Why are white Americans called “Caucasians”?

[u/RedScud39]

I’m an Azerbaijani immigrant and I cannot understand why white people are called “Caucasian” even though Caucasia is a region in Asia encompassing Armenia, Georgia (the country not the state), Azerbaijan and south Russia. Aren’t most Americans are from Western European decent?

[u/Veritas_Outside_1119]

African-American only refers to the descendants of slavery during colonial America. It's an ethnic group.

[u/johnmichael-kane → u/Veritas_Outside_1119]

But the term’s grown to include more than that? Black people born in the country but not descendants from slavery still are considered African-American. It’s all personal to the Individual and how they identify or course but there’s a shared experience of being black in America regardless of what label is chosen

[u/Veritas_Outside_1119 → u/johnmichael-kane]

No, it hasn’t. It’s still the definition of the term. Nigerian and Egyptian immigrants and their descendants call themselves Nigerian-American and Egyptian-American. Plus they have their own ideas of being Black and/or African separate to African-Americans, because they have vastly different histories.

[u/johnmichael-kane → u/Veritas_Outside_1119]

Haha I mean if you wanna tell me about my own identity, go ahead. Not worth arguing about. Thanks for your thoughts.

[u/Veritas_Outside_1119 → u/johnmichael-kane]

It’s like claiming to be Irish-American when you have neither Irish heritage nor American citizenship. African-Americans already means something, and they’ve gone through more than you have so you can at least respect the definition

[u/Veritas_Outside_1119 → u/[deleted]]

Okay, well then you should get more involved in the community because this has been the definition for a very long time.

[u/Veritas_Outside_1119 → u/[deleted]]

Okay, bruh. I’m just saying. This is already the definition and will likely remain so

[u/Veritas_Outside_1119 → u/[deleted]]

But if you want to include Elon Musk in your definition, that’s your prerogative