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I’m probably insane for actually writing about this but following-up my recent post on race in the race, I want to admit that I am utterly confused about what to say. When is someone black or African-American? Is Barack Obama a Kenyan-Kansasian?

Part of this is political correctness gone mad and the other part of my confusion has to do with not wanting to offend anyone. My life over the past couple of years has been divided between the U.S. and the U.K. I’ve also been around Europe and to South Africa along the way. I also lived in Africa as a child, Nigeria to be exact.

Can someone please help me understand when someone is black or African-American? When I get on a plane in the U.S. people are African-American but when I get off the plane in Europe they are black. If an African-American rides with me on the plane, how do people know they are not black when they get off the plane?

I’ve never met an African-European person and last time I was in the Caribbean this black woman was saying how much she hated to be called African-American. “I’m not American”, she said. “I’m black.”

When I go back to America I’m so afraid of saying the wrong thing that I’ve actually said things like “This soda goes to the person that is not white over there” or “You know Bob, he was the third to last person to enter the room.”

And am I white? I think so. I thought so. But growing up I was caucasian. What is caucasian? Why am I not called a European-American?

To make the issue more confusing it appears that we are all related to brown color skin pigment, which is fine by me.

“Scientists said that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology’s most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity’s greatest sources of strife.

The work suggests that the skin-whitening mutation occurred by chance in a single individual after the first human exodus from Africa, when all people were brown-skinned. That person’s offspring apparently thrived as humans moved northward into what is now Europe, helping to give rise to the lightest of the world’s races.”

On many topics, like credit, debt, money, etc. I’m really good with what is what. But on this subject I’m a confused wreck.

Was my black cabbie in Dublin that was an Irish native an African-Irish Man? What if you live in America and you have dark skin but came from Jamaica. Are you Jamaican-American?

When I was in Cape Town people referred to themselves as black. But some African’s are white. What do we call them European-Africans?

Now I don’t see race as something that defines us but it is an apparent difference, like between my bald head and a guy with lots of hair. If I say “the tall guy” is that discriminatory in the height department?

What’s next do we start calling people Lesbian-American or Chubby-Latino?

So what is the answer here, or are you too afraid to comment for fear that you might offend someone? See what I mean, it’s a confusing subject that people are afraid to talk about.

Apparently, others are as confused as I am.

I’m black again. I was black in Mississippi in the 1970s but sometime in the 1980s I became African-American, with a brief pause at Afro-American. Someone, I think it was Jesse Jackson, in the days when he had that kind of clout, managed to convince America that I preferred being African-American. I don’t.

Now I live in Britain where I’m black again. Blacks in Britain come from all over, although many are from the former colonies. According to the last census, about half of the British people who identify as black say they are black Caribbean, about 40 percent consider themselves black African, and the rest just feel plain old black. Black Brits are further divided by ancestral country of origin, yet they are united under the term black British — often expanded to include British Asians from the Indian subcontinent.

The term African-American was contrived to give black Americans a sense of having a historical link to Africa, since one of slavery’s many unhappy legacies is that most black Americans don’t know particulars about their origins. Black Americans whose ancestors arrived after slavery and who can pinpoint their country of origin are excluded from the definition — which is why, early in his campaign, people said Barack Obama wasn’t really African-American. Yet, since he has one parent from the African continent and one from the American continent, he is explicitly African-American.

Distinguishing between American black people based on their ancestors’ arrival date ignores the continuum of experience that transcends borders and individual genealogies and unites black people all over the world. Yes, scientists have shown that black means nothing as a biological description, but it remains an important signal in social interaction. Everywhere I travel, from North Africa to Europe to Asia, dark-skinned people approach me and, usually gently but sometimes aggressively, establish a bond.

When, early on in the race for the Democratic nomination, people wondered if black Americans would vote for Mr. Obama, I never doubted. During the last two years I’ve learned to decipher his name in almost any pronunciation, because on finding out that I’m an American, all other black people I meet, whether they are Arabic-speaking Moroccans in Casablanca, French-speaking African mobile-phone-store clerks in the outer boroughs of Paris, or thickly accented Jamaican black Brits, ask me eagerly about him. Black people all over the world feel a sense of pride in his accomplishment.

It’s hard to understand why black Americans ever tried to use the term African-American to exclude people. The black American community’s social and political power derives from its inclusiveness. Everyone who identifies as black has traditionally been welcomed, no matter their skin color or date of arrival. In Britain, in contrast, dark-skinned people who trace their relatives to particular former colonies can be cliquish. Beyond the fact that blacks make up a smaller share of the population here, this regional identity may be a reason that the British black community isn’t as powerful a social and political force.

I’ve never minded not knowing who my ancestors are beyond a few generations. My partner is an Englishman whose family tree is the sort that professional genealogists post on the Internet because it can be traced back to the first king of England in the 11th century. To me, it’s more comforting to know that, through me, our children will be black, with all of the privileges and pains.

On Mr. Obama’s behalf, American blacks have set aside their exclusive label. Polls show that about 80 percent of blacks who have voted in the Democratic primaries have chosen him. And all of the black people in the mountains of Morocco, the poor suburbs of Paris, the little villages in Kenya and the streets of London are cheering Mr. Obama’s victories because they see him as one of their own.

Black Americans should honor that. It’s time to retire the term African-American and go back to black.

- New York Times. Go Back to Black

The conversations I found online about this were not helpful, just more confusing. To my question of when is someone black or African-American I found these answers.

  • African American. I didnt come out of a crayon box you know.
  • I’m Jamaican, so calling me African-American isn’t too accurate. Call me black.
  • I don’t mind being called african americans because even though I’ve never been to africa, my ancestors were from there.
  • I don’t like being referred as a color and neither do African-Americans.
  • I prefer my racial identity to be Black. My nationality is American.
  • Doesn’t matter to me but I will call myself black before I say African American.
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Steve

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