If the school wanted someone who was black, why not have an award for black students, not "African-Americans"? This kid was actually from Africa - he's the most African-American student in the school.

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Flyers Promote White Student For African-American Award POSTED: 6:39 AM CST January 22, 2004, KETV-7 OMAHA, Neb. -- Four Westside High School students are suspended for promoting a white student for an African-American award. More than 150 flyers were distributed throughout the school Monday. They featured junior Trevor Richards, A South African native who moved to the United States in 1997. The posters were removed by administrators because they were "inappropriate and insensitive," Westside spokeswoman Peggy Rupprecht said Tuesday. Rupprecht said the award always has been given to black students. Trevor said he is as African as anyone else. "I had no intent of hurting anyone or offending anyone. I wasn't trying to make a statement. I was just running for the award, but i guess the administration felt differently," Richards said. Richards was suspended for two days. Two other students were disciplined for putting up the posters and another student was punished for starting a petition to promote Richards.

Hehe, great story. He should take it to court. Whites can be african americans too! Amazing how the terms black and white are no longer endorsed by the society. Soon calling someone black will be like calling someone a damn nigga. Then I guess a new term will come up to describe black people, and the term african american will start to gain negative connotations

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1+1=10

He obviously knew what they meant by the term African-American, so I find it ironic that he would feel slighted by the response on the part of the admin towards his actions. Maybe he is correct in that he is as African as any African except that he is of white origin, the problem with that is that the terminology African American usually applies to individuals of African heritage or descent that were born in America as opposed to migrating 6 years ago, see my point. I am black but was not born in America, I was born in South America and would be Afro-Guyanese. I am a U.S. citizen but am I African-American, Guyanese-American or Afro Guyanese-American, ah, what's in a word, interesting to wonder however Don't think he should have been suspended however, a bit drastic I think, in a round about way he has a point, unusual but nonetheless could make sense.

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Last edited by NYCTrancefan on Jan-23-2004 at 22:44

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i'd like to buy a vowel please

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If God is the answer, it must have been a very stupid question.

Wow, good question. I think that black people have come to resent "black" because it is such a sweeping generalization for anyone with dark skin, while failing to distinguish their true native home be it Jamaica, Samoa, Etc. Unfortunately, that information isn't always readily inferrable by a lot of people, "black" is easier than calling people Samoan-American, Jamaican-American, etc. simply because they're a black person of non-african hertiage.

Then again, maybe I'm completely mistaken and some people make the assumption that at the dawn of time, when different parts of Pangaea developed as the land separated and formed continents, Africa was the origin of typical "black-skinned" people, and no "white-skinned" people originated there. Therefore, "African-American" is essentially a blanket statement for anyone black. It gets confusing.

I can see why the kid would enter as an "African-American", though I bet some of his friends encouraged him to do it, simply because he could.

I thought "African-American" was just a PC term. In today's world it serves as more of a distinguishing characteristic, that often becomes a discussion point if the person you're talking to is a native aborigine from Australia and feels no allegiance to Africa.

Aw, crap. I dunno, I can see how both could be taken offense to in today's times. I have no clue as to the answer of this puzzle.

NYCTrancefan--can you weigh on this discussion?

Me personally, I have never paid too much attention to terminologies that are usually applied to people as a group, because I know how weak they can be in their application. After all you have blacks in Germany from Namibia, blacks in Holland from Suriname, blacks in France from Africa and Guyane Francaise, blacks in Portugal from Angola as well as the reverse with whites in Africa. My point is that people are so intermingled today that no one definition would be applicable. So the terminology African American is as general as it gets with blacks from all over the world in America and obviously on any census it would take too much space to put every background. The same applies for other groups of people as well. So I just live life and have fun be you black, white, Indian, Asian whatever if you are cool I can dig you.

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Trance = Heart, Mind, Body and Soul all in 1

Current fav. Global Experience = Madras

So then, is offensive for me to just refer to them as "black" for simplicity's sake?

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Originally posted by Shakka So then, is offensive for me to just refer to them as "black" for simplicity's sake?

Wouldn't necessarily say so after all I have seen it applied in many situations without being viewed as offensive. I guess its all related to the context in which it's used. More often than not there's not a negative connotation behind it, just a broad based generalization.

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Trance = Heart, Mind, Body and Soul all in 1

Current fav. Global Experience = Madras

what....a.....DUM....ASS....its obvious they are talking about people who are black, not white, from africa. african american, no african. he's british african.

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Maybe, but seriously--in this day and age of anal-retentive political correctness(which I'm joyously waving goodbye to a little more each day), even if he was doing it to be a smart-ass, American society has grown to care so much about victimization that nobody wants to hurt anybody else's feelings and we have come to allow this bullshit to become mainstream. Now here's someone taking advantage of the system, and really putting them on the spot to call a spade a spade.

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Maybe, but seriously--in this day and age of anal-retentive political correctness(which I'm joyously waving goodbye to a little more each day), even if he was doing it to be a smart-ass, American society has grown to care so much about victimization that nobody wants to hurt anybody else's feelings and we have come to allow this bullshit to become mainstream. Now here's someone taking advantage of the system, and really putting them on the spot to call a spade a spade.

i know right? its like the gay marraige issue. this country give marraige licenses to natural couple (heterosexuals, opposite sex) couples. its natural and thats the way it should be. sorry, but some people feelings will be hurt. theres a little something called comprimise, where they can be declared a union. but when u start giving gay couples the name marraige, then u start degrading true marraige of man and woman.

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