Yes, I think you and others have a valid criticism of the term. Below
is an except from the bottom of the wiki:
#-------------------------
Criticisms of the term
There is some criticism of the term 'African American'.
It may be criticised that African Americans are not really African (say
culturally) or really American (because they are marginalised in
American society). To be African American, some argue that an individual
would have to be born in Africa. The term can also be interpreted to
include non-black immigrants from Africa to the United States, such as
white South Africans or Arab Africans, although these groups generally
do not refer to themselves as African American nor generally thought of
as such in the United States.
The term 'African American' has also been misused by some in lieu of
'Black', regardless of an individual's nationality, ethnicity or
geography. For example, during the 2005 civil unrest in France
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_civil_unrest_in_France>, CNN
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN> anchorwoman Carol Lin
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Lin> referred to the rioters as
"African Americans".^[50]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_American#_note-36> This leads to
the belief amongst many opponents of the term that /African American/
presents an 'American-centric' view of black people across the world.
Defenders of the term argue that the term was never meant to encompass
all Africans, or even all black people, but only those individuals
formerly referred to as 'American Negroes', primarily people whose
ancestors survived the Middle Passage
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Passage> and slavery
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery>. Further, in the U.S., which is
often described as a nation of immigrants, hyphenated American
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphenated_American> terms historically
have been used to indicate one's national origin, or that of one's
ancestors.
By virtue of this, any person born in Africa
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa> would take on the name of his or
her country of origin. For example, an individual from Nigeria
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria> would be called a
'Nigerian-American', as the term is descriptive of national origin, as
opposed to 'African American'. Many prefer the term 'African American'
because, although the historical national origin of the majority of
black Americans is untraceable, the continent of Africa
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa> serves as an indicator of
geographic origin and a descriptive
#------------------------------------------
Regards,
LelandJ
Ed Leafe wrote:
> On Jun 25, 2007, at 8:28 PM, Leland F. Jackson, CPA wrote:
>
>
>> African Americans
>>
>
> I personally despise the term. I have a good friend who is a white
> South African who immigrated to the USA and got his citizenship.
> Before that, his family had been in South Africa for over 4
> centuries. Shouldn't he also be referred to as an African-American?
>
> And what about northern Africans, such as Egyptians or Moroccans? If
> they become Americans, are they African-American, too?
>
> -- Ed Leafe
> -- http://leafe.com
> -- http://dabodev.com
>
>
>
>
[excessive quoting removed by server]
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