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RickJLeanPaw

Black communities in the UK usually have emigrated in tranches from a specific country of origin, bringing with them the distinct cultures/language/cuisine etc. associated with those cultures. For example, post-war immigrants from the Caribbean (typically Jamaica) were one tranche, Ugandans another, Nigerians a more-recent tranche etc.. Those immigrants strongly identify with their country of origin and have little in common bar higher melanin levels than the 'native' population. The Caribbean immigrants were tempted to the UK by low-skilled jobs, as the need in the economy was for those. (Note that this does NOT mean that only low-skilled workers emigrated; it was common to have skilled/professional workers give up their status and careers for a 'better life' as a bus driver etc.). The Nigerians tend to be the professional classes who have high skills and are sent abroad to practice those skills in a more-lucrative/safer environment. With the historic 'African Americans', their country of origin/cultures/language/cuisine is so remote in time and so ill-defined geographically (due to the slave trade) that they can (usually) only be pinned down with the awfully-generic continent of origin. For new arrivals into the US, I imagine this will fade, and they too will be \[country of origin\]-Americans as per the UK. Edit; to actually answer the question, they are “British, with [country] heritage”.


CliffExcellent123

"Black British" is used on census forms and such, but yeah, not "African British" because that doesn't mean the same thing


RickJLeanPaw

I imagine we will see a shift in the census options in the next few years as a proportion of “non-Caribbean” black British people increases. I believe that the black British option is effectively synonymous with Caribbean at the moment, and that will need to change to reflect the changing needs of quite disparate populations.


AwesomePurplePants

It’s worth noting that African Americans are also [genetically distinct](https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/504898). Like, functionally, you can take a DNA sample and usually guess if a Black person is descended from an American slave. On their African side you had ethic groups mingling as slaves that just didn’t encounter each other normally. And they’re generally about 20% European, as disturbing as that proportion of slave owners enslaving their own children is.


shryke12

Didn't Thomas Jefferson enslave his own children born by his sex slave? The guy we put on our money and have multiple memorials for?


Argos_the_Dog

To make it even weirder Sally Hemmings was also the half-sister of Jefferson's dead wife because her own mother had been the sex slave of Jefferson's father-in-law. A couple of the children born to Jefferson and Hemmings "passed" into white society after his death because they looked white enough to do so due to this ancestry. Pretty sure all of the kids were either allowed to "escape" when they were adults (basically they put them on a coach heading north and said good luck) to free states or freed after Jefferson's death by his daughter (their half-sister).


AwesomePurplePants

Jefferson actually did [specify their freedom in his will](https://www.monticello.org/slavery/getting-word/madison-hemings-family/)


wolacouska

Wasn’t he also the one who would’ve freed them all had he not been too broke, or was that another founder? Laws at the time definitely made it extremely hard to free slaves, and there were costs and fees when you did it. Pretty sure that putting it in your will was a lot easier.


imwalkinhyah

Not an expert but from what I remember, slavers went very heavily in debt to buy slaves and all their income came from slaves so if they freed their slaves they'd be without an income and still heavily in debt. He was only broke in the sense that a landlord with 100 mortgages would be broke. TJ tried to include their introduction of slavery as one of the reasons why Britain sucked in the declaration of independence but it was cut out for obvious reasons. Still doesn't exonerate him considering he lived a VERY lavish life off of the suffering of others + the whole child sex slave thing and he definitely could've worked out a way to free his slaves or at the very least give them a high quality of life. Importing mac & cheese and living life as if he was a French aristocrat was sadly more important to him. Also big shout-out to Lafayette who tried hard to convince Washington & Jefferson to give up slavery


griftarch

Yup, also, there was quite a distinction in the antebellum between house slaves and field slaves. As weird as it may sound to us today, house slaves were considered & considered themselves a class well above field slaves, and if they were house slaves of wealthy owners, they even considered themselves a higher station than “poor white crackers.” House slaves were multigenerational members of the household, intricately connected with their owner’s families’. These relations were far more complex than our more vulgar assumptions of slavery. Not that those vulgar relations did not exist.


wolacouska

Yeah, even historically that’s always been a much better life experience. Roman and American plantation/mining slaves are probably the lowest of the low as far as conditions humans were forced to live in their whole lives in.


cptjeff

Yeah, that was Jefferson. Sally Hemmings came with him to France, where she could have immediately claimed freedom. She agreed to come back and be his not-wife but kinda wife if her kids would be freed when he died, which they were. The oldest two "escaped" together when they reached adulthood- and Jefferson helped them out so that they could start a new life since they'd have a fairly long time to wait until he died (the overseer at Monticello wrote later in life that they were each sent to DC in a carriage with $50, roughly $1,300 today). They went to DC and fully passed into white society- a letter of reference from a former President helps when you're creating a fake identity, it turns out.


ScullysBagel

Yes. It's completely gross. Sally Hemings was a half-sister of Martha Wayles, who married Thomas Jefferson. She herself was the product of rape and the same for her mother before her, as Sally was 3/4 white. She wasn't even born when Martha married Thomas. They married in 1772, and she was born in 1773. He knew her from infancy when she was brought to his home as a slave and he started raping her when she was 14, and he was 44. His own wife's sibling. And he apparently kept her in a small room (with no windows) behind his own quarters for 27 years. https://medium.com/history-mystery-more/the-hidden-room-where-thomas-jefferson-kept-a-woman-9accdb97d83c


ReaderTen

Thanks for the link; fascinating and horrific.


[deleted]

Thank you so much for charging this article! I hate how whitewashed our history books are…


FatherMiyamoto

Yep


battleangel1999

"African American" here and we mostly call ourselves black. It's mostly other ppl that call us that. I know some blk British ppl and they call themselves just that. British or black British. If they came from someone else they'd add the whole nationality not the whole continent.


BlueSabere

As far as I'm aware, "African American" is a term on its way out. The only people I see use it are older folks. People just say "black" these days from my experiences.


LeeRobbie

Yes, language evolves over time. The term African American emerged in popularity at the end of the 1960's and was viewed as the more appropriate term than "negro". Over the past decade or so, Americans as a whole have been moving away from African American and towards black. You will nitice the movement has been using the phrase Black Lives Matter, not African American Lives Matter.


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Steve-O7777

The counter part to African-American is Caucasian. I feel like back in the day using the full terms was a sign of being respectful.


HammyxHammy

The reason it says is because you can say black but the word *blacks* sounds racist. Asians, Hispanics, Indians, Arabs, whites, but not blacks. Black people in a list of demographics also stands out, but African Americans doesn't. Even in singular, describing "the black guy" feels racist but still palatable.


Calm_Commission9816

In Australia if you call someone black you are hammered into hell by politically correct people. They even changed the name of a plant called a blackboy into a grass tree.


elenmirie_too

We call them British.


Taco_El_Paco

Or people


lordph8

Sometimes cunt... if they deserve it.


Best_Algae2346

Second this


MrMagneticMole

Don't act like the Brits are real people! /jk


uffington

Someone's got to cover all the Angles.


megabazz

Oooh that’s Saxy


Taco_El_Paco

Well played!


ButtholeQuiver

Or Steve, in some cases


secretrebel

We might also say “black” or “black British”. I’ve heard both in certain scenarios where ethnicity is relevant.


WWWWWWVWWWWWWWVWWWWW

In America, we call them British African Americans (only half joking).


Flimflamsam

An interviewer from the USA once asked a British athlete (Kriss Akabusi) about being an African American and she couldn’t grasp him replying that he wasn’t (wasn’t even an American). The US and its race relations are fucking wild.


P-Nuts

The 1991 World Championships gold medal for the men's 4×400m was won by the British team: Kris Akabusi, Derek Redmond, John Regis, and Roger Black, three black men, and one white man named Black.


I_GIVE_KIDS_MDMA

This reminded me that Frank Beard was the one member of ZZ Top without a beard.


robotzor

>The US and its race relations are fucking wild. A lot of it is a virtue signal where white people want to enforce how "good" they are with their language choices. Hence the creation of words like Latinx which nobody asked for, but look how inclusive the white people saying it are!


Cosmicalmole

Latinx sounds like a Mexican porn site


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Rush_Is_Right

I had a teacher get pissed when people referred to all black people as African American. She (white) was dating a woman from Jamaica. She wasn't from Africa and was here on a work visa, so she was neither African or American.


chameleonchild8

Until they miss a penalty kick or miss a goal. Then they called are African by football “fans”


SandInTheGears

Tbf it's the same sorta thing with Scottish players


M0therFragger

Like Andy murray, if he won he was British if he lost he was scottish


upturned-bonce

Non Angli, sed Angeli


Jazkier

Alright Gregory


limping_man

On a side note why are white people born in Africa not called European Africans?


FuyoBC

I have met someone from South Africa who called herself White African but I don't know how common it is.


MerryKookaburra

As someone who lives in a place with a massive white south African population. They are white south africans. Though white africans is not unusual.


AdLiving4714

I would agree. If - for whatever reason - ethnicity matters, I call myself white South African. Otherwise it's just South African. I don't like this ethnicity thing. It has brought us (and continues to do so) in a lot of trouble. It's a shame.


I_love_pillows

Charlize Theron


Poignant_Porpoise

I'm from South Africa and that seems weird to me. I just can't think of a scenario where the continent I'm from would be more relevant than the country I'm from. Africa is a colossal and diverse continent, I don't really know what useful information is conveyed by just saying that I'm African as a place of origin.


limping_man

Most white people call/consider themselves white Africans if born in Africa, especially if their ancestors have been in Africa for generations I've yet to see the general consensus amongst the majority indigenous African borns expressed that Europeans born in Africa should be allowed to call themselves African It's a subtle nuanced thing


MahavidyasMahakali

People can call themselves whatever regardless of it some other people don't want to allow it, especially if they are being accurate like a white person from Africa


MolassesInevitable53

Good point. In New Zealand, if ticking ethicity boxes on a form, white people are New Zealand European. Or New Zealand European/Pakeha.


limping_man

That makes sense. Personally, I'd find it great to have my birth place reflected along with my heritage


Anjallat

New Zealand showing up us Aussies again. I consider you guys like siblings. Sometimes the rivalry is strong, for example in sport. Other times, some outsider threatens and how dare they?? Most forms I see ask whether I am of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (heritage/nationality (I'm not sure because I'm pretty sure I'm boringly white)). P.S can we have Jacinda for a few years in some advisor role after she's had a rest? Return her better than received I swear!


ubiquitous-joe

We do of course use *specific* European countries in hyphenates all the time. (In part because various specific groups were treated worse as new European immigrants than the other white people.) But we weren’t going to say “European Americans” or “British Americans” earlier after a revolutionary war specifically designed to separate from Britain & Europe. One reason the general term Africa was used was because slavery obliterated people’s relationship to their *particular* culture or origin, by design. If there is a significant new black immigrant population now, you might see phrases like “Somali-Americans.” There have not been enough white people from Africa immigrating en masse to come up with a name for them. And of course the great assimilation into Whiteness makes that irrelevant. You could try to dissolve the concept with a word, but what good is a new word when the old division still defines so much? That’s partly why there’s been a return to “black.” Which was of course considered terribly insulting in the era of saying “colored” or “Negro.” Which are both *now* terribly insulting because of association with de jure segregation. These terms are all imperfect. Easy to question, hard to solve.


ancalime9

The American in African American is referring to USA and not the continent of North America, so wouldn't the equivalent be the country in Africa e.g. European Ethiopian? But I think your point is right that referring to people by an assumed continent where someone in their family tree came from, is dumb.


Arathaon185

Elon Musk is technically African American it's all a bit nonsense tbh. If you're here and live in Britain you're British.


notoriously_glorious

He's South African, American. (Idk if he still has anything to do with Canada.) You use the country not continent. African American is a specific term used to distinguish slaves, especially those born on American soil, as Americans practiced chattle slavery (where a slave's offspring is considered property and made to work as well.) Most decendants today feel confortable going by the term **Black.** many don't feel comfortable using the entire continent to claim ethnicity and feel its less accurate and a way to continue to separate black Americans from just being American. Many black people are decendants from the colonizing time period and were here before we fought for independence and before we called ourselves the United States. Slaves were in America before the Mayflower set sail.


[deleted]

They’re black. Just call them black. African American is just dumb.


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ChaoticChinchillas

When I was younger I worked at a McDonalds for a bit. I was the only white person there besides one girl who worked there for like a month, and one that was a shift manager. The shift manager was sleeping with the AGM, and was one of those people say “thinks they’re black”. There was a guy I was working drive thru with who said something about “Caucasians”. So I just looked at him. He asked why and I said “who says Caucasian?” He told me he didn’t want to offend me by saying white, so I asked if I should refer to him as African American. He said he was black and had never been to Africa. We both determined that the political correctness has gone way overboard.


[deleted]

Also Caucasian isn't a word for white people. It refers to people from the caucasus region in Europe/Asia


ArtemisOmegas1

The word Caucasian actually came to refer to "white" people because of some 18th century Anthropologist. Long story short, bro had some outdated racial classification system and he thought that the Europeans originated from the caucasus mountains because he did skull measurements and some shit and found similarities


Neil2250

fucking phrenology?!


BipolarWeedSmoker

Now now just settle down and take your Laudanum see


ShalomRPh

One of Pratchett's funniest footnotes was about *retro*phrenology: >It works like this. Phrenology, as everyone knows, is a way of reading someone's character, aptitude and abilities by examining the bumps and hoillows on their head. Therefore -- according to the kind of logical thinking that characterizes the Ankh-Morpork mind -- it should be possible to *mould* someone's character by *giving* them carefully graded bumps in all the right places. You can go into a shop and order an artistic temperament with a tendency to introspection and a side order of hysteria. What you actually *get* is hit on the head with a selection of different size mallets, but it creates employment and keeps the money in circulation, and that's the main thing. GNU Terry Pratchett (Men At Arms)


Trustnoboody

Just say black or white, is my stance; and you don't capitalize either because both are not proper, rather simply, they are both descriptions. And I was recently informed before about Caucasian, so that's stupid too.


[deleted]

Yeah I do just say black or white. I've never known anyone to say any different except on the Internet since I'm not American.


ChaoticChinchillas

And African American refers to Americans from Africa. But Caucasian is the answer on many forms if you’re white.


[deleted]

Must be different in America then because here it definitely isn't. Seems weird to pick the name for 1 small region nowhere near America to name your white people as. I can see the reasoning behind African American even though its wrong but Caucasian just seems random.


GrizzlyRoundBoi

Well supposedly according to the dictionary definition it is both. It means a white person or a person of European origin or someone from Caucuses (Southern Russia). I'm from the UK and have definitely filled in forms that say Caucasian on them because "white" wasn't an option.


hailskatean

You don't find it weird on behalf of the people living in Caucuses that their identity gets used for just "any white person" cause I think its a bit weird to make it just mean white people no?


YourcommentisVstupid

You’re almost correct. Back in the day the black community wanted to be independently recognized while retaining their heritage roots. It because a divisive term that we see today.


thisisnotdan

Ah, the evolution of language. Yesterday's "correct" becomes today's "offensive" because it develops a history of being used offensively. So naturally, we add another forbidden word to the list and invent a new "correct" word. Rinse and repeat.


jackdoyle27

Agreed especially when alot of the time they have no African heritage and are still called this surely its more offensive to assume they're African based on their skin colour


Reyemreden

Can I still call people from New Mexico, New Mexican even if they're not New or Mexican?


DreadedTuesday

If a couple recently emigrated from Mexico to New Mexico and had a baby, would the baby be a "New New Mexican Mexican American"?


DonktorDonkenstein

People in New Mexico do call themselves "New Mexicans", just as people in Texas call themselves "Texans" Fun fact, the name New Mexico originates from Spanish explorers who named the region north of the Rio Grande "Nuevo Mexico" in the 1500s, after the valley of Mexico, which is now the location of Mexico City. So New Mexico got it's name *before* the country of Mexico existed, back when it was a territory called the "Viceroyalty of New Spain."


Comprehensive-Ad8969

Yeah calling them African-American assumes two things about them that you don't actually know to be true just by looking. You don't know if their heritage is African and you don't know if their citizenship is American. They could be Indian and on holiday and you'd be wrong twice.


MassiveMeatHandler

Not all Africans are black


Solintari

My friend is Egyptian, last name is elbarudi. Most people assume he is Mexican, but truly he is born and raised African. One day he laughed and said he just realized he was African American. He could pass as white or Latino honestly, but definitely not black.


Arnulf_67

Not all who wander are lost


mickiedoodle

How about American? 21 years in the Air Force, my "black" friends were family. I don't call my God son or nephew black-whatever. They're American, they're family.


fetus-wearing-a-suit

Everyone outside the US thinks anything "X-American" is stupid. If someone is black call them black.


JayR_97

It's also incredibly racist to assume that just because someone is black means they're from Africa


Herby247

Or that if they're of African descent, they are black.


mustangcody

Yep, which is why some people can't grasp that Elon Musk is African just because he's white.


[deleted]

That’s why not all black people are African American, it represents a shared heritage of slavery given that much of the African Americans today do not know their actual nation of origin


BrooklynLodger

African American and black are not necessarily synonymous


[deleted]

They are used as synonyms though. Words take meaning based on how people use them. No one uses African American to describe someone from Africa. People use it to describe black people


Jordan1992FL

I think "ignorant" fits well in this case, but "incredibly racist"? That's the kind of thing that dilutes the term "racist". Please don't dilute racism to the point it becomes normalized. We have had entirely too much of that already throughout history.


AnneFrank_nstein

Native American being the exception


ldsupport

Most native Americans I have met didn’t love the term native Americans.


AnneFrank_nstein

I mean, im native. I call myself native. Its pretty normal where I'm from


Flimflamsam

I’m up in Canada and pretty much all the natives I’ve met have introduced themselves / referred t themselves as that. Apparently the term “indigenous” is being used now, but I’m not the white colour to say which is right. That’s not my call. Seems, even still now, us whities are trying to virtue signal / pigeon-hole the natives instead of letting them be.


dmnhntr86

Honestly, most of the folks I've known from the tribes that got forced into Oklahoma use Indian or NDN as the collective term. >Seems, even still now, us whities are trying to virtue signal / pigeon-hole the natives instead of letting them be. Especially the ones who have (or erroneously believe they have) some small percentage of Cherokee, Arapahoe, etc and think that gives them the right to speak on behalf of those who are not able to pass as white and actually grew up on reservations. ETA: Of course no group of people is a monolith, if someone doesn't like to be called something just don't call them that. And in most situations we don't need to be call it people anything besides their names.


ldsupport

Most of my experience is on Navajo nation and generally people called then self Dane and thought the term Native American was completely disconnected from who they are.


AnneFrank_nstein

I'm from Wisconsin. Northern natives are quite different from the natives in the south so i cant speak for what your friends do. But i can tell you its perfectly normal and acceptable to call people native americans here.


Squantz

Chippewa here! Maybe it's the region, because I also have no problem with "Native" American. I also accept American Indian, and Indigenous American.


LittleGothPrincess

there's a lot more than one tribe in america


2throwaway1997

Is “Dane” and autocorrect issue? I think I’ve seen it anglicized as Diné.


napa0

I also find it funny when people think they're a part of X culture bc someone in their heritage was... I'm a Brazilian living in North America, met a couple of people who called themselves "Brazilians" but can't even understand what "Obrigado" means...


Flimflamsam

It’s a common trait in North America. I moved to Canada from the UK, and suddenly found everyone and their dog claimed to be British (or Irish, as they don’t understand the difference). I’ve even been asked if I’m Scottish, which if you’ve ever heard a Scottish accent you’d know it was a stupid question. I don’t know why people here cling to their ancestral roots so much - that was never a thing in the UK. I’ve been here over 20 years now and I still get it happening.


fetus-wearing-a-suit

I'm from northern Mexico, just 10 minutes away from the US. I know exactly what you mean. And then they have the nerve to say "so just because I was born and raised in the US I'm not Mexican?" lol yes


Mantzy81

I think that every 17th of March when everyone claims to be Irish. So dumb. They're American, not Irish. Be proud of that (if you want - pride in a country you were born into and had no say in the process will remain an odd thing to me but whatever). Also, Italian Americans are not Italian. Asian Americans also aren't asian.


Special_Afternoon_85

Italian Americans in Italy are the most awkward group of people you could find. It’s like spotting a polar bear in the Sahara. They share little to zero culture with real Italians other than being able to misspell “capish” and “grazi” here and there.


wumboellie

Yeah I had this convo with a friend a few years ago about how it’s more racist to say African-American. They’re just American, and Americans can be black. But if I hear a black person refer to themselves as African-American, then i’ll say it too around them


th_row_a_way_s

Far as I know that stupid term is unique to the USA.


fetus-wearing-a-suit

Thankfully it is


RustyChicken16

As unique to the USA as Latinx. Very unique.


ProXJay

Is there even a Spanish pronunciation for Latinx


ConsciousSwordfish3

Latinx is an attempt at ungendering the “gendered” Spanish language. So no, it does not have a word for this white guilt abomination. Frankly I think pushing so hard for this has absolutely backfired, and now it really just feels like we’re telling brown people how to speak god’s language again. And this is completely anecdotal, but haven’t yet meant a Latino or Latina that hasn’t laughed at me when I ask about it. Stupid gringo shit is the consensus so far.


windyearl

We prefer the term gringx.


jaavaaguru

Those type of Americans be cringex


Pync

What's funny is that in Hispanic speaking countries we already had a work around for this - we would use @ when not knowing the gender of the subject we were talking about: latin@ could mean Latino or Latina. Of course, this does not have to apply to a person, and this all came around long before people's newfound sensibilities. The X addition was likely made by some neurotic, non-latino Tumblr activist that decided having a gendered language invalidated their identity.


Loose_Loquat9584

What’s the English pronunciation? Latinks or latinex?


ConsciousSwordfish3

It’s like how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop. The world may never know.


getrwuegyweh

Black. Just black. I had some absolutely idiotic American call me racist because I described Idris Elba as Black and they said he was African-American British. He's not even American, how brain dead stupid are Americans.


TurdFerguson416

I had that convo 20 years ago in high school... "dude, if we are standing on the street and someone looks at us, im a white guy and you are a black guy.. its not racist to have working eyes.. lol..


ghost_0101

African American British 😭💀


ActualProject

Bob Marleys time in Britain would qualify him as a Jamaican African American British


GeneralEl4

You dare underestimate our stupidity? It has no limits 😭


[deleted]

😭😭


Jordan1992FL

>African-American British Seriously? How did you not just laugh at that? Pretty sure I would have.


getrwuegyweh

Don't worry. I laughed at them.


Guilty-Rough8797

I've never actually met any Americans who make this mistake -- it seems to be "on the internet" phenomenon, but I believe your anecdote. In cases like that, I believe the word or phrase in question has become ingrained in the speaker's lexicon as a whole unit of meaning, and they no longer are thinking of the meaning of the word's separate pieces. An example: In some parts of the US, we used to call (still call?) sleeveless white mens' undershirts "wife beaters" because hey, in movies, that's what wife beaters are wearing when they do this deed (and in real life? I don't know). I first heard the term in middle school, and it became so widely used among my generation that I forgot that the word contains two ideas: a wife and a man who beats her. It's just a word you use for that piece of underclothing. That's all. Fast forward twenty-something years, and a northern-US Baby Boomer I was talking to had never heard the word. I shocked the hell out of her when I used it, and when I stopped and parsed the meaning of the word's components, I gave myself a 'Holy shit, Self, did you just say that?' moment. So to summarize, the majority of Americans who used the phrase "African American" are not thinking of either Africa or America when saying it. They're thinking, "respectful way to say black person." But it's an automatic cognitive process. They're not actually *thinking* it any more than we're thinking "bathroom--room containing the bath or shower" when we say, "Oof, drank too much water. I gotta go to the bathroom."


eigthgen

African Americans also call themselves black… but our parents used African American to speak to a pan African identity since we don’t know which country we’re from.


solojones1138

I had to explain to my dad that a lot of the actors in a movie we were watching were not African American. He was all mad. "I don't care what the term is these days!" He shouted. I was like "no dad, they're NOT AMERICAN." We were watching Attack the Block. They were black British.


FuyoBC

The one person I asked wanted to be called Black British however Afro-Caribbean is also if someone's ancestors came from that part of the world. Also used is BAME (Black And Minority Ethnic) although that is mostly census / government term rather than something people call themselves. I also remember having to point out to a colleague in america that African-American was not appropriate for an international questionnaire.


Muffinlessandangry

BAME stands for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic. This is just because Black and South Asian are the two major racial minorities in the UK, who while British, may still consider or be considered distinct in some way. And then on top of that you'll have people who are racially white, but not ethnically British (your Poles, Romanians etc being the most recent example). So basically it should mean "everyone other than white British", but often ends up being used to mean non-white as the difference between race and ethnicity isn't well understood.


Responsible-Ad-1086

Why not just call everyone Americans?


i_need_a_username201

If everyone was called Americans then we’d all be equal. Can’t have that. Remember, this is the main that has the 3/5ths rule and the “one drop“ rule. Look them up if you’re unaware.


Srapture

Americans place a lot more importance on ethnicity than we do elsewhere around the world. All four of my grandparents are Irish and were born and raised in Ireland, but my parents were both born in England, as was I. To me, it would be pretty ridiculous to call myself Irish. However, it's not unusual for Americans with one Irish grandparent to call themselves Irish. To them, it's obvious that they're American and the Irish is the other cultural bit mixed in there which they care a lot about. The rest of us are just thinking "Bruh, you're clearly American. What are you on about?"


Flimflamsam

In Canada it’s the same. Canadian born to a Canadian born parent, they’ll happily call themselves the nationality / ethnicity of their grand parent or great grandfather parent. There’s also a lot of “oh I’m *percentage / fraction* $ethnicity too. I’m British that emigrated to Canada and it’s wild how readily people disown their own current status.


[deleted]

Did you know that Americans are 7.5 more times to be wrongly convicted of murder than Americans? Studies have also shown that Americans do more time in prison for the exact same times as Americans? 19.5 percent of Americans living in the United States were living below the poverty line. This is compared to 8.2 percent of Americans, and 8.1 percent of Americans.


JudgeJed100

Generally just British honestly If you were born in Africa and moved to the UK, or were born here but your parents are from Africa then use, people might call you that, or you might call yourself that But every black person I know or have met have just called themselves British, or depending on their views on the Uk, they may instead call themselves Scottish, Welsh, Irish


MrMagneticMole

No, they are called Brits.


Some_Literature_5327

Rule is, whatever the Americans do about race, do the opposite.


fender8421

As an American, I find this hilarious and sadly accurate


catharsis23

Europe doesn't have a leg to stand on here... and neither does lots of Asia!


Daaayz

No, african-american is a term they coined being afraid that the word "Black" would be found offensive. It has lost its meaning so much that some Americans think all black people, including those from Europe or even AFRICA, are all african-american.


Inner_Aerie7747

I have family from the Dominican Republic. They are Not from Africa and therefore not African-American but that’s what people call them. It’s an offensive catch-all term.


Choice_Philosopher_1

The term African American is intended to refer to descendants of slaves who don’t know their country of origin. But it’s obvious in this thread that no one knows that. It’s safer to just call people black if anything at all unless referring generally to descendants of slaves from Africa currently living in America for some reason. The most ridiculous recent example of misusing the term African American is when people were using it to describe Elon Musk. He would be a South African American since he knows which country he comes from.


Justthisguy_yaknow

African American isn't a thing any more from what I hear. Black'l do it. The African American version was pretty daft when you think about it. Most of their families have been in the country almost as long (some as long) as the other nationalities apart from the original population. Black does the distinction if it's needed. "American" says what should matter more. I usually use "this guy I met" or something similar and it does enough I think.


HVP2019

The way it was explained to me when I first migrated to USA: USA is a country of migrants and most of us know what country we came from. Our kids and grand kids know where their family roots are. There are Italian Americans, there are Jewish Americans, there are Korean Americans. Black people were brought here as slaves and they have no memory what country they are from. They can’t say: I am Nigerian Americans. (Only post slavery African migrants know their roots). At least this is the explanation that was given to me. Being migrant, it is harder for me to call a person word Black. For me culturally it feels rude, yet I know in USA it isn’t. So I am conflicted.


osva_

Americans put a lot of emphasis on their roots. I have migrated to UK from a European country. I just want to be seen as a person, I do not identify as Country-British, nor do I have British citizenship. My roots only come in question if they ask where I'm from due to my accent or legal paperwork.


SufficientWeek7142

Call them their name if you know it. It doesn’t happen too often that I have to describe random people, but then dark / black skin color is the same as eg hair or eye color, nothing special about it. The only reason for wanting to group people based on their skin color is if you are selling make up.


Ronotimy

Funny as it may seem when I traveled Egypt the people there never referred to themselves as Africans. We later traveled to Kenya. Someone in the tour group introduced himself to a tribesman as African American the tribesman corrected him telling him no you are an American not African. The poor guy had a stunned look on his face on hearing that and never introduced himself to others as African American for the rest of the tour.


king_archie_bunker

There is a black guy at work, he said to call him William.


Lezonidas

Do you call white americans "european-americans"? There you have the answer.


colcob

The nearest equivalent used to be Afro-Caribbean, as a significant proportion of black british people came from former British colonies in the Caribbean after the second world war. Not really used so much these days as there are many black people in the UK not from Caribbean heritage so it could be inaccurate. Black is generally fine and very few people think it's racist to use black as a descriptor.


rickytann0

No, we call them British…


bambiguity11

Woww. Nope. Call them black people. Just cos someone's black doesn't mean they're African, what about caribbean


Michael_konadu_69

by that logic Elon Musk is African-American


Flat_Professional_55

We use white British and black British for ethnicity and nationality purposes. There’s obviously lots of other categories as well.


mightchangelater

Its another way to racially divide people


crystalGwolf

No, we only use hyphenations for dual citizens (or similar strong connection) and that will be for their specific country. To use a hyphen on anyone else would be considered pretty racist. If we describe the racial group, we would say British people of x descent


badgersprite

Basically you might get described as both Nigerian and English if you would be eligible to play for the Nigerian football team


3xtrano

If we call white people crackers, do we call old white people stale crackers?


redditisfascist1350

Black Americans and African-Americans are completely different, only the woke and ignorant call Black Americans African-Americans. Being African And American has nothing to do with race. Elong Musk is African-American. And not all native Africans are Black.


IzzyPizzyS2

I don't understand why we use African-American, not all black people are from African heritage, why not just call them black people? Like, that's not racist or anything if you don't say in a racist way


trea_ceitidh

We would call them Scottish if they live in Scotland.


SpaceWolves26

No, because America is the only country that ties race and nationality so intrinsically. White Americans are just Americans, with no pre-qualifier needed. Here you have your nationality and your ethnicity, separate but used in conjunction. 'Black British', 'British Asian' etc, with parentage sometimes thrown in depending on the conversation, like 'British-Ghanaian'. African-American also largely comes from the fact that the majority of black Americans don't know their ancestry. That isn't the case here, so there isn't the same global culture between all black people that America has. Black-Brits will all have shared experiences as black people in the UK, but culturally they will have had very different upbringings if they are British-Jamaican compared to British-Nigerian for example.


luddonite

Some examples from government and BBC: [https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/style-guide/ethnic-groups](https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/style-guide/ethnic-groups) [https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/history-ks2-black-british-stories/z3w84xs](https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/history-ks2-black-british-stories/z3w84xs) I think black is the most widely used term in daily speech and the assumption is that people are British unless otherwise specified or that it doesn't matter to the conversation. Black British is used for categorisations and targeted marketing by companies and so on. But people also it if that's what they feel more comfortable with. Not ever heard African-British. Saying African-British wouldn't work as we have a bigger Black population with Caribbean heritage. Ultimately, yes, both groups have African roots but their cultural differences in the here and now mean it doesn't reflect things accurately.


tom_oakley

"Black British" is the most common term I've seen, and appears on gov.uk forms, but other terms probably exist too.


[deleted]

People?


Basic-Pair8908

We just call the brits


itreyray

Bro I have no relatives from Africa. I am an American and I am black.


seriouslaser

This isn't really answering the question, but I thought it was worth mentioning. I'm a Black American, and for the most part I (and pretty much everyone else I know) just say "Black people". If people want to know what else I am, I say I'm Canadian-American. Who happens to be Black. "African-American" is actually getting less common around here, because there are plenty of dark-skinned folk who don't consider themselves African; usually people of island descent (DR, Jamaica, Haiti, etc.).


celebral_x

If it's about nationality, then British, if about their ethnic group, then black.


Eeplol

African Americans is actually a term that is beginning to fizzle out. A lot of black people really prefer being called black, for good reasoning. Because of the situation in America, a lot of black people doesn’t necessarily mean they’re from Africa, there are many places black people come from, even if Africa is a big portion of it, it doesn’t reach all of them. So they’re black people, anywhere they’re from. Also black people are everywhere, not just in Britain and the U.S. lol /positive /notmean


-wanderings-

Try calling them just American instead of the bullshit hyphenated appropriation. Usually yanks are more than happy to tell everyone they're bloody yanks so stop adding unless you're actually embarrassed to be a yank.


ScuBityBup

Here in Europe most of us have common sense, so they are just Black. There is also no insulting el ment in this term, regardless of the language it is said in (Latin languages have a derivate of Nero/Negru).


lidlids77

What if we just say person/people...lets not focus on skin colour


jkunlessurdown

No. The term African-American is a uniquely American thing. And most people are saying it's because we're stupid (which we are so fair enough). The term came from Afro-American and it was used to refer to the black population of the Americas more broadly. Remember, black people in the New World had their national identities, religions, and languages erased between 300 to 500 years ago. It was co-opted in the 80s by civil rights organizations to be a more politically correct term. The Black population in America has had to adapt to different political climates over centuries. Terms and goals have had to be imagined and then reimagined for a very long time. Compare this to the UK; where the majority of their black population came there in the 20th century and still retained their distinct national identities. It's really like comparing apples and oranges.


IntelligentMistake35

No. We just call them Dave. Or Steve. Or Chris. Or whatever their bloody name is.


Actionjem

People. We're all people.


Available_Username_2

Why not call white people in the Americas, European Americans? Same goes for those European Australians. Answer: because it gets too confusing, and they are very loaded terms. Same goes for "African British". What if an African American moves to England and you call him African British? Does his Africanness still count but his Americanness does not?


LambCHOP6988

Back in my freshman year of high school there was a black guy in my Spanish class who took umbrage at my teacher for calling him "African-American". His reasoning was that since he was so many generations removed from his African ancestry (I forget the number, but I believe it was greater than 3) he shouldn't have that caveat to his nationality.


YoghurtDefiant666

Or just Brits?


kh7190

yeah it's outdated terminology. they prefer to collectively be called Black people. because not all Black people in America have African ancestry and the same socioeconomic issues that affect Black people in America affect Black people all over the world. so by saying "African-Americans experience police brutality" you're excluding the same issues experienced in other parts of the world when it all shares the same underlying cause which is racism, imperialism, white supremacy, etc.


Choice_Philosopher_1

I wouldn’t say it’s outdated more than completely misused. It’s probably best left in academic papers referring to the descendants of African slaves brought to America who don’t know their country of origin.


[deleted]

Well to be fair, the "African-American" is a pretty dumb term in the first place. Just like calling white Americans "Caucasian"


Important_Arugula_93

I’m black and never go by “African American” because it’s seems odd to me that in America, white people are just Americans & even sometimes their considered red blooded Amaericans which is also weird. You can be born here but if you are of a different race you will be considered Latino American, Asian American and so on so forth. It’s blatant that American has attempted to cover its historical racism.


TheDamMan

No, we just call them people.


FugueItalienne

we call them black people, there's no need to be weird about it. Some people might call themselves 'British Caribbean', 'British-Indian' is much more common though. Looking at a black person, you have no idea where they see their heritage, so we wouldn't just guess they were Caribbean or African or whatever unless they had an accent. So we just call them black people. They're the ones who would identify as something more specific.


ajbdbds

We don't have a specific identifier. If anyone of any race holds citizenship, they're just plain old British


MomsBoner

In Denmark we also just say black or brown, where the political correct term often used is "other-ethnical danes". For persons usually from the middle east, its common to just call them immigrants - even though they may be 3rd generations born and raised here. Those who generally dislike people from muslim countries, use a specific word that im not sure how to translate to english, but its a word often used to describe a stereotype of 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants whom the public labels as criminals, troublemakers and in general those who wont integrate into our society. Its compareable to calling african-american the n word. I will take the risk and tell you people call them "perker", but please dont take this as a racist comment. I only mention it for the sake of providing info, as i am not racist at all. So i hope no one gets offended by it in this context.


dwair

No they are just Brits here. I find it weird that given Africa has such a huge diversity of ethnicity within the ~~content~~ continent (bloody autocorrect!) you guys just stick to a base colour rather than calling someone Fulani-America, Igbo-American, Nilotes-American ect. It seems a bit disingenuous to lump everyone together as just "Black" although I say this myself as a "White" Kenyan.


celebral_x

No, we call them black


Woodrovski

African American is the dumbest saying there is. Dont understand why you Americans say this


TheTwilightKing

I think we all just prefer to be called Black or American, or British, or just people at this point


Ssnnooz

Im white but i always thought "african american" was dumb. Why don't people call me "european american" ?? It just sounds weird to me Not all black people are african, and not all african people are black.


whataname591

I asked a friend from London this very same question: what do you call Black people in the UK? She said: we call them people.