Quote Originally Posted by finn's mom
...But, I have never had any of my black friends (and where I grew up, that's all I had) say they minded if I called them black instead of African American. My friend Lovette actually laughed and said, "heck, none of my family is from africa."
I saw Whoopie Goldberg on a show once. I loved what she said. I won't be able to quote her exactly, but she said something liked ~ Don't call me African American. I don't want anything to come between me and being an American.
I few years ago there was something on the news about Tiger Woods asking him how he wanted to be referred to. Was he African American? A Thailand American? An African-Thailand American? He responded something that was full of hyphens because his Mom's genetic background was mixed of several ethnic groups and so was his father's. I found myself wishing that he had just said, "I am an American".