Racist? Glenn Beck: African-American ‘a bogus, PC, made-up term’; ‘not a race’

"while someone with brown skin is considered by glen beck to be.... well he didnt give any alternatives, he just said they arent african american."

Glen Beck is not the one who named black people "African Americans". THEY named themselves African Americans, back when they decided they didn't want to be called "Colored", or "Black". All Beck was saying was, "African American" is not a race. He is correct. The correct term for the black race is "Negro", which means "black", just as "Caucasian" is the term for whites. Neither signifies WHERE a person came from. Black people should not be offended by a term signifying the color of their skin, just as "Caucasian" signifies a person is light skinned.

The definition of Caucasian, according to Webster's is -- ".......... characteristic of a race of humankind native to Europe, North Africa, and southwest Asia and classified according to physical features —used especially in referring to persons of European descent having usually light skin pigmentation." Who has a problem with that? This is the discription of "white" people. Why would black people have a problem being called "Negro", or, black?

I find it hilarious that liberals and progressives make a big deal about issues with race, especially with the blacks community. In fact I just did a quick search to see if this non-issue appeared on any blogs, forums or news sites dedicated to the black community and surprise surprise I couldn't find one. Of course I could be wrong, but I saw this on all the usual "progressive" websites: Stink Progress, Media Matters ect, which I know do not cater to the black community in America.

in my naivete i presumed that there has always been only one 'label' to describe homo-sapiens, human beings.

cultures vary geographically and therefore people have an innate need to preserve their identities...nothing wrong with that. it is diversity of culture that has made this country the greatest nation in the history of mankind.

hyphenated Americans seem to want to distinguish themselves, but to me it seems ridiculous because of the way it divides all people.

Most people born in another country have come to the land of oppurtunity to become the part of the generic label of "Americans". Immigrants seem to try the hardest to become part of what was once a melting pot of world culture.

my ancestry hails from western europe, when they arrived in this country the prejudices and bigotry was so great that they refused to teach their children their native language. Traditions were often kept within the home and shared only with friends.

I was born in America, that should make me a native American, [no offense to the aboriginal Americans for the "might makes right culture" from which we have evolved].

I was also born in the hills of the Onondagas, the faith keepers of the Haudenoshaunee Nations. The 'people of the hills' that helped us to develop the U.S. Constitution by sharing their own "Great Law of Peace"

The history of all cultures living in America is worth celebration by all citizens, so long as it is a way to bring us all together. Hyphenation is an insult to all Americans as it invites seperatism and racist perspectives that only work to keep us divided and consequently conquerable... and the government likes it that way!

so...drop that which seperates us, for the power is truly with the people, if we just get off our butts, make known our views and stop listening to the ruling W.A.S.P. mentalities that have sought to keep us divided throughout our history!

Shades of Joe McCarthy in the 21st. century.

We've been called everything. Me, I would normally say that AFRICAN AMERICAN is an ethnic group, but Africa is a CONTINENT, not a country. But I guess it (the term AFRICAN AMERICAN)'s cool enough for now, I'd have to call African Americans a GROUP. But remember, the human RACE is African-derived.

So by that logic then he isn't american he's European since his ancestry sure as hell isn't in America. Why don't we go further and just say that he's Ethiopian as his ancestors came from came from there as it's the cradle of humanity

How is this racist?

I hate to admit it, but Glenn Beck is right. African American is not a race. It is way to general. For a long time now, it has bothered me that all people of African ancestry are grouped in one huge category. An African American is supposed to mean someone who immigrated from Africa- or has parents that did or still has family there etc. I think the term AA was coined by Jesse Jackson in the 60s or 70s to instill pride in people. AA's have African origin, but I know of many who's ancestry consists of many other races. I think the gov't just tried to lump all black people in 1 category, which isn't fair. On the same census they divided other nationalities. What about my Somali friend who has been in the U.S. for a year? Is he considered AA? Just saying. I'm sick of the gov't being inconsiderate.

I am an African-American that is my heritage.
I am a human that is my Race.

War!

What life has taught me
I would like to share with
Those who want to learn...

Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war

That until there are no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the color of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the color of his eyes
Me say war

That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be perused, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique,
South Africa sub-human bondage
Have been toppled, utterly destroyed
Well, everywhere is war, me say war

War in the east, war in the west
War up north, war down south
War, war, rumours of war

And until that day, the African continent
Will not know peace, we Africans will fight
We find it necessary and we know we shall win
As we are confident in the victory

Of good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
Good over evil, good over evil, good over evil

I wonder what the Native Americans would call so called European "immigrants"...

With that in mind, I wonder what they would call the people of this land, and themselves.

We clearly still suffer from European Colonial times. The claiming of property, creating borders and nation-state-identities. This is just a one of many feats to overcome. However it wasn't until after WWII that Winston Churchill met with many other leaders to draw the borders of the Middle East. They're failure to understand the region led to the grouping of various ethnic sects, while developing forms of governments that would lead the struggle for power we still see today.

We are all citizens of the world, Earth, Gaia... etc. There have been many titles and labels we have given ourselves, and of others. There are more to come with time.

The term "African American" does strike me as odd. Reason being is that it would have to specified by each individual, regardless of skin color. Ever meet a South African? There are many of British decent, making their skin color quite white. The one I met had a father from South Africa and mother from The United States of America. She could be seen as African American.

If any United States citizen travels up to Canada, you may encounter a customs officer that seems rather uptight on the claim of your nationality. Canada happens to also be located on the North American Continent.
So when the customs officer asks, "What is your nationality?" and you say, "American," don't be surprised if they grunt and repeat they're question. Either they will continue repeating until you get it right, or run out of my patience and correct you, "I think you mean your an United States of America citizen." An experience I've been through in Montreal.

It is not racist to question labels that have been deemed acceptable. However, from what I gather, Beck seems to imply those of African decent, with ancestors from the slave trade, do not happen to be as American as those of European decent; well that is the grandest of self-including-insults. I used 'self-including' because the insult is suggesting those of European decent are some how superior to others, while neglecting the history of this region and the original occupants.

I just got back from watching Avatar, I'm all for fighting for the Navis right now. Humans suck.

Like many have said, I might not agree where Glenn Beck is coming from (not to necessarily be a part of excessive hate against him, but the statistics aren't in his favor in terms of his morality), but I agree the term, like all hyphenated terms, is quite useless and misleading. The idea of race is entirely false, as there's so much variation in physical traits across all lines that no real concept of racial purity can exist. With that said, I see the value in the census, at very least to challenge misconceptions and stereotypes.

I feel that the best and most fair way to do any, for a lack of a better term, racial generalization would be tracking ancestry. Artic, North , Central, South American, Eastern and Western European, Asian, North, South, East, West, Central African, ... essentially the list could go on ad infinitum, or be generalized by continents. But what's most important is that people are smart enough to see beyond the surface of terminology and not base their judgments on it. I hope adults have that capability.

I think if someone wants to be called African American, let them be called that. Get over it. But then again, Glenn Beck never really makes sense or sticks to important topics, so this is the kind of thing he would bitch about.

Eesh. I knew this story was going to be bad once I saw that it was about Glen Beck lol. Like many of other people have said, what Glen Beck said is actually correct, although I think he made that statement with different intentions in mind. There was a fantastic article about race in the December 2003 issue of Scientific American entitled "Does Race Exist?" I just want to quote a few things that I thought were really interesting.

"The problem is hard in part because the implicit definition of what makes a person a member of a particular race differs from region to region across the globe."

In other words, "race" is a socially defined construct, especially in the United States. Although we tend to lump, say, all "white" people in one group, there was a time when Irish-Americans were actually considered to be part of a different race. Same thing with Southeastern Europeans.

However, I think Beck makes one significant mistake in his argument. It's almost like he's lumping all "black" people into one group that originated in Africa. The article states: "Most people who describe themselves as African-American have relatively recent ancestors from West Africa...The fraction of gene variations that African-Americans share with West Africans, however, is far from uniform, because over the centuries African-Americans have mixed extensively with groups originating from elsewhere in Africa and beyond." The article continues: "West African contribution to the genes of individual African-Americans averages about 80 percent, although it ranges from 20 to 100 percent."

I think this article points out a lot of discrepancies that we tend to ignore when it comes to the issue of race. Simply said, one can't use genetic information to define race, nor even to support the idea of race.

But of course...Beck wouldn't use any of this information to back up his statement. He's just a "racist" moron. =)

i'm a dark skinned,American,human.simple

If you get past the fact he's an idiot, that actually makes sense.
That is not racist at all...

I hear what this man is saying, but what would he want us to call ourselves? I too have had the debate about being called an African-American amongst my friends and how it makes us feel. However, to our dismay we live in a country that is entirely too race conscious. I don't know too many Blacks, who would want to refer to themselves as Negroes. Nor, do I know too many who love a name associated with a crayon, black. If you look at the root of the word Negro, it and words with similar spellings, it still means black (ex. negro in spn. and nero in italian) So basically, no matter how we spin it this world, or at least this country, is still focused on the color of the skin. While I understand for the sake of statistics one's race is important, I think we need to realize that race is yet another social construct that creates more divisions than anything else. Hopefully, one day we'll reach a point when we are just considered Americans, without having to specifically define in what way. Unfortunately, for many blacks in this country we don't have the luxury of knowing all of our roots, which only adds to this debate. I guess I should refer to myself with what I do know: I am a combination of Mississippi, Tennessee, and Carolina blood, sprinkled with some Sioux Native Americans, and some Ethiopian blood (saw that on a fam tree once) and possibly some Caucasian, and my skin just happened to come out a little brown... but in the end I'm just an American.

Caring what Glenn Beck says is actually sillier than what Glenn Beck is actually saying.

I hate Glenn Beck, but these terms do tend to go over the top. I've read countless articles where black British Formula 1 driver (2008 World Champion) has been identified as 'African-American', despite being a British citizen with no ties to America. The same has happened plenty of times to the black boxer Lennox Lewis, who is also a black British man.

The usage of these 'terms' are doing nothing but hindering societal integration. In colloquial speech people do not say, 'Asian-American', they simply say 'Asian', a term that does not differentiate between Asians born in India and Asians born in Seattle.

As somebody said above, I think everybody ought to be called 'American (of X descent)' when the latter half of the description is necessary (when is that?), which, by default, labels everybody as simply 'American'.
http://www.topnflnews.com/

C'mon,... does Current really hafta be flooded with Glenn Beck stories?! Whenever we surf Current,... do we really hafta read a plethora of stories about how Glenn's right about THIS thing, we're wrong about THAT thing, THIS "kind" of person is the devil, THAT certain action is unpatriotic or socialistic?!?!?!?! We all know his beliefs, and we all know he's got the blackboard to prove ANY theory,... so let's just leave the Glenn Beck stories to those who care or NEED someone to tell them what to think.

But as for this particular nutso story,... where do we start? Saying "made-up term" means nothing,... since everything is made-up by us. And Glenn calls himself an American, right? (a true, definitive American!) Where is this America he speaks of? This country is "of" America,... so that sounds like "American" is a bogus, made-up term. And God forbid that some people, who may not be sure of their specific country of origin (for horrific reasons), latch on to some kind of heritage label. You can't let people have pride after generations of murder, slavery and culture destruction?!?! And,... is there something that awful about being "PC"? That implies a way of thinking that uses sympathy, empathy, respect and coexistence. You're right, Beck,... PC is a terrible thing! And I second the notion that THERE IS ONLY ONE RACE - THE HUMAN RACE!

And I hereby second, third and fourth the notion that Glenn Beck is a propagandist wacko. I used to be unsure whether he was just a TV host with "smart" ratings-grabbing tactics OR a right-right-wing schizoid nutbar. Today, I pick the latter. He's proven himself to be not just concerned with his show, but concerned with his fear-inducing, intolerant, self-righteous beliefs.

Go away, Glenn Beck! And not to the top of the TV charts, not to the vice president's office, not to your Father FOX office, not to your mansion,......... JUST GO AWAY!

(I actually almost started crying blood while writing this.)

he never stole any of my money............

I agree with him, which feels funny. Like using dry shampoo.

I had to read it twice to be sure. He is racist but I have to agree with him on this as well. Glad I'm not alone in the horrible bizarro world where I agree with Glenn Beck.

Glen, shut up. The rational, intelligent people are talking.

fuck faux news...

I love black people :)

I agree that we are all in the human race and that much of what we know about race is scientifically inaccurate; our perceptions of race and racial identity are primarily social constructs.

However, are they always useless? I'll give an example that's similar to the census- as a Red Cross trainer, there is an optional part in my paperwork to record the races of the people attending CPR/First Aid classes. Another trainer I work with says she never fills it out, because she's offended that they would ask- but I see it from another point of view. The Red Cross is very interested in diversity- so if they notice that "African-Americans" represent a very small percentage of people being trained in CPR, they will do outreach work in "black" communities. In this way, the use of racial identity is meant to uncover social inequalities. The reason we still need to do this, as in the case of censuses, is because there still are MANY of these social inequalities in America (and the world.)

The fact that "African-American" is not really a "race" didn't prevent us from keeping people as slaves and discriminating against them nor did it prevent the government from neglecting black communities.

Did Glenn only cover the census's use of "African-American"? What about the use of the term "Negro," "American Indian" instead of "Native American", the changes to Hispanic options?

Beck has been open and up front with his racism for quite some time. His tea party 9/12 crap was supported by known white supremacists, and white supremacists are a driving force behind the tea party movement.

Well, coming from the guy who said slavery wasn't so bad and that Obama is motivated by his hatred of white people (half-hatred of himself I guess), I'd have to say he's being his usual racist self.

Now, whether Beck is -actually- racist or is just saying that to appeal to his racist base is another question.

But make no damn mistake, one way or the other, this has racist intentions. Beck is harvesting the 60's backlash that has been so reliable for the right since Nixon. People like him weren't on the MLK Jr. side of the civil rights debates back then, they were pro-segregation types. Those arguments continue to this day.

And patriot, the reason for all the "hyphens" is because racists don't allow non-whites to integrate. If we just called everyone Americans in this country, there wouldn't be a problem. But some people don't think non-whites are Americans, so we're stuck here.

by definition there is only one race,..that is the human race...
what people often mistake is their ethnic background for race,....and that is not quite correct.....

As much as I enjoy pointing out what an idiot Glenn Beck is, I will actually have to agree with him about this. Probably not for the same reasons, because I will go further and say that all terms that denote race were at some point made up, as were the decisions to treat people of the artificially designated groups they were labeled in any manner other than as human beings.

It is the insistance that people are different because of skin color, religion, national origin or sexual orientation that fuels seperation. It is just another distraction to keep people busy with triviality and never noticing the real problems with the big picture. If everyone would just except the fact that we are all humans and work from there, that would be an amazing hurdle and we could start working on improving the world for all of us.

I wonder what Glenn Beck would think of that? :)