My family and I came to the U.S. from South Africa; we were the first members of my family to immigrate here. Basically, I am white but I was born in South Africa and lived there for a few years and want to identify as African American. I am a U.S. citizen now. Is identifying as African American being unfair to those people in the U.S. that will be the targets of discrimination over their lifetimes base on their physical appearance?
LMAO. Nice try.
Such a great question. How is this different from a South American (Hispanic) whose grandparents emigrated from Europe during World War II, and whose parents subsequently moved to the USA? How is it different from an elite highly-educated African family who has dark skin who recently immigrated to the USA?
Very interesting question. You are certainly an American of African descent.
This is a dinner party joke. But I am sure the OP has heard this over and over again.
Technically OP is from Africa and is probably more African than most black Americans (culturally speaking) so I don’t see why not lol
South Africans are actually considered white as they are of European descent.
View post #9 on the linked thread below. The U.S. Census Bureau would consider you to be white, so I would put white on the applications.
Edit: also view post #61 as an actual admissions officer was quoted
@tola2015, Many Argentinians and other South Americans are of European descent and are white, having emigrated to escape the war, however, they are considered ‘Hispanic’ (from another thread):
[quote[In the context of the National Hispanic Recognition Program, the rules are below. It appears you need to have (at a minimum) a grandparent born in one of the countries listed below.
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/about/nhrp.html
What is the NHRP’s definition of Hispanic/Latino?
To qualify for this program, you must be at least one-quarter Hispanic/Latino. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnic category, not a racial category; you may be of any race. For purposes of the NHRP, you must be from a family whose ancestors came from at least one of these countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay or Venezuela.
[/quote]
Also, many Brazilians and Caribbean natives are of African descent, but are not technically “African American” (the Brazilian blacks would be technically “Hispanic”).
I do not think the answer is clear-cut. What do you think about this ‘Hispanic’ thread vis-a-vis ‘African American’?
This just goes back to the question of whether African-American equals black. It is very confusing!
Well, I’ve never considered any of those countries you posted to not be Hispanic/Latino considering my school taught and tested on those cultures each year in Spanish.
I just recently edited my last post an adcom said it would be “disingenuous” to list African American if you are South African.
And on the common app the questions about twofold. 1) are you Hispanic or Latino (yes/no). 2) regardless of your answer to the prior question how do you identify yourself? (With a bunch of other drop downs you can select)
Also if you selected black/African American on the common app the drop down that appears says which best describes your background (us/African American, Africa, Caribbean, other).
On the commonapp it asks if you are Black or African American. Going by what the census says, white South Africans do not fall under this category. The OP can still put white and select other and specify South African.
Hispanic/Latino is the only category that has an arbitrary basis in national origin. All other categories are purely racial.
Thanks guys, white it is.