What are "African-Americans" called in your country?

[El Dwarfio]

In the US the "PC" term is "African-American". So I'm just curious as to how they are identified in other countries since "African-American" makes zero sense in other countries.

Please indicate your country of origin and the commonly accepted non racist term for black people.

I'm an Englishman who lives in America and one of my friends asked me this the other day... they, like you(?), were completely oblivious to how silly it is.

You see, an African-American is someone of African descent who lives in America, ergo they're called the same thing in any country. XDXD

 

[SodaDew]

I'm American and I say black....

 

[malmodir]

Germany.
******.
Wish I was kidding.

Is that considered a polite term in Germany, or just one that is used a lot?

Well, you have ****** in the offensive sense which is used by the majority of young people and "neger" which is used by the older generation. That last one used to be offensive but the old folks round here still use the word with no ill intended.

Actually these terms do not apply exclusively for African-Americans. They are some of the more offensive ones that can be used for black people. However there are more polite ones, too. It's sad that you are only pulling of one of these here.

We have no special expression for African-American here in Germany. All we have are "US-Amerikaner", "Amerikaner" or "Ami". These mean citizen of the USA. The colour of their skin doesn't matter. Here all of you are just "Amis".

 

[Zen Toombs]

.....black? Or "African American". Or [insert their name here]. There are lots of options in my area, I guess. Or something.

 

[PhiMed]

Actually, in the UK, we just call them "People".

I kinda laugh when I hear this sentiment.

So, you have no names or labels for people of a certain skin color or heritage? Everyone is just a "person"? So on forms or when the police are looking for a suspect they say "X skinned person"?

Mmmmhmmmm.

Incorrect. Their skin colour is a defining characteristic, not the name of their species; we're all human, and none of us should be labelled as "That Gay Person", or "That White Guy" or "That blonde chick". We should only use skin colour as a defining characteristic, otherwise we'll never completely abolish racial discrimination - if I have to describe somebody, I'll mention things such as skin colour, hairstyle/colour, height, and so on; until I have to describe them, they are simply "Person" (assuming I don't know their name).

On Police forms, do they only use skin colour to describe a person? Do they also leave out hair and eye colour? What about height? Age? Gender?

Precisely.

Wow.

The original question was clearly asking what the accepted descriptive term was. You have answered "black". There was a time in the U.S. when "black" was not accepted, and in many places it still isn't. Your entire lecture about "person" is irrelevant and off-topic.

Not every innocent question is your personal soapbox, dude.

 

[One of Many]

American here and I call 'em black. The PC police can go soak their heads.

 

[dyre]

I live in the US, and I think black is usually okay nowadays. African-American just has too many syllables. Maybe if the PC term was "double-A" or something, I'd use it.

 

[Adam Galli]

In the US people call them all sorts of things niggers, black, african american, etc. I personally hate the term african american. I refuse to call them that. If I'm white then that means they are black. The day some one calls me a european american I will start calling them african americans. I'm white and they are black but we are all americans which means they have a name so mostly I'll call them that.

 

[Ninjat_126]

Australians, people, guys, girls, chicks, dudes and similar. If they're African-American, we call them "African-Americans".

For black/native Australians, we call them "Aborigines", and they call themselves "Black fellas". Or vice versa.

 

[Boris Goodenough]

Neger (Danish), it has no negative connotations.

 

[Guy Pimpin]

In the US we call them unemployed. Other things too but they are kind of impolite.

 

[CruisingForBiddies]

Australia.
It just comes down to describing them as black, there is no racist intentions behind that term. What we call aboriginals on the other hand... Definitely less that friendly unfortunately.

 

[pffh]

Hmm lets see i Iceland we have blökkumaður (black/darkman), svertingi (negroid) and blámaður (blueman) but usually we don't bother mentioning skin colour unless you are describing the person to someone.

 

[Fujimora_Pantsu]

We don't actually have all that many Africans in Australia, and we don't really have a name for the ones we do have. On the other hand, Australian natives are called Aboriginals

 

[Amethyst Wind]

Generally, I use their name. If I don't know them, I'll probably say 'that guy' or something.

 

[Rikkano]

People.

 

[PiggyJibbleFish]

I live in Perth Australia. We call them Australians.

I guess if you wanted to be specific the PC word is probably African Australian.

A girl in my class once said, without a hint of sarcasm, "I don't know that many Abori... Oops! Sorry. I mean African-Australians."

I could have cried.

OT: Australian, yeah. Black is also acceptable, methinks.

 

[SwagLordYoloson]

Huh? African Americans, Or if they are a citizen, its African American Kenyan.