Black Like Me by Kelvin Wade

The Other Side by Kelvin Wade
February 11, 2010
Black Like Me

What am I? Am I a Negro, black or African-American? And if African-American is the accepted term for what I am in America 2010, then why isn't this month African-American History Month instead of Black History Month? Why isn't the NAACP the N quadruple A? Why haven't we made a clean break from “black?”

Some were outraged that the U.S. Census form contains the word “Negro” as one of the options alongside black and African-American. The term is archaic but I don't know too many blacks who are offended by it, unless it was used in some offensive context.

Trying to dampen the tempest, the government defended the inclusion of the term saying some older blacks identify with it. Really? Well a lot of younger blacks self identify with the N word but I don't see that on the census form.

Speaking of the word Negro, Senate majority leader Harry Reid ran into trouble when it was revealed last month that in 2008 he said he liked Barack Obama's chances in the presidential race because he was “light skinned” and had “no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

It's not surprising. Seventy year old Harry Reid, who was born in Nevada and attended school in Utah, seems like a nice enough fellow but it's probably not a stretch to say that the only blacks he comes into contact with are President Obama and whoever is working in the Senate cloak room. How else to explain his usage of a term that has long passed its expiration date?

When I was a child, I remember seeing the term “Afro-American” on forms but no one I knew ever used that term to describe blacks.

When the term African-American started coming into vogue, it met with resistance mainly from whites who opposed hyphenated Americans. Of course, this opposition seemed to materialize at the same time the term African-American did while giving a pass to self described Italian-Americans, Polish-Americans and other hyphenated European Americans.

The strange thing is that I don't know any black people who, in private, use the term “African-American.” It's a term that's meant to be more specific than black but it's not really. I get it. My ancestors are from Africa. Probably West Africa. And I'm an American. But if this term was meant to replace “black” then what do you call someone like Teresa Heinz Kerry, the Senator's wife, who was born in Mozambique and is an American citizen? Doesn't that make her, a white woman, also an African-American?

In writing about the subject in the past, I've used the term African-American, not because I favor it, but simply to break the monotony of using 'black' all throughout a column. As I've stated, in private, every black person I come into contact with uses the term black. It's straightforward and unambiguous.

“African-American” is nomenclature accepted and used by academia, corporations, civil rights leaders, newsreaders and politicians (who aren't Harry Reid). When is the last time you heard a black comedian riffing on “African-American people?”

“Say it loud. I'm African-American and I'm proud!” just doesn't roll off the tongue like 'black.'

I'm not saying the term should be retired. Many people feel comfortable saying it. It offers the patina of respectability and political correctness that many people obviously crave. My (white) best friend has been using the term for yeas and was surprised when only recently did I tell her that I do an internal eyeroll when I hear it.

I don't speak for all people of color (because apparently the federal government has located older black folks who prefer to be called Negroes), but as for me, black is fine. Peace.