On the non-utility of "African-American"

[Wilson Gray]

An article in last week's Sports Illustrated noted that a certain
ice-hockey player was the first "African-American" to hold some record
or other for performance. (As readers can tell, I'm not a particular
fan of this sport.) A letter to the editor published in this week's SI
pointed out that, given that the player cited was born and reared in
Calgary, it would have been more appropriate to refer to him as an
"African-Canadian," even though a complete genealogy might show that
he was ultimately descended from escaped African-American slaves.

-Wilson
-
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
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                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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