Topic: Do you find it offensive to be called "Asian American" or "African American"

For those that are either of those 2.....don't you think it would be better if we were call just called "American" without any extra words in front? Because that's essentially what anyone born here is....American.

You wouldn't put an extra word in front of a white American to describe him...so it doesn't make sense to me to say Asian or African American.

I do not see people as different races or by color. I just see them as people to be honest. But at the same time people of other races refer to whites as whitey, white americans in the same regards. Not all but some.

Those are probably the best ways to be calling those people by.

I think Russel Peters puts it best:

"You're not f***ing African!"

I was asked this before by a friend of mine. Of course my answer was to just call me by name to her, lol. Since it is considered politically correct (whatever that means nowadays) I don't mine African-American. Doesn't exactly roll off the touge but it doesn't need to when your say giving a speech or referencing a race in general.

@Cheezy
FYI, you may not want to use the term "those people". That is considered very racist by many including me.

There are far worse things to call both ethnic groups than that.

I don't think its necessary since it is so formal. And with Asian americans, I usually distinguish the Japanese or Koreans from other asians because their names use a distinct form of phonetics.

The only real difference you should make is between indians and native americans because Native Americans are often informally called "Indians" -- but it is improper since there are actual "Indians" from India.

I say don't worry about it. You're always going to offend somebody because some people are always on the lookout for trouble. Just don't be a jackass, and you'll be fine.

I'd imagine a European would find it offensive to be called 'African-American' or 'Asian-American'... :3

In all seriousness, though, it is not for non-PoC individuals to decide what People of Color should or should not be called. You don't put 'white' in front of American because that's what the world already thinks of when they think of America -- an image of some kind of caucasian, whether it's one of the founding fathers, a Playboy bunny, or some Hollywood star. It is not fair to PoC to attempt to trivialize their everyday problems in this country with fluffy rose-colored-glasses-wearing BS like 'I don't see people's color, i'm colorblind' or 'why do we need to call ourselves Italian-American, Irish-American, Japanese-American, Indian-American, African-American, Egyptian-American, whatever -- we're all Americans', because that is not how the real world works and it is shameful to ignore that fact. Whether it 'makes sense' to you or not, please be respectful of people both on this forum and IRL when it comes to issues of race and call people as they prefer to be called, whether it's 'black' or 'African-American' -- if you're Caucasian, you'll never truly know the struggle of a Person of Color in this country, and don't even try to delude yourselves into thinking you will.