand your point.. sort of.. but still posit that there is not, and never was a box where the whites could check, simply, American. White Americans check the Caucasion box whenever asked to classify their race.

American is a term for all people born in America, but only whites are commonly called by the color of their skin, rather than (add ancestry here)-American. Why is that? Perhaps because most white people don't get offended if you call them white and hence no need to pussy-foot around by calling them "European Americans."
A lot of "white" people call "black" people African American because they truly belive that's what "black" people would prefer to be called. What do you think the NAACP stands for?
Again, I look forward to the day when race doesn't even enter into the discussion. But that's not today and so we have terms to describe race. The above mentioned words are intended not to carry any negative meaning.

Or maybe white people are (as you insinuate) claiming the land as their own and no one else's.. but I don't think that's the case for the many reasons previously stated.

Good luck finding the answers you're looking for, though.

a reply to: odzeandennz

Simply put - divide and conquer.

As for why one group gets no special designation, when you are the group named as a preferred target, you don't get a fun label!

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

exactly.

while others insist that its a way to refer to people in a non derogatory way, i beg to differ.
people keep bringing in black and white race issues when this sint about that.
why would black be the only race called by the color of their skin? what color would they call someone from china, or ,,,brazil or Iran etc... i guess its derogatory to call blacks 'blacks' due to past history and why they were refered to simply as 'blacks'. but that a different thread....

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my point is simply, if the identifier in front of 'American' i.e. Asian-American, Mexican-American, or Indian-American, is to denote a heritage which migrated to America at some point in some form (ill leave African American out, because people bring up todays race issues immediately), why arent there any European-American on any forms i come across.

if a Japanese-American is someone who moved to America and hence became American by proxy, why not white Americans who also settled here. and why would Americans, aka 'Native-Americans, require an identifier to denote of all things, that they were the initial natives of this land. they didnt migrate here... in fact they wouldnt be wrong to ask congress not to refer to them as 'native-americans' but simply americans...

when did congress implement this, and in olden days i wonder how people reacted. or if this question was even evoked, why are we simply americans, and the Natives are Native-Americans (or every other migrating groups have a prefix then American except one group of people).

originally posted by: odzeandennz
a reply to: LadyGreenEyes
my point is simply, if the identifier in front of 'American' i.e. Asian-American, Mexican-American, or Indian-American, is to denote a heritage which migrated to America at some point in some form (ill leave African American out, because people bring up todays race issues immediately), why arent there any European-American on any forms i come across.

I completely understand your point although I'm in the UK.
Nobody ever says African-British, just British. Race is only a factor really in the census forms as I posted previously, and black is the descriptive term here, it is not an insult, same reason as the BLM movement is not the 'African American Lives Matter' movement.

From my perspective across the Atlantic it seems the US has a lot of catching up to do. I can't actually imagine anything more ridiculous sounding than 'African British' as an identifier. We all just call ourselves British here.
I hope things evolve soon for your nation, but seeing as it's only been what 50 years since black people were 'officially' treated like crap in the US I guess it will take some time.

Dropping the stupid 'African American' thing would be a good start I reckon.

*Edit*
If my black mates suddenly started identifying as African-British instead of just British I'd probably piss myself laughing and ask if they were taking the piss, or just being ridiculous for a laugh.

a reply to: grainofsand

yea. i know what you mean. e.g. Phelps in the Olympics became the first American with the most medals, another american won a swimming medal, she happened to be black, she became the first African American to win that medal, or i remember an astronaut who was famous simply because he had asian heritage... he wasnt an american, but asian american.

that moniker only applies to non whites... never see european american anything...

ill leave this at that. its just how it is i suppose.

a reply to: odzeandennz

The Brits who won gold in the Olympics were reported by their name, not race.
Black, white, and everyone in between made the UK 2nd in the world at sports...even you US folk would # it if we had a population of 300 million lol

I think it is all stupid. If you are a citizen of the U.S. you should be called American. Some people like having the prefix. Some people don't. In my era, white people were called white people, black people were called black people, Asian people were called asian people and so on, ect. ect.

Just like the term minorities. We are one Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. That is how it should be. But alas, culture is to blame for separation. IMHO.

a reply to: odzeandennz
Heven't European Americans got labelled as well, if their origins were not English?
As in "German American", "Italian American", "Irish American"?
Since English origin was originally the norm, people saw no need to give it a special label.