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Impact of the historical undertones of the labels "Black" & "African American"

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C C Offline
https://www.spsp.org/news-center/blog/ha...ial-labels

EXCERPTS: . . . The Black racial label gained prominence during the Black Power Movement [...] focused through a “Bias and Discrimination” lens by illuminating the victimization incurred by Americans of African descent. The movement suggested that U.S. political and structural practices left the Black community victimized, discriminated against, and subject to poor socioeconomic conditions.

African American, conversely, was birthed in the late 1980s within the Civil Rights Movement. Leaders supported its use, including Jesse Jackson, who proclaimed that his community preferred the term because it had a connection to a historical land-base—Africa...

[...] We undertook a set of studies to find out whether there are consequences in our current society for using one or the other of these terms. Is there evidence of these historical undertones in perceptions of people and groups labeled Black versus African American? Then, we explored how the associated undertones affected support for groups labeled with these terms.

[...] Finally, we set out to determine whether people would connect these historical ideologies with groups that bear these labels. Our White American participants were significantly more likely to associate a Black (vs. African American) student union with Bias and Discrimination ideologies, suggesting that the organization idolized Malcolm X, cared about eradicating racial injustice, and endeavored to defund police departments.

Conversely, White Americans were more likely to associate an African American (vs. Black) student union with Civil Rights and Equality ideologies, suggested that the organization idolized Martin Luther King Jr., promoted equal opportunity, and wanted to stop voter suppression and redlining.

We also went the next step to look how people’s actual behavior might be influenced by these labels. The participants were later offered three organizations they could donate a portion of their study compensation to (for example, African American Union, Black Alliance, People of Color coalition), and they had to choose one.

We found that donation behaviors varied as a function of the racial labels. White Americans who indicated that they favored a Bias and Discrimination perspective were 99% more likely to choose the Black organization over the African American organization. In contrast, White Americans who endorsed a Civil Rights and Inequality perspective were 50% less likely to choose the Black organization over the African American organization.

Although individuals within the government, media, or the Black/African American community may be indifferent to the choice between labels, these choices have consequences for how Americans of African Descent are perceived. Inevitably, political candidates, activists, and journalists may be able to skew perceptions of their intent by using one racial label versus the other... (MORE - missing details)
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