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I thought a persons nationality was the country in which they are born (and it is) but why oh why do people have this idea that American nationality only applies to White people?People say "Black" as if Black was it's own country,with a separate nationality and Language.In Brazil White,Blacks,Asians,Natives,Mixed and Middle Eastern people are all Brazilians.....Why can't i as a Black American...just simply say i'm American?

skateboardstephen wrote:I thought a persons nationality was the country in which they are born (and it is) but why oh why do people have this idea that American nationality only applies to White people?People say "Black" as if Black was it's own country,with a separate nationality and Language.In Brazil White,Blacks,Asians,Natives,Mixed and Middle Eastern people are all Brazilians.....Why can't i as a Black American...just simply say i'm American?

My friend whether you like it or not, your race will always be your nationality

Who says you can't call yourself American, Stephen?

nicho12 wrote:

skateboardstephen wrote:I thought a persons nationality was the country in which they are born (and it is) but why oh why do people have this idea that American nationality only applies to White people?People say "Black" as if Black was it's own country,with a separate nationality and Language.In Brazil White,Blacks,Asians,Natives,Mixed and Middle Eastern people are all Brazilians.....Why can't i as a Black American...just simply say i'm American?

My friend whether you like it or not, your race will always be your nationality

Not if you believe in logic.In Brazil people know race and nationality are two different things so why are Americans so confused?

manly5000 wrote:Who says you can't call yourself American, Stephen?

People don't say i can't.In the U.S. it seems to be implied that only White people are Americans.While in other multiracial countries every one identifies with their nationality.

Well... as hard as it is to believe, there are certain flaws in the American way of thinking.... LOL!

Ladislav discussed this issue many times. Government is asking you to pick your ethnicity when you fill out employment application. U.S. government splits Americans into: White, Black, Hispanic, Asian or Mixed people.

I completely disagree and consider this total bullshit. I am an immigrant, why isn't there a selection for "immigrant American"? I am considered white, but I am way different from most While American-born men. And yes, I would prefer to call myself just "American", but the government itself is promoting racism.

have2fly wrote:Ladislav discussed this issue many times. Government is asking you to pick your ethnicity when you fill out employment application. U.S. government splits Americans into: White, Black, Hispanic, Asian or Mixed people.

I completely disagree and consider this total bullshit. I am an immigrant, why isn't there a selection for "immigrant American"? I am considered white, but I am way different from most While American-born men. And yes, I would prefer to call myself just "American", but the government itself is promoting racism.

Well.... White,Black,Asian are races,Hispanic is not a race it's an ethnic group,Mixed is not a race..I say you can't mix something then call it a race.The U.S. government if f***ing up with these labels.

But i wasn't talking about that though.My question was.Why is it that because i'm Black,people seem to imply that Black and American are mutually exclusive and only White people can be American?I heard of people..mostly racist Latinos say that African Americans have no nationality and no language.??Really???English is not a language?U.S. citizen is not a nationality?Then they say we have no culture which really pisses me off.Black American culture is American culture.I think there is no such thing as Black culture(yes we have some different mannerisms from other groups).We learned things like Christianity,Christmas,Thanks giving,Easter from Anglo-Saxons who are now considered Americans..American culture is our culture.

skateboardstephen wrote:Well.... White,Black,Asian are races,Hispanic is not a race it's an ethnic group,Mixed is not a race..I say you can't mix something then call it a race.The U.S. government if f***ing up with these labels.

But i wasn't talking about that though.My question was.Why is it that because i'm Black,people seem to imply that Black and American are mutually exclusive and only White people can be American?I heard of people..mostly racist Latinos say that African Americans have no nationality and no language.??Really???English is not a language?U.S. citizen is not a nationality?Then they say we have no culture which really pisses me off.Black American culture is American culture.I think there is no such thing as Black culture(yes we have some different mannerisms from other groups).We learned things like Christianity,Christmas,Thanks giving,Easter from Anglo-Saxons who are now considered Americans..American culture is our culture.

Latino bigots like to pull this on blacks because they usually only get that one reaction.
Next time you run into this, ask what their language is? Spanish.
and what country & continent does Spanish come from? Spain and Europe.
So neither Spanish nor English are native languages to the New World, then?
I have never had to have that discussion more than once with a latino bigot.

Some will try the "Well, Spanish was used before English, in the New World" (and is somehow better because of this?)
Well, horses were used before cars, right?

Teal Lantern wrote:

skateboardstephen wrote:Well.... White,Black,Asian are races,Hispanic is not a race it's an ethnic group,Mixed is not a race..I say you can't mix something then call it a race.The U.S. government if f***ing up with these labels.

But i wasn't talking about that though.My question was.Why is it that because i'm Black,people seem to imply that Black and American are mutually exclusive and only White people can be American?I heard of people..mostly racist Latinos say that African Americans have no nationality and no language.??Really???English is not a language?U.S. citizen is not a nationality?Then they say we have no culture which really pisses me off.Black American culture is American culture.I think there is no such thing as Black culture(yes we have some different mannerisms from other groups).We learned things like Christianity,Christmas,Thanks giving,Easter from Anglo-Saxons who are now considered Americans..American culture is our culture.

Latino bigots like to pull this on blacks because they usually only get that one reaction.
Next time you run into this, ask what their language is? Spanish.
and what country & continent does Spanish come from? Spain and Europe.
So neither Spanish nor English are native languages to the New World, then?
I have never had to have that discussion more than once with a latino bigot.

Some will try the "Well, Spanish was used before English, in the New World" (and is somehow better because of this?)
Well, horses were used before cars, right?

I live in Brazil and i speak Spanish,Portuguese.I have Latino friends in the U.S. i used to live in a city with the 2nd largest population of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. (Philadelphia)one of my good friends in Philly was Colombian.I have read up on on studied Latino culture and history for 5 years straight and this goes even farther than their language..Nothing almost NOTHING Latinos claim as their culture originally comes from Latin American countries yet their main argument to justify saying Americans have no culture is to say that everything in America comes from some where else (which is not true) Catholicism(European),Spanish,French,Portuguese(European Languages),Soccer(European),the beans they eat(African),The rice they eat(Asian),the plantains they eat(Indian/Asian),the slag words they use which are clearly African words...like Mangú,Mofongo,Dendê,Vatapá,Muleque,Cafuné,Camdomblé,Berimbau and millions of words in Spanish and Portuguese languages spoken in Latin America are not from Latin America.October fest in Brazil(European) their beers(German)The Caraval in Brazil,Colombia,Venezuela and where ever else it is celebrated originates from the old Roman Empire making it European.Their instruments come from mostly Africa and Europe,Their Music genres like Merengue,Tango,Salsa,Pagode,Samba,Reggaeton are highly influenced by African people. Mexican Corridos and the Accordions they use to play it come from Italy.The Accordion is also used in Brazilian Sertanejo music which is no different from country music in the U.S.Brazilians Bossa Nova music was highly influenced by American Jazz Music,Brazilian Funk Music influence by Miami Bass Music.Most Latinos have ancestors who came from some where else.The only thing that has origins in Latin America is Native Americans and their culture and Languages and even they came from Asia across the Bering Strait.And these faggots say that Americans have no culture????GTFOH!!!

IS Football,Baseball,Basketball not American sports thus apart of American culture??The way we dress,Our Music is Rock,Hip-Hop,Blue grass not American culture?The internet and other technology.I'm not going to go any further.

skateboardstephen wrote:In the U.S. it seems to be implied that only White people are Americans.......people seem to imply that Black and American are mutually exclusive

Bullshit. I have traveled and lived all over the world, including all over the USA, and never heard such a thing. Sounds to me that you have heard this from some select few and are transferring it to an entire nation. I have plenty of criticisms for the USA and am certainly no apologist, but in this case I call bullshit.

Mr Natural wrote:

skateboardstephen wrote:In the U.S. it seems to be implied that only White people are Americans.......people seem to imply that Black and American are mutually exclusive

Bullshit. I have traveled and lived all over the world, including all over the USA, and never heard such a thing. Sounds to me that you have heard this from some select few and are transferring it to an entire nation. I have plenty of criticisms for the USA and am certainly no apologist, but in this case I call bullshit.

Well...it's certainly true in Asia...Most Asians only think of 'White' as Americans, with some Blacks mixed in the population. For Asians and Hispanics, they might as well be non-existent in America...

So they don't think Barrack Obama is American? They don't think of Jesse Owens or Muhammad Ali or Michael Jordan as Americans? How about Oprah Winfrey or Denzel Washington? When I travel internationally, I'm often seen as German or Russian simply due to my looks, until I start talking and the American accent becomes obvious. On the other hand if I am wearing my Stetson they automatically assume that the cowboy must be American. If I am in Bangkok down on Soi 3 and see a couple of black guys, if I had to guess where they are from it would probably be Africa. Why? First, the overwhelming majority of black folks in Bangkok are not from the states but elsewhere, there are very very few American black guys there. Second, Soi 3 is an area where you see a lot of guys from the Middle East and Africa hang out. Now if I heard those same two guys speaking English with a Detroit accent then of course it would be quite obvious they are Americans. So it's just common sense, it's not because of some racist "implication".

First the OP says "In the U.S. it seems to be implied that only White people are Americans" but then he says "I heard of people..mostly racist Latinos say that African Americans have no nationality". So first he says an entire nation is implying this, but then narrows it down to, as I said, some few people.

Your point about Asians is well taken though. Except I would say that when they hear the word American they do tend to think of white folks first, but it's not right to say exclusively. And this is something you probably do see all over the world because of one simple reason; when you travel around the world the overwhelming majority of black people that you see, by far, are not from the states. Because an extremely small percentage of the black population in the USA travel very much internationally. Outside of the USA probably 98% of black people you see are from somewhere else. But to say that black people are not thought of as Americans is simply not true. Everybody in the world knows that Lebron James, Morgan Freeman and Samuel Jackson are Americans.

There's enough racism in the world as is, let's not try to invent even more.