Who Am I?

One topic that continues to be an issue of relevance in America is how Americans of color should be addressed. The option of calling them Colored is out of the question because of the negative connotations that are brought up from its use historically. So are they African Americans or black people? The resolve seems to always be that each classification is preferred about equally among all. The African American classification is popularly accepted as the most politically correct. However, the problem with its use is the assumption that follows which implies that African American are derived directly from the continent of Africa. That assumption fails to recognize those Americans who are people of color, but derived directly from Caribbean or middle eastern nation rather that Africa. The black classification is used in the place of "African American" because it is most inclusive, if nothing else. For example, President Barack Obama is America's "first black president" despite the fact that he is interracial. Aside from perhaps being overly generalized, "black" would seem to be the best option, but Ossie Davis thickens the plot in his analysis of the use of the word "black" in his speech "The English Language is My Enemy". He submits that using "black" to address a person of color should be considered an insult. He substantiates his submission with the by referring to Roget's Thesaurus of the English Language and the entries found within pertaining to "blackness". In it "blackness" has one hundred and twenty synonyms, and not one of them have any positive connotations; not even mildly. Sixty of those synonyms are distinctly negative like evil, wicked, and dismal. But those do not even include the synonyms that directly relate to race like Negro and nigger. Davis suggests that thought is simply sub-vocal speech, which implies that word are still required for thinking whether or not they're physically verbalized. In that sense words are given great importance. For instance, once children of color are taught they're "black" and then learn the meaning they are in a sense putting themselves down each time they identify with their blackness. Now that's a sentiment to make one ponder heavily. Or better yet, the confusion that this issue generates makes one desire a post-racial America more than ever.