Black Men: What Do You Prefer To Be Called?

Well i'm no role model. That's for sure! My advice is if you don't understand the nuance between nigger and nigga - and there is one, don't use either.

 

The only real difference is the pronunciation/spelling, otherwise, it's the same word interpreted differently.

 

Your absolutely right, but the same word in different contexts can have a different meaning.

 

I prefer to be called a black man over anything else. The reason why I don't care for calling myself African-American is because in a way that term separates you from other blacks. African-Americans are obviously not the only descendants of Africans in the world. There are black Latinos, black Europeans, black Africans, black Canadians, and the list goes on and on. If you use a term like African-American, you are putting yourself into one group and leaving out so many other people. But black encompasses people of the African diaspora no matter what country they may reside in.

I think that one of the problems we as black people have is that we like to put ourselves in cliques. I know black Americans who dislike blacks from other countries, blacks from the Caribbean who only want to be around other black West Indians, and I even know some black Africans who've lived in America most of their lives as U.S. citizens but don't want to have anything to do with "those lazy African-Americans." We have all these separate cliques and we don't want to work together.

I know that white people have their ethnic rivalries as well. Sometimes, the Italians, Irish and Jewish people have their beefs. But the difference between white American ethnic rivalries and black ethnic conflicts is that when it comes time to do business, white groups have the ability to put these differences aside and make their money. Sometimes, black people would rather go to white organizations that have previously discriminated against blacks than work with black people of other ethnic groups. I know that we may come from different backgrounds, but why can't we coexist and work with each other?

This bothers me a lot, because I am proud of the fact that my ancestors came from Africa (even though I may not know what part they came from). I have dated an African woman and I listen to more Caribbean and Latin music than American music. But I'm also proud of how blacks throughout American history have fought off slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, and made it possible for people of color from different countries to want to move to and live in America. It wasn't always like that. You would think that if any race of people could work together, blacks would be able to. But that is not the case at all in America.

Peace.
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"She walks these hills with a long, black veil...."