8 Interesting Reasons Some Blacks Reject Being Called 'African-American'

I'm Biracial While many people of mixed racial backgrounds accept being called an African-American, a number of them reject the “one drop rule.” They feel that being labeled Black or African-American forces them to choose being Black exclusively and to reject the other ethnic groups that contributed to their genetic makeup. In an interview with BET’s “106 & Park,” singer Keyshia Cole said she didn't fit the criteria for “Black Girls Rock” because she is biracial. We Didn’t Land on Plymouth Rock --- That Rock Landed On Us Some Blacks born in the United States do not consider themselves to be American at all. They believe themselves to be more culturally and genetically tied to Africa, despite the fact their ancestors had their homes, languages, and spiritual systems stripped away by the transAtlantic slave trade. Malcolm X voiced this sentiment in a 1964 speech: "We’re not Americans, we’re Africans who happen to be in America. We were kidnapped and brought here against our will from Africa. We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock --- that rock landed on us." White Americans Don't Have To Be Hyphenate, So Why Should I Another argument against the “African-American” label is sometimes posited by Black Americans who prefer to just be called American, claiming that the United States was built on the backs of enslaved Blacks, who were one of the first ethnic groups to make up the nation. Because of this, they argue that Black Americans have just as much of a right to call themselves Americans as any other ethnic group and should not have to be hyphenated. Herman Cain, a 2012 Republican Party presidential candidate, said, “most of the ancestors that I can trace were born here in the United States of America. I’m sure my ancestors go all the way back to Africa, but I feel more of an affinity for America than I do for Africa. I’m a Black man in America." Another example is former hip-hop mogul, Suge Knight, who shocked the nation after he told a TMZ cameraman he would rather be called the N-word than African-American because he’s not from Africa. African-American Applies More To African Immigrants Some American-born Blacks argue they shouldn't call themselves “African-American” because now there are many more people in the United States who were actually born in Africa. According to people like Black writer and political commentator John McWhorter, American-born Blacks are so vastly less “African” than African-born people, that calling them “African-American” is not only illogical but almost disrespectful to African immigrants. I'm From The Caribbean/I'm From Africa Many Black people from the Caribbean and the African continent who immigrate to the U.S. think the term “African-American” should refer only to Black Americans because it omits their specific cultural heritage. Some people from the Caribbean want to be referenced by their specific country of birth, while some continental Africans prefer to be identified by their nationality or their specific African ethnic group. Can a White African Be An African-American Too? Some Blacks think the term African-American is not exclusive enough, and the term could also be claimed by whites and Arabs who also were born in Africa. Their claim is bolstered by a recent lawsuit by a Caucasian man who immigrated to the U.S. from Africa and wanted to be classified as African-American. Born and raised in Mozambique, Paulo Serodio, now a naturalized U.S. citizen, filed a lawsuit in 2009 against a New Jersey medical school, claiming he was harassed and ultimately suspended for identifying himself during a class cultural exercise as a "white African-American." The Term African-American Doesn't Represent Our True Heritage. Members of the religious group called the Moorish Science Temple of America believe that the people who were kidnapped by the Europeans and brought to the Americas are originally of Moorish ancestry, specifically from Morocco. Adherents of the group, founded in 1913 by Timothy Drew a.k.a. Nobel Drew Ali, object to terms such Negro, Colored, Black, Ethiopian, Afro/African American because they don’t associate the people with their true cultural heritage and land. Members prefer names like Moor, Moorish-American Moslem, or Asiatic. Black People Are The True Israelites Some sects of the Black Hebrew Israelites maintain that the Blacks who were sold into slavery and Blacks born on the African continent are two different nations of people, hence they claim no African heritage at all. Believing that the Africans brought over in slave ships were actually descendants of the 12 Hebrew tribes of Israel, some members neither identify themselves as Africans nor Americans, rendering the term "African-American" irrelevant to them. They prefer to be called Hebrew Israelites.

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