Comment by stcroixx

1 year ago

What is the preferred term in the UK - African British?

Well if they're black and you were describing their race you'd just say they're black.

If they're black and British and you're describing their nationality you'd say they were British.

Depends. Usually black if you don't know any more. Black British if you know they are British, but a lot of black people here are born in Africa or the Caribbean, and not all will be pleased to be described as British (some will take active offense, given Britains colonial past) and will prefer you to use their country or African/Caribbean depending on context.

My ex would probably grudgingly accept black British, but would describe herself as black, Nigerian, or African, despite also having British citizenship.

If you're considering how to describe someone who is present, then presumably you have a good reason and can explain the reason and ask what they prefer. If you're describing someone by appearance, 'black' is the safest most places in the UK unless you already know what they prefer.

"Nobody" uses "African British".

  • That's wild you can still say black there. That's been a no go in the US for a while.

Black British, because their skin is colored, and are British.

Black American, same way.

"African-" implies you were born in Africa, "-American" imples you then immigrated to America.

Elon Musk is an African-American.

13% of the US population are Black Americans.

  • Are extremely dark-skinned people (for example from South India) who move to england called "Black"? I've never heard that and would be surprised but i'm curious.

    • They would be called black socially, but would be Indian-British til they revealed their accent, I would think.

  • The term African-American does not imply that one was born in Africa. It refers to Americans of African ethnicity (which includes Carribean-Americans of African descent). Chris Rock, Lebron James, and Michael Jordan are all African-Americans born in the US.

    Elon Musk is not considered African-American according to the popular usage of the term as he is of European descent despite being born in South Africa.

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  • Where is the racism? I only see a question about proper categorization.

    • There's an implicit assumption in it, that while I think it might well not have been trying to be offensive can be seen to suggests a black person in the UK would be African.

      Not only do many of them not see themselves as such because they're born here, and their parents and grandparents might be British and/or born here (my son is mixed, his grandfather on his mothers side was Nigerian and British and born here; he is third generation British by some measure - his mother was born in Nigeria, but holds British citizenship due to her father; if he decides to consider himself African or Nigerian - he has a Nigerian citizenship - that's up to him, but he's born here, to a mother with a British citizenship, and has never set foot in any part of Africa), but another significant proportion of black people here consider themselves Caribbean rather than African, because their ancestry goes back many generations in the Caribbean, and that's where they or their recent ancestors immigrated from.

      Here, "forcing" a categorization of "African" on someone will be seen by at least some people as implying they're immigrants, and even when that is actually the case, having the label forced on you is often a prelude to racist sentiments.

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    • You have to be racist to assume that a Black person wants to be called "African British" in the UK.

      If you called my Black friends "African American" they would be pretty close to punching you in the face.

      Why wouldn't it be racist to assume Black people are African.

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