I am not an African - American

I am not an African-American. Do not call an African-American. I am an American plain and simple. I was born here as were my parents and grandparents and you should look back many generations before you find someone in my family from the African continent. It 's time of blacks in this country stop trying to identify with a land whose culture is not their own. Time to stand up and say "This land is our land" and let everyone know that we are entitled to this country as much as anyone.

I understand the need for black people in America to find an identity all their own. There are displaced as a people can be. Brought here in the seventeenth century, first as slaves and servants as the richness of culture has led these people from their various tribes were systematically stripped away from them.

Perhaps calling ourselves African-Americans believed to be able to recover some of that wealth that is lost to us and our people was stolen long ago. But the atrocities of the past are just that, the past and trying to identify with cultures'm not going to help us achieve respect and prosperity that we mentioned for so long in a country that is still hostile to those of descendants African.

Now do not get me wrong, I am in any way that we should forget the past. It 'important to study and learn from your ancestors triumphs', mistakes and pain. Constantly changing our identification, however, is not the best way to use this knowledge. We had several "identities" by colored Negro, Black and now African-American.

How can we expect anyone to know about us if we are not sure of our identity? How can we expect to come together as a people if we disagree on something as simple as what to call ourselves? Hell the government is not even sure if we form the 2000 census was no indication by their Black, Negro, Afro-American category non-Hispanic.

I say we dispense with all the confusion. We are Americans. The sweat of our brow helped build this country. Benjamin Banneker a black man, helped design the white house. Something as simple as light and as life saving as a blood transfusion were created by people of color. Americans. From music, dance, literature have given much more time in this country has ever given us. We can be proud of ourselves simply by calling the Americans, because we have earned more than that right. It's time to use it.

I was once asked if I felt like a second and the first black American. The answer is as long as America sees me as black first then I'll always be second American. But I'll never be anything other then American, pure and simple.

(C) 2005 Tamika Johnson