"To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing,
if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803

What’s In A Name?

by Lee

It was around ten years ago that blacks first began to refer to themselves using the term “African-American” to denote their race.  Being possessed with an unusually astute ability to predict the foibles of life’s adventures, I stated to a friend that as the use of the term “African-American” grew more widespread I would one day hear someone refer to a black African as an “African-American.” A couple of years later my prediction came to pass.  Mavis Leno, wife of Jay Leno, was on the Tonight Show publicizing a cause she had become involved in.  In Afghanistan a theretofore unknown group of Islamofascists called the Taliban had assumed power and were oppressing women, among other things.  Mavis started a group to bring attention to the plight of these educated, westernized women, who were being forced to wear the shroud and were treated as nothing more than the property of their husbands.  Explaining the situation to the Tonight Show audience, Mavis said something along the lines of, “The way these women are being treated is just like the way the white ruling class in South Africa used to treat the African-Americans.” I jumped up at the TV, with proof of the folly of this term now confirmed. 

When you refer to someone as being black you are commenting solely on their skin color, their genetics.  When you call someone an African-American you refer not to their race but to the geographical location in which their ancestors were born and where they happen to live now.  For example, I was born in Australia to an American father.  I’m a citizen of two countries, with two passports and two birth certificates.  I can, in every sense of the world, refer to myself as an Australian-American.  Now, suppose I was born in South Africa to a white South African mother and a white American father, and I ended up with the two passport situation again.  I would literally, legally, be an “African-American,” with the paperwork to prove it.  This shows just how dumb the term “African-American” is as a substitute for a standard racial classification.

Why am I ranting about this?  I just saw a commercial for a new prescription drug.  In these types of commercials the FDA requires that they disclose all side effects, and this particular product had a side effect that manifested itself differently in blacks.  The voiceover said something like, “May cause elevated blood pressure.  Elevations can be higher in African-Americans, so check with your doctor.”

Now, “black” is a race.  “Negro,” while socially unacceptable, is a legitimate racial classification.  “African-American” is not.  Say a black Brazilian has immigrated to the US.  He is not African and he is not American.  He is black.  So, does he not have to worry about the elevated blood pressure side effect because he does not consider himself an African-American?

A minor point, to be sure, but the use of this term never ceases to amaze me with just how blatantly asinine it is.  Well, it’s late.  I think I’m going to take my Irish-Scottish-English-Polish-Australian-American ass to bed.

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