african-american

Gonz said:
I can think of at least 5 changes in my lifetime & I'm only 45.

I love it when it's better to change the rules once you get what you want insterad of living by them.
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okay. what rules would those be? how should they live?
 
Guess the term Franco-American, Polish-American, German American, Irish-American, Russian-American, etc have never been noticed, spoken, written, or seen in her presence. I won't argue the point because its relatively pointless. We label ourselves when we feel we do not belong to the larger group...and the term for a person from Hawaii would be, and I kid you not...I've seen it...Pacific-Islander.
 
Gato_Solo said:
We label ourselves when we feel we do not belong to the larger group...
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I completely agree, why can't people just call themselves by their nationality. I for one, feel insulted by the mexican-americans, make up your mind, you're either one, not both.
 
wow, who know it was all so simple?

so i guess "african-american" are more american that "white," because they even got "american" in their racial/ethnic label, as well as the one that would address citizenship.
 
Gonz said:
American. My families heritage is piontless. *phanwink*
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Personally, I find that kind of sad .. but if it's pointless to you, it can mean nothing to me. I just hope I - and every single one of my descendents - never feel that way.
 
Gato_Solo said:
Guess the term Franco-American, Polish-American, German American, Irish-American, Russian-American, etc have never been noticed, spoken, written, or seen in her presence. I won't argue the point because its relatively pointless. We label ourselves when we feel we do not belong to the larger group...and the term for a person from Hawaii would be, and I kid you not...I've seen it...Pacific-Islander.
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Yeah, we're known a lot to non-Pacific-Islanders as "Pacific Islanders", regardless of our Nationalities. Most of us will differentiate ourselves from one another because of our proud heritages and because we know and understand the difference. It's pretty much the same as "Asians" - they're clumped together under one heading but they (many of them) know who they are and will differentiate based on their heritage.
 
nalani said:
Personally, I find that kind of sad .. but if it's pointless to you, it can mean nothing to me. I just hope I - and every single one of my descendents - never feel that way.
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Maybe it is sad but for those of us that grew up without an emphasis on culture it's not important.
I am curious about my father's family solely because the things I was told are seeming to unravel and I am curious about the big secret but no matter what I may uncover it won't change who I view myself as or who I have become.
I do wish that I was part of a culturally rich family. I think it may lend a great sense of belonging and...well, pride.
I am, by no means, culturally proud. I have been lucky enough to travel quite a bit and live in other countries. Enough to appreciate them and to kind of squash the (ever present in the US) "We're the greatest country in the world" mentality. The world has so much to offer, I'm happy to have had the chance to be nomadic in it.
 
tonksy said:
Maybe it is sad but for those of us that grew up without an emphasis on culture it's not important.
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you're white. members of the dominant social group never really have an emphasis so much on culture (in a basic sense) in an overt way because their culture is simply the way things are. it's the other folks that need to assert identities through "culture," real or made-up. (oh, but it's all made up...)
 
MrBishop said:
Most 'family crests' are fake. Real crests are given to individuals and aren't supposed to be passed down.
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I remeber my brother had to do a project for school with our family crest,so we called up our grandparents, and guess what they didn't even know.
 
I worked for the Arch-deacon of Montreal, who was an official Heraldist. When we were redesigning the Archbishop's crest, he and I had long talks about not only the rules of crests, but their meanings and the significance of individual items on crests.

This is one of his pieces: http://www.heraldry.ca/top_en/top_rhsc_dvd.htm
 
tonksy said:
Maybe it is sad but for those of us that grew up without an emphasis on culture it's not important.
I am curious about my father's family solely because the things I was told are seeming to unravel and I am curious about the big secret but no matter what I may uncover it won't change who I view myself as or who I have become.
I do wish that I was part of a culturally rich family. I think it may lend a great sense of belonging and...well, pride.
I am, by no means, culturally proud. I have been lucky enough to travel quite a bit and live in other countries. Enough to appreciate them and to kind of squash the (ever present in the US) "We're the greatest country in the world" mentality. The world has so much to offer, I'm happy to have had the chance to be nomadic in it.
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Hence adding "if it's pointless to you, it can mean nothing to me". Before the time of the "melting pot", families were culture-based. All I'm saying is as one who was lucky enough to grow up in an actual culture-based family, I find it sad on a personal level when others find it pointless - but I'm not going to lecture about how it's not pointless because that's not my life and if you're ok with it, that's great. But I truly hope my family never gets to the point where it's ok not to have that base - because it's the reason my ancestors existed in the first place.
 
2minkey said:
you're white. members of the dominant social group never really have an emphasis so much on culture (in a basic sense) in an overt way because their culture is simply the way things are. it's the other folks that need to assert identities through "culture," real or made-up. (oh, but it's all made up...)
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Sorry, but I don't "need" to assert my identity through anything. I know who I am. I know who my ancestors were further back than you have fingers and toes to count as do my children.
 
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