<p>Honestly, I think that logically you are an African American, even though colleges probably will not see it that way. If my ancestors were from Egypt and then ended up in Palestine before being dispersed to Poland where they lived for hundreds of years, I would consider myself Pole, not Egyptian. However, since the purpose of that box is to check one’s URM or ORM status, they would not want you to check “African American.” </p>
<p>Then again, the commonapp states “If you wish to be identified with a particular ethnic group, please check all that apply:.” Clearly you wish to be identified as an African American…</p>
<p>PS: I don’t think blacks get preference because of past oppression. My belief is that it’s to increase diversity.</p>
<p>I mean, I’ve seen users on here who WANT to list themselves under URM categories to reap the benefits from them. For example: if your mom and dad were white (of European ancestry) and moved to Mexico then had you but weren’t of any Mexican descent, why would you want to check the box that says Hispanic? </p>
<p>I mean it doesn’t make any logical sense to do it for any other reason unless you really love the country of Mexico, but even then, that doesn’t make you Mexican. I love Chinese food, but I’m not gonna say on an app that I’m Chinese.</p>
<p>“Honestly, I think that logically you are an African American, even though colleges probably will not see it that way.”</p>
<p>This is not a matter of “logic.” As Sirensong posted above, this is college admissions: OP knows the adcoms are looking to identify URM students, OP knows that in the admissions context context Af-Am is a URM designation and OP is not URM - - so don’t check the box. Since checking the box as Af-Am is about race, not ethnicity or culture, OP will be deliberately misleading the adcoms regarding his race (presumably to get an admissions boost). </p>
<p>No one is stopping nor wants to stop OP, Sirensong or other White Africans from claiming their African “roots” - - just don’t do so in a way that you know will mislead others about your race.</p>
<p>This is one of the reasons I often (but not always) say “black” instead of African American. I mean, having a father from Africa (first gen), I am quite LITERALLY African American. So I call myself “black” OR African American. As for other people, I just call them black. Black and white may have been stigmatized terms at one point (?), but it’s not the least bit offensive to me now. Really, it’s not offensive to anyone I know personally, though I’m sure there are people out there. It’s like the Native Americans have adopted the term American Indian and according to some possibly old hearsay, they generally actually prefer “American Indian”. “Indian” might be wrong and “black” might be old slander, but I think it’s fair that now it’s become benign.</p>
<p>My brother-in-law is American Indian, and that’s what he wants to be called. He wants none of this “native American” business, even though that is, strictly speaking, a better description of his ancestry. Again, everyone deserves to be called whatever they choose. Unless it’s on a government check-box. :D</p>
<p>Now that I’m thinking about it…isn’t it UTTERLY BIZARRE that an ENTIRE CONTINENT of people were called by the wrong name because of bad navigation, and the name has stuck for HUNDREDS OF YEARS??? Imagine if we were to discover life on Mars, but it turns out the astronauts flew the wrong direction, and so they call the people of Mars “Venusians”. And then the people of Mars start calling THEMSELVES Venusians!!! What the #$&*???</p>
<p>Imagine that an entire group of people is noted only for their skin color. They are degraded, wiped out, and forced into slavery. One hundred years after emancipation and fifty years after equality under the law - a relatively short period of time - that entire group of people doesn’t mind being called by an old derogatory name. </p>
<p>Imagine a little girl whose name is Bertha. People have made fun of her for that name. People stereotype her for that name. She hated it the whole time she was growing up. But finally, after many years, she’d come to terms with it. In fact, she doesn’t even hate it anymore. Instead of going by her middle name, she prefers that people just go ahead and call her Bertha.</p>
<p>A rose by any other name… a name is a name.</p>
<p>and links to all the official definitions are there. </p>
<p>My occupation is educational research, and College Confidential is a good place to find sources and also to find out what members of the college-aspiring public are concerned about.</p>