R.I.P "African-American"

by Rita Lady

If you were black and around in the 70s, you'll remember Uncle Shabazz. Uncle Shabazz (aka Tommy) wore a fist pick in his afro and a dashiki. The one whose house was decorated in velvet wallpaper where incense smoke floated past the naked Zulu figurines. He would go on about black pride, Marcus Garvey, and the motherland. To acknowledge and embrace your African-ness was of the utmost importance to Uncle Shabazz. So, Uncle Shabazz would reject being called colored or negro, in exchange for African-American.

The term African-American was thrown around in the 1960s during the new civil rights movement. Communist groups such as the Blank Panthers advocated Black Nationalism and thought it necessary to rethink what blacks were to be called. The term negro was still being used in news publications until the 1990s according to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, but was reminiscent of the times of Jim Crow. In 1988, Jesse Jackson called on several black leaders to start using the term African-American because it has cultural integrity and puts us in our proper historical context. Well Jesse, that's is all well and good except, you are not African. You are American.

I take issue with hyphenations such as African-American, Asian-American, Native-American, etc. Here are four reasons why:

1) When being human is not enough: Categorizing people according to appearance/phenotype is a social disaster based the Theory of Evolution, taught in our classrooms (thank you Democratic Socialists). Darwin, the father of this theory, believed in superior and inferior humans, even sub-humans and I do not have to tell you how the rankings play out. This belief provides a framework that legitimizes the grouping of people and assigning of false characterizations based on theories. As a result, people attempt to or are expected to identify with a group and its assigned social and political expectations. Inevitably, people often behave and respond accordingly.

2) Inaccurate identification: According to sciencemag.org, a significant percentage of Americans carry genomes outside of their self-identified ethnicities. Why do people feel the need to self-identify and have so much pride in a genetic make-up over which they have no control?

3) Don't get comfortable: The sentiment behind these hyphenations is that you are not REALLY American and worse, America doesn't want you. What a huge slap in the face to all Americans. Especially to those whose ancestors fought in wars for this country, assisted in abolishing slavery in this country. But this is how fascism functions. They must continue to remind us of the past and of our superficial differences and distort the present to ensure that we are never quite comfortable with ourselves or fellow citizens; especially those who aren't members of our hyphenated groups. People are a lot easier to deceive and control when they are divided.
And finally...

4) Jesse Jackson: I will not allow Jesse Jackson to assign my identity.

Despite the stories the media feeds us constantly about how everyone is racist and awful, I feel blessed to live in a country where ideas that I agree with and disagree with, can be freely expressed without fear of imprisonment or a firing squad...yet.