Posted by INTRUDN on August 07, 2000 at 05:23:03:
Armand, this is for you.
In a post waaaay down the board, I gave my thoughts concerning the terms used today to "lable" certain groups of people, such as African American (used to describe someone that is black and a citizen of the USA), and Native American (used to describe the Indian nations of the USA). I said that I thought these terms were grossly incorrect, and gave these examples of the literal breakdown:
Native American: implies that the person is a native of the Americas.
African American: implies that the person is a native of Africa, but is a decendant of peoples from the Americas, such as saying "I am African (born in Africa, or became a citizen of Africa), but I have American parents/grandparents."
The same would go for Irish American, Italian American, Polish American.....you get the picture. I believe the correct term to use, instead of what is currently being used, would be American African (not African American), American Italian, etc.
Now, if a person is born in the "America's", doesn't that make them Native American? Well, yes it does. So if I wanted to describe the Indians of the Americas (the ones wearing feathers and carrying tomahawks), I would say Native American Indian Tribal, or Native American Tribal Indian, because using the word "tribal" leaves no doubt as to what I am referring to. If I said Native American Indian, that would mean someone that was native to the Americas, but a decendant of peoples from India, right? Or that they were born in the America's, but later became citizens if India. Like Native American African would be a native of the Americas, but a decendant of peoples from Africa, like saying "I am American, but my parents/grandparents were African." Or that they were born in the America's, and later became a citizen of Africa.
Hope this helps you figure out what I was talking about. I am a decendant of both the Choctaw and Natchez Indian tribes, and I was born in the U.S.A.