Hi Andrea - I'm caucasian - I have thought often of my using "some of us" in 
that email - because it suggests I might be Aboriginal. Then I thought 
,"well we are an "us", the aborignal folks are part of my community - 
certainly part of Canada/America." Then i thought - it was just email 
laziness - using the owrds that first came to mind - suggested by David's 
phrase - then i thought - I am very sensitive about this whole thing!

Anyhow - I enjoyed the information about where else we might have been 
joined physically -
Cheers
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andrea Wilder" <andreawilder at comcast.net>
To: "The Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy Discussion List" 
<povertyracewomen at nifl.gov>
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 10:58 AM
Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 934] Re: Nomenclature



> Hi Evelyn,

>

> What is your background?  Are you an American Indian?

>

> Geography:

>

> 1. The Strait of Gibraltar wasn't always where it is now, and there is

> a possibility that  some of our ancestors swam, floated from northen

> Africa to Spain.

>

> 2. At one time, the sea was so low that England,  Ireland, Scotland

> were  one land mass  and a part off northern Europe.  Some of our

> ancestors walked from Portugal northwest.  Others came around by way of

> Germany and Scandinavia.

>

> I love this stuff

>

> Andrea

>

> On Jul 26, 2007, at 1:34 PM, Evelyn Battell wrote:

>

>> Interesting comments David - but we didn't all come over in the same

>> boats -

>> some of us walked over the bearing strait when the two land masses were

>> joined - or so science mostly tells me.

>> Cheers

>> ----- Original Message -----

>> From: "David J. Rosen" <djrosen at comcast.net>

>> To: "The Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy Discussion List"

>> <povertyracewomen at nifl.gov>

>> Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 7:32 AM

>> Subject: [PovertyRaceWomen 929] Re: Nomenclature

>>

>>

>>> Andrea and others,

>>>

>>> My rule of thumb is to try to use the names that people call

>>> themselves, not the names that others may give to them. This means

>>> asking them -- as individuals -- how they like to be referred to.  I

>>> have a friend and colleague who refers to herself as a an Italian-

>>> American woman, another who calls himself Black, another who prefers

>>> "a person of color", another who calls herself an African American,

>>> another who prefers Latina. Anthropologists have sometimes found that

>>> the name that a group of people prefers to call itself in its own

>>> language means something like "people" or "the people" whereas what

>>> other groups call them means something like "those people over there"

>>> or worse.  I refer to myself as a "North American" or "American" and

>>> sometimes "Bay Stater".

>>>

>>> Where all this really makes a difference is in the social political

>>> arena.  Mel King, MIT professor, Boston Mayoral candiate and

>>> candidate for Congress, a person of color (I don't know if he would

>>> use this term, but I think so) many years ago when he was a State

>>> Representative, pointed out that he did not want to be referred to as

>>> a "minority." He said it was clear in the Massachusetts legislature

>>> (overwhelmingly Democratic) what it meant to be a member of the

>>> minority party -- powerless.

>>>

>>> It was also Mel King who also said "We may have come over in

>>> different ships but we're all in the same boat now"  That would be a

>>> good quote for a classroom poster!

>>>

>>> David J. Rosen

>>> djrosen at comcast.net

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> On Jul 26, 2007, at 9:54 AM, Andrea Wilder wrote:

>>>

>>>> Colleagues:

>>>>

>>>> Is there any clarity to be found in the names we give each other?

>>>>

>>>> Within the past  couple of years I have been  called "white" by a

>>>> Cuban, a Japanese, a South Asian, and a Black American.

>>>>

>>>> I am unclear about what names are in currency for these  groups,

>>>> or, in

>>>> deed, the meaning of "white" any more.

>>>>

>>>> My part Wampanoag friend prefers "Indian."  My dark-skinned friend

>>>> uses

>>>> the term "Black American" to define himself.

>>>>

>>>> What other names are going the rounds these days?  What names do

>>>> students and teachers use in class?

>>>>

>>>> Thanks for any info.

>>>>

>>>> Andrea

>>>>

>>>> ----------------------------------------------------

>>>> National Institute for Literacy

>>>> Poverty, Race, Women and Literacy mailing list

>>>> PovertyRaceWomen at nifl.gov

>>>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

>>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

>>>

>>> David J. Rosen

>>> djrosen at comcast.net

>>>

>>>

>>>

>>> ----------------------------------------------------

>>> National Institute for Literacy

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>>> PovertyRaceWomen at nifl.gov

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>>> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

>>>

>>>

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>>>

>>

>> ----------------------------------------------------

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>> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

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>>

>

> ----------------------------------------------------

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> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/povertyracewomen

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