Are African-Americans Black?

A few days back, there was a little bit of a flap over at OpinionJournal.com regarding the proper way of defining Teresa Heinz Kerry's heritage. Opinion Journal referred to her as "African-American," a completely accurate term given her birth in Mozambique and her later naturalization as an American citizen. Many, however, took offense to the statement of fact and attacked James Taranto, accusing him, among other things, of targeting Democractic bigots.

In my many rants about the loss of distinction in the English language I have kept saying that eventually words would not mean what they actually mean. This whole flap is proof positive. "African-American" is no longer a term to describe American citizens whose heritage is African. Instead, it has been reserved for a few select African-Americans who have a higher degree of skin pigmentation. "African-American" does not mean African-American anymore. It means black.

But, of course, not all African-Americans are black and not all blacks are African-American. One of my teachers in school was African-American. Very pigmentationally challenged, she was an Afrikaaner from South Africa. But she was certainly more African than the black history teacher I had who was of Jamacian descent. Yet, he was the one referred to as "African-American." How does it make sense that the one who is, cannot be referred to that way and the one who is not, must be?

And are we to extend this? Here in Florida, we have very large Cuban-American and Puerto Rican populations. To the uninitiated, they look similar, both having a somewhat darker complexion. They speak a similar language (two different dialects of Spanish). But, if you ever want to have a good rumble in the parking lot, just go up to a Puerto Rican and refer to him as a Cuban-American. Or vice versa. Just because they are similar does not mean that they are the same.

The worst part about all this is that even the most ardent supporter of the black people in the US understands the difference. Am I talking about the National Association for the Advancement of African-Americans (NAAAA)? Of course not! Look at the name of the NAACP. It is the National Assocation for the Advancement of Colored People. I generally think that the NAACP is way out in left field with most stuff, but when it comes to defining who they are, and to be inclusive to those they wish to include, they have hit the nail right on the head with their name.

We are on the verge of losing the actual meaning of a term, African-American, if we haven't already. I understand that OpinionJournal can sometimes inflame passions, but in this case, they merely spoke the truth. And the weight of the PC establishment is trying to come down on them with righteous indignation.

How much of our language must we lose to the PC cops before we revolt and try to salvage what little is left?