Why did this Canadian call me 'Racist' for saying I was African-American?

I don't think that saying you're ''African-American'' is racist in any way. It is a bit perplexing and might bother some Canadians though. That is unless you have good knowledge in the history of African-Americans, the loyalists, slaves who fought for the UK and then went to Canada after the war. Most of those people's descendants now live in Nova Scotia.

You are wrong about several states. One, you saying slaves were trained in the West Indies to be shipped to the US. There really weren't that many slaves in the northern US which has more people then the southern US. The western US was seldom developed at the time and didn't develop until after slavery ended. Slaves were brought to the West Indies for the purposes of agriculture in the West Indies. Once the UK lost the 13 colonies, transporting slaves had more legal hurdles. Plus, the UK outlawed slavery soon after. And the US which formally came into existence in 1789 when it united the 13 states, outlawed the admitting of slaves from foreign countries in 1808.

''Unlike Canada, the United States is known as the 'melting pot', where all races are supposed to coexist, and live in harmony.''

This statement couldn't be further from the truth in reference to Canada. The US is 11% foreign born. Canada is 18%. A lot of the US (especially lots of the south, Midwest and Northwest) which have decent sized populations have little to no immigrants (and the only immigrants who are usually there are Mexicans).

Meanwhile, cities in Canada tend to eat up more of the population of their country. The city limits of Toronto and Montreal alone are over 5 million and about 15% of the country. The US's largest city (New York City) is less then 3% of our country. So although rural Canada may not have many immigrants, more of their population are in cities where Canadians live aside them.

Also, within Canadian citizens who speak either English or French natively, 75% are Anglophones. 25% are Francophones. Because of the lack of lingual unity, it encourages immigrants to retain their languages into further generations. In the US, lingual assimilation is rapid and second generation often can't speak the language. Even a common one like Spanish. In New Brunswick, most people can speak both English and French. Sometimes even natively. The world ''melting pot'' or ''diversity'' means the large amount of cultures and languages in a place. Not the amount of ''non-whites'' in a ''predominantly white country'' like the American media would like for you to believe. If that were the case, than the southwestern US with a large Mexican immigrant and Mexican descended population would be ''very diverse.'' Or the deep south where it is split 50% white/50% black in some areas would be ''very diverse.'' Neither are though.

Plus, as a Canadian, ask yourself a question. Who is your largest immigrant group? Or what region do they come from? You'd have to think or do some research. In the US, the answer is obvious. Mexico and Latin America. The majority of our immigrants are from Spanish-speaking Latin America and 2/3 of them are from Mexico. Canada takes in all of Asians, Latin Americans, West Indians, eastern Europeans, Middle Easterners and Africans more proportionally.

Within black Canadians though, most aren't of African-American background. This ethnic group would now be ''African-American-Canadian'', I suppose. That sounds pretty long to say though. But most black Canadians are either of West Indian, African or black Latin American immigrants in the later part of the 20th Century.

It is probably your attitude and racially obsessed nature that are turning people away. A tip I can give you is stop talking to your neighbors from the US. They'll poison your mind even worse. The problem with the US isn't always is that there is racism. It is that people mention or think abut race too much. And blacks are equally guilty as whites in that respect. Don't be like us.

Also, ''Hispanic'' is not an ethnicity. It is only a legal definition in the US. Not in Canada, Europe, Latin America or anywhere else. You know why? Becuase only Americans ar ehte people naive and idiotic enough to believe that a very ethnically and racially diverse region can all be one ethnicity.

How can 20 nations with a native Spanish speaking population of close to 500 million people (the 2nd most in the world ahead of English) be one collective ethnicity. How is Cameron Diaz, Sammy Sosa and George Lopez the same race? Since 2000, the US Census has claimed it isn't a race. But rather an ethnicity. They also asked ''Hispanics'' what race they were in the 2000 Census and 50% marked white. How come none of this was mentioned when hte media was losing their minds saying ''Hispanics are the new largest minority'' in the early-2000s?

Should everyone in the native English speaking world be collectively considered one ethnicity? So all of Americans, Australians, Ireland, British and Jamaican people are all the same?

Only an idiot can believe ''Hispanic'' is a race or ethnicity or would demean themselves to using in such a context to appease the understanding of a fool they are talking to.

Not that I condone slavery in any way shape or form and beleive that the haneous treatment of slaves was unimaginable and torturous, something I would never wish on my worst enemy but to say the slaves were stolen is a bit of farce, most slaves were sold by their counterparts in africa, some of the slaves were stolen from africa by the europeans but a good portion were sold by the africans themselves, I have two articles here that talk about the slave trade, one being a little nice about how many of the slaves were stolen and the other a little tougher however both admit that many slaves were sold by other africans.

I have a question though, why do african-americans feel the need to seperate themselves from the united states by saying they are african american, in my travels around the world, I have been to many countries and only here do we brand ourselves in this way, ask a man in england what his nationality is, wether hes black, white asian or hispanic they will say they are british, not african british or anything of the sort, the same goes for evry other country I hjave visited, they are not denying there heritage by not stating what country there ancestors are from, because to them heritage and nationality are two seperate issues.

I understand your anger, to a point....and unfortunately buddy you talked to... didn't... BUT a lot of Black Americans don't agree with being called "African American" either.... so you're misdirecting and targeting dude with your anger around the a personal issue you have with it, and your preference... also you have got it absolutely twisted as far as Canada, NOT being a melting pot. Canada has very liberal immigration laws, and is extremely multicultural. Canada was also "freedom" and the escape route for hundreds of slaves shipped to America, via... the "Underground Railway."

To date- Canada is one of the most multicultural countries in the world, behind Australia... USA is less multicultural and falls about 4th in line.

You need to deal with your anger appropriately, maybe get involved in trying to educate the world about our history.

Also by way of interest... you should look into "white slavery".. Irish and Scottish Slaves... They share a similar heinous background.

"From 1641 to 1652, over 500,000 Irish were killed by the English and another 300,000 were sold as slaves. Ireland’s population fell from about 1,500,000 to 600,000 in one single decade. Families were ripped apart as the British did not allow Irish dads to take their wives and children with them across the Atlantic. This led to a helpless population of homeless women and children. Britain’s solution was to auction them off as well."

"They came as slaves; vast human cargo transported on tall British ships bound for the Americas. They were shipped by the hundreds of thousands and included men, women, and even the youngest of children.

Whenever they rebelled or even disobeyed an order, they were punished in the harshest ways. Slave owners would hang their human property by their hands and set their hands or feet on fire as one form of punishment. They were burned alive and had their heads placed on pikes in the marketplace as a warning to other captives."

This little dirty secret doesn't get as much publicity, however as African slavery, but it's just as real and relevant nonetheless. It's even MORE hidden and covered up than black slavery.. bet you didn't have a clue.

So you before you determine who has any business speaking on something... consider they might share the same historical background as YOU... with their ancestors transported against their will as slaves.

http://www.africaresource.com/rasta/sesostris-the-...

Take care!

Dude you sound hella angry! It's obv you are. I saw what you wrote. My thing is this though.. make sure in your process to HONOR and EMBRACE your heritage... you don't jump on a pity party, and become counter productive. Your job is to unite and educate in 2010, not divide and conquer. What you wrote is very divisive, and while YES you make mention of the Jews.. it all come back to TO YOU. That attitude isn't going to help anyone, in fact it's a hindrance. Look at the responses you got.

even though I'm white my ancestors were also mistreated. But I can either move forward and try to make today's world the best I can and evaluate decisions based on the the best equity moving forward or I can wallow in the past

I don't care what you call yourself - but lets not get into the pity party game

yes

i dont know him,sorry.maybe you should of asked him instead of us