Racial Identity: Black or African American

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Racial Identity: Black or African American Society has become very good at categorizing people according to color. We use words such as black, white, yellow, or red to define people of different cultural backgrounds. Although ethnicity is one of the major places from where we derive our individuality, there are constituent parts within each ethnic group that differ from the whole. Sometimes this is due to uncontrollable circumstances such as gender, economic class, or intelligence. But more often than not these subgroups come out of the choices we make regarding friends and our lifestyle. The social constructs of which blacks in South Africa and African Americans in America are a part, shape their racial identities and attitudes towards race. In the United States of America there are many words used to identify black people. The most commonly used epithet in our country is “African American” (Cave). This phrase has replaced some of the earlier titles that were used to label black people. It is considered the most politically correct way to speak about a person of African descent, because it acknowledges where black Africans came from and creates a sense of self-respect in their struggle to become American. Some of the older labels that have been discarded include “negro […,] and colored” (Cave). Now looked upon as offensive or demeaning, these words were used in the 1860’s during everyday American life. They were intended to obliterate any confidence in the slaves, but unintentionally led to unity among a discriminated people. Steptoe, the author of “An Ode to Country Music from a Black Dixie Chick”, speaks about how she would not listen to country music because she associated it with the “white [people…who] called [her] nigger” (423). She listened to hip-hop and rap, which helped her feel connected to her roots. Steptoe let the color of her skin
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