Is "African American" a weird/unfitting label? (Description has details)

Question

I get that it's an acceptable label, and I don't get bothered when people refer to me as such (considering I'm black), but I don't see it as fitting. For example, if someone says Asian American, you usually think of an Asia-born American, right? So to me, the real African Americans would be the people who came from Africa during their lifetime, and are now Americans. I don't mean to say that it makes anyone more or less American, but African-born and American-born black people have separated into two different cultures and sometimes even have very different facial features. And from what I've heard (from Africa-born Americans) some of them don't agree with the term either. Hope this makes sense. And I don't mean to offend if I have... What do y'all think?

Answer

I have friends who are from the Carribbean or are Afro-Latina and they do not like being called African American. They don't like the hyphenated label anyway, so they also don't like Haitian-American etc. They don't identify as "African" and would rather just be called black, if anything.
Just because someone's ancestry goes back to Africa doesn't mean we should be calling any black person (in America) African American.

Answer

Not all black ppl are African American and not all African Americans are black. If one identifies as such then so be it, but if not then so be it. It is only fitting if the person identifies as such.

Answer

So I was 100% African-American when I was growing up.  (My Ancestors were enslaved and we have been in the US for Centuries). The term honored the pride I had in my Ancestors and the content they were forcibly taken from. 
Then I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Southern Africa. I quickly learned I’m in no way African by culture. I carry myself differently. My features are different. My hair is different. My culture is different. 
So I have African, European and Native American ancestry. But I’m Black American. Obama is rightly African American.  I will call someone whatever they want to be called. But I do think to call homegrowns like me African American is a bit of a misnomer.

Answer

I believe that any American citizen should be referred to as just American or be comfortable identifying as just American. Sure, we can talk about our different family backgrounds and the various ethnic heritages we may possess, but I find it somewhat sad that the majority of non-white people in the US are not often referred to as just American. I am quite a bit of Native American but my complexion is very white, and if I want to, I could say I am Native American. The thing is, I could also just say I am American. No one would blink an eye. I haven’t met very many POC who doesn’t identify as Egyptian American, Mexican American, African American, Chinese American, etc - even if their family has been in the US for generations. My mother’s side is English and Irish but you never hear her saying that she is English American.
A while back, I was taking an African American literature class at my university, and there was a debate centered around whether or not there should be a special category for black authors who are American, or they should just be studied under American literature like other American authors.
With all of this - I do think it is a misleading label to put on people, especially black people, because black culture and identity is not tied to Africa. Like someone else mentioned, there are significant cultural differences between black peoples from the African continent or Caribbean or US or say Australia.

Is "African American" a weird/unfitting label? (Description has details)

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