<p>No...It's better...FLAUNT THE MEXICAN PART...at least yours is legit....</p>
<p>My children look like many other biracial children with afros, coffee-colored skin, huge dark brown eyes.... could be any race's "characteristics." When people don't know them, they make all sorts of assumptions. In fact, at a huge fencing tournament this summer, an armorer actually asked me if my boys were "mixed." Mixed what? Nuts. yep. They never went to school so I never had to put down a "race." </p>
<p>But still Sheed is correct; as far as the govt is concerned, North Africans and people with North African heritage going back to the 3rd generation (great grandparents) are caucasian. </p>
<p>Race is still a touchy subject. I find that to be truly disheartening.</p>
<p>
As Northstarmom said, African American only means black descendents of slaves living in America. It doesn't mean black in general. Like I said before, Sammy Sosa is black but he isn't African American. He's Dominican. Secondly, I think many people are doing the same thing you are, confusing ethnicity and skin color. Yes, African American is not a skin color, but black is. However, colleges don't ask for skin color, they ask for ethnicity, which African American is.</p>
<p>
No one said only blacks can be African. But only blacks can be black Africans. And for the purposes of college applications and the US government this means that if you're not a black African then you descend from Europeans, thus you are Caucasian. So, if you're not a black African, then you can't check the African American/Black box on college apps, you must instead check the Caucasian box.</p>
<p>
I actually agree with you on this one. A few years back CNN was reporting on the race riots in France and the anchorwoman referred to the black rioters as African Americans. And I think this can just be attributed to the increased level of political correctness in this country. No one wants to be perceived as insensitive by calling someone black, so they opt for the term African American.</p>
<p>There are so many of these threads around college app time. Let me break it down for you: </p>
<ol>
<li>If 1/8 of your ancestry is Black and or African American you have "earned" the right to put down Black/African American.</li>
<li>However in your case, the ggfather was from Algeria, which is considered North African which is considered white, and he probably wasn't even Algerian, you said he was French.</li>
<li>Thus, your children are White, case closed.</li>
</ol>
<p>Just to add, I used the term earned in quotes because I'm talking about it from a legal standpoint, not an ethical/moral one.</p>
<p>"Like I said before, Sammy Sosa is black but he isn't African American. He's Dominican. "</p>
<p>And, since he's from the Dominical Republic, which classifies races differently than we do in the U.S., he may characterize himself as creole and even be insulted if someone thinks he's black or African American. I had students from the DR who looked similar to him, and wo made a point of saying that they were not black.</p>
<p>"I actually agree with you on this one. A few years back CNN was reporting on the race riots in France and the anchorwoman referred to the black rioters as African Americans. And I think this can just be attributed to the increased level of political correctness in this country. No one wants to be perceived as insensitive by calling someone black, so they opt for the term African American."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, black people in France just call themselves "French," since France doesn't keep records on people by race (even though there's lots of discimination against people who are French and are from Africa or the Caribbean or descended from black people from those areas. Ironically, the French love African Americans, seeing African Americans as cultured, sophisticated, etc. possibly because of the type of African Americans who have made France their home and traveled there.)</p>
<p>Ha! That makes me laugh. I have an ex who's 1/8th Native American and he marked that on his college apps, even though he's experienced a completely middle-class, suburban upbringing for most of his life.</p>
<p>You do know that Native Americans can have middle class and suburban upbringings?</p>
<p>Of course. But he checked the Native American box and wrote his essay on his disillusionment with the American Dream and the poverty he witnessed on the Indian Reservation (lived there for a year when he was 4). I think it's kind of unfair for Native Americans who really have experienced poverty and discrimination their whole life.</p>
<p>maybe he went back and visited?</p>
<p>I know that I've grown up in the suburbs most of my life but it always pain me to see my relatives who are living below the poverty line.</p>
<p>I dunno. I knew him pretty well (we dated three years). I knew a lot about him and read his essays and it felt like he was talking out of his butt, which he was, because he admitted he was playing up his minscule Native heritage to make up for the apalling laziness that marred most of his academic career.</p>
<p>Many Native Americans who live off the reservation still go back to the reservation to see relatives, etc. If your boyfriend was doing this, he may not have mentioned this to you because he wanted you to see him as living the same way that a suburban white person would live.</p>
<p>"Many Native Americans who live off the reservation still go back to the reservation to see relatives, etc. If your boyfriend was doing this, he may not have mentioned this to you because he wanted you to see him as living the same way that a suburban white person would live."</p>
<p>Keep in mind he was 1/8th (or 1/16th I can't remember) Native American. I believe it was only his grandpa who still lived on the Rez. Also, why are we debating this? I know him better than you do and he admitted to me he was playing the Native American card.</p>
<p>I've seen people admit to lots of things that aren't true especially if they have something embarassing in their background. Considering the prejudice against Native Americans that exists in many parts of this country, it is possible that he was exposed to far more reservation life than he let onto you. I've had very close friends who had things in their life that they were ashamed of that I didn't hear about until years later. This included things such as having lived in poverty, having alcoholic parents, having dads in prison, etc.</p>
<p>isn't it a little crazy that the race card still comes up? making us all racists by determining that because one is Native American he is or his family,according to some thought, likely poor and drunk living on a reservation, or that blacks somehow need a boost up? wouldn't society right the ship much faster if we just eliminated determining race in anything, i.e.-not on the census, not for college, not for driver's licenses, for if men truely are created equal, why should the government choose to recognize differences? it is only by forgetting differences that one can be truely equal.</p>
<p>"I've seen people admit to lots of things that aren't true especially if they have something embarassing in their background. Considering the prejudice against Native Americans that exists in many parts of this country, it is possible that he was exposed to far more reservation life than he let onto you. I've had very close friends who had things in their life that they were ashamed of that I didn't hear about until years later. This included things such as having lived in poverty, having alcoholic parents, having dads in prison, etc."</p>
<p>But you're making these assumptions just because he has a grandpa who is half Native American. Is it also likely that he could have lived a normal, middle-class life and still be Native American (well, no one's life is totally normal, but you get my point)? Why do we assume that because he's a little Native American he must have a background of poverty. I mean, we were practically married (by high school standards). We leaned on each others shoulders and did not keep each other in the dark about our lives or dark spots in our past. </p>
<p>Point being: I knew him. You didn't. Just because you're Native American that does not automatically mean you're constantly surrounded by abject poverty, which he wasn't, but that's what he wrote about in his essay.</p>
<p>The reporter describing Black people in France as "African American" is exactly the sort of thing that is wrong with the term. It has become synonomous with "Black" in the US due to political correctness. But when we use it to identify a Black person of unknown nationality, we make as assumption about his/her nationality. We have no politically correct term with which to refer to a Black person of unknown nationality.</p>
<p>And the "African American" term seems to come with the assumption that the person is Black, that's why is apparently can't apply to people whose ancestors come from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, etc., even though those places are as much a part of Africa as Nigeria or Kenya.</p>
<p>So both words in the term "African American" are faulty in their common usage in the USA as a generic term for Black people: the "African" part is imprecisely used because literally millions of people who are native to the continent are not Black. And the "American" part is faulty because there are lots of Black people in the country who are not American.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, there are a LOT of Black people in the US from Africa and other places that are not "American." Where are you from that you presume the HYPS campuses would be just about the only places where there might be more than a few Blacks who are not American? You could see a Black person leading a 4th of July parade in Des Moines, Iowa, and you'd still not necessarily be accurate in describing him as African AMERICAN, even though you could accurately refer to him as Black.</p>
<p>They have white people in Kenya...........^^</p>
<p>
<p> [quote=TourGuide] And the "African American" term seems to come with the assumption that the person is Black, that's why is apparently can't apply to people whose ancestors come from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, etc., even though those places are as much a part of Africa as Nigeria or Kenya.
The only assumption that the term African American comes with is that the person's ancestors were slaves that originally descended from Africa. So, if you traced your family tree and discovered that your ancestors were American slaves that oriinally descended from Morocco, then you'd be African American (but it his highly unlikely that slaves came from Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia while it is far more plausible that slaves came from Nigeria). But if you couldn't do this, then you WOULD NOT be African American. </p>
<p>
The terms are not faulty in their original usage, which is to refer to black descendents of African slaves in this country. But, if people use the terms incorrectly, then that's on them. Not all black people are African American, it's an ethnicity. Just like being German American as opposed to simply white.</p>
<p>Happyandyappy: "I know him better than you do and he admitted to me he was playing the Native American card...Point being: I knew him. You didn't. Just because you're Native American that does not automatically mean you're constantly surrounded by abject poverty, which he wasn't, but that's what he wrote about in his essay."</p>
<p>Unless he lied and said his life was other than what it is, what is the problem here? If he "admitted" as you say to playing the "race card", it does not change the fact that Native Americans are underrepresented on college campuses and in a number of important professions. Also, why does he have to live in poverty himself in order to be sympathetic towards others who do?</p>
<p>Whether or not you know him better than Northstarmom, and whether or not he had a bad attitude about admissions, does not change the fact that he will be a part of improving statistics which need to change.</p>
<p>Many africans in america come from wealthy and upper-middle-class backgrounds, and were in no way discriminated against (although many weren't).<<</p>
<p>Being wealthy and upper-middle class doesn't shield one from racism or discrimination. An African-American school principal I know (who happens to be upper-middle class) has been asked more than once, when she answers the door to her home, if she will get the "lady of the house." After all, she must be the maid, right? </p>
<p>And did you read about the African American kids at Harvard who were playing their annual touch football game in the dorm quad? Other students called the police on them, since there were all these black kids where they shouldn't be!</p>