Ask Lemmy

I'm not from the U.S.

Grew up in a community that was whiter than yours was black.

4th grade was exciting: we had a new, native American student in my class! Everyone else was white. There were two adopted kids in my neighborhood that were brownish, raised quite white (islander and South American). The only black people in the city played for the university football team.

Moved away from there, did most of my work in music. Many black, Hispanic & Asian coworkers, some friends.

I'm back in my birth city now. Black & Hispanic people are now established portions of the population of the city.

I've seen bad takes from you before but Jesus christ the comments ITT tops them all

I've had a couple of conversations recently where people have confidently said things about the Black community that are ridiculously incorrect

Do tell.

No, i don't live in america

Do you actually know any African Americans? I mean, surely they're just Americans?

Are you like a Eurasian Steppes American or something? 😂

been living with a black woman for many years

I had maybe one that would actually fit your specific terms (though he preferred Black Billy with the adjective usually being big or sexy). One of my good friends living in Texas was black, but he'd call himself a Black American or Cuban American rather than African American. In Japan, my black friends were (I moved to the middle of nowhere recently and don't use social media, so friendships tend to fade) black men from Africa (mostly Tanzania).

I think African American is one of those terms that (a) is super American-centric and (b) isn't something everyone would call themselves. You can actually read into how "Native Americans" feel about that term (many don't like it, apparently, because America (the country being the US)) wasn't the place they came from; they came from the land that their ancestors settled, not some stolen version of it. Some actually prefer "Indian" while others favor something more like "aboriginal peoples" or "first nations".

I was close friends with 2 black kids from across the street all through my school years, and another black dude in my neighborhood for a while in my adult years until they all moved away. But, like... There wasn't much of a cultural difference from me; we were all "middle class" Californians.

I saw one of dudes from high school run into some racists yelling the N word at him once, but it was 2 skinny assholes vs like 7 of us and half of our group was on the football team so when we didn't just ignore them, they pissed themselves and ran away.

I don't know any Americans let along African-Americans.

Well, not living in America certainly makes it difficult to start friendships with African American people.

But all the black people I know are extremely annoyed at the automatic assumption that their culture is Africa American.