Cobb

I now prefer the term black to African American (I used to prefer the latter for a hot spell) for two main reasons:

(1) I'm an American of African descent. Why should black folks cede Americanness to everyone else? We've been here longer than almost everyone, we've been a key part of American history from its birth to now. We've played a crucial role in its democratic development, its concept of liberty. If black folks don't have the right to call ourselves just plain ol' American, then almost no one else has that right either.

(2) It links us with other folks worldwide. Not to mention, about 10% of black folks in America are of (recent) immigrant origin. The term African-American doesn't encompass them. So I'd argue that black, not African American, is more demographically neutral.

Apparently a plurality of blacks in America agree with me on some level. http://12.100.23.254:8080/bj/projects/color/crim9.html

According to A Roper Poll awhile back, 42% prefer to be called black, 30% prefer African (the rest prefer Afro-American, Negro, colored). Some of this sentiment could be due to internalized racism (i.e., not wanting to associate with "bad, ol" Africa), but much of it is rooted in other justifiable reasons. The 2000 U.S. Census shows a 44%-28% breakdown re: term preference. So why are we being called something that most of us don't prefer?

However, I DO NOT like how Teresa Heinz Kerry is going around calling herself "African American." Technically she is (she was born & raised in Mozambique) & I concede that she knows more about Africa than most black Americans. However, she is violating the spirit of the term in a cynical political ploy.

That's 30% preferred to be called African-American, not African. And by recent immigrants, I'm talking about those who are black but don't yet have American citizenship.

I don't like to be referred to as an African-American personally, I much prefer black man, or even better, baldhead black man. But the term 'African-American' is so much more appropriate in the abstract. In the end, it's what is going to have the most significance in historical texts.

What people call themselves only makes sense to the extent that it is culturally and politically significant. That is to say that it must tie in to something agreed-upon. African-American is neutral in that respect, but I say that 'black' is not. That is specifically because of the Black Consciousness, Pan-African, Black Power and Black Arts movements of the 60s and 70s. It took over, specifically from 'Negro'.

Consider the Negro Digest covers I have been posting. The writers of that time were deeply invested in redefinition of 'Negro' and it was from that beginning that Black Studies and Afro-American Studies programs were begun on American college campuses.

This was a cultural and political movement and most people who prefer to be called black made the choice to identify with the aims of that movement. What I'm saying is that while African-American is neutral, there *is* a right and a wrong way to be black. That's because it was *about* something, and not just a label.

I'm trying to represent the Old School of that - which combines certain aspects of Black Nationalism with the prerogatives and privileges of the Talented Tenth in an integrated America. So I would pay specific attention to what gets called black with such things in mind. I don't believe that simply because you are born African-American doesn't make you a righteous black person. This is also a reason why I think it's important to talk about a black Republican agenda.

It's not about identity or labels so much as it is about the continuation of ideas and principles that make sense and have always made sense for African Americans.