Blacks Still Have Opposing Views

When this decade’s census came in the mail recently, many people in the Black community were shocked. Many spoke out on various news networks and papers. They were upset because in the section referencing blacks in this country, there were three choices: Black, African American and Negro. Many were highly offended when they read “Negro” as a choice. Many linked it with segregation and slavery in this country years ago.

“I was highly offended,” 31-year old Atlanta resident Shanice Redding stated. “In 2000, I don’t think “Negro” was a choice! Why all of a sudden are we going back to that word? What are they trying to say?”

Officials on the census claims that the only reason it was included this year was because when sending out a questionnaire over the last few years they found that many older blacks still refer to themselves as Negro.

Fifty-six year old Newark NJ resident Jacob Randolph added, “I have no problem with the word “Negro.” Just think back of all the things that we accomplished under that umbrella. We stuck together back then. We fought together back then. Now I don’t use that term in the public. I refer to myself as African American or Black but I have no problem with “Negro.”

Former Macon Georgia City Councilman Henry Ficklin agrees. He says, “It shows how disconnected some folk are to our heritage. There’s nothing at all wrong with the word “Negro.” It shows no negative connotation. Perhaps in the last 10-20 years there have been no classes that teach our heritage and we need more of that. A lot of people just relate that word too closely with the word Nigger. We definitely need more heritage taught.”

Our people are a Diaspora, which makes it difficult to categorize. During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, Africans were taken to Caribbean Islands as well as South America. Most of the ancestors that take up space in such places today simply refer to themselves as Haitian, Jamaican or whatever land they reside.

Newark resident Steve Ramaton, whom is a native of Trinidad adds, “We never use the word black back home. We use Negro. Black is a word that we still do not like there. I have to tell my mother when she’s in this country not to use the word Negro as she would at home.”

Although African American is the official name used for Blacks in this country, there are still many that disagree with that title.

“If we are African American, what do we call the brothers and sisters that are suddenly moving to this country from Ghana and Nigeria and various other places,” 46 year old Johannes Bridges asks. “I think that’s ridiculous. We are always coming up with something new. The fact is, we are all African. You don’t hear Italians in this country referring to themselves as Italian Americans. They’re just Italian or Irish or Chinese. We’re the only race that has to come up with another name every 10 or so years. Forget that, I’m African.”

Although officially many still argue on what name should be representative, many still refer to each other in every day language as Black.

“You hardly ever hear a black person say to the other, ‘You see that African American guy there?’ Or so on and so forth. We still are more comfortable with Black, and I think we should just stick to that” 37-year-old Charles Mann of Jersey City NJ states. We all just say what sounds good depending on whom we’re in front of and where we are. You may hear African American, Black, Negro or Nigger at any time, but when the cameras come on, we’re African American.”

Whichever way you look at it, it has caused much confusion from other races as well as younger generations that don’t have a clue about black heritage.