AP: FBI Reviews 1946 Public Lynching Case

And the "African-American" community aren't Africans!

Duh, they're not Africans. They're African-American.

Well I'm American, in the sense that a large chunk of my ancestry is of native origin. But i'm mre in tune with the label African American simply because it references who I am now and where my ancestors came from. Asking people to forsake their heritage, that they've bled for and died because of, is simply appalling. It's not about PC, it's about respect, and the right of a person - or a people - to self identify.

Ryan,

There's a reason why "African-Americans" represent every color of the rainbow -- that's a huge contradiction to the term, isn't it? If you're going to claim heritage, claim everything, because there's more than one, and "African-American" doesn't fit -- simple as that. How can people claim a country they've never seen? How can they claim something that isn't their entire makeup?

Think of gumbo soup, there's some of everything "mixed in."

Only when people come to terms with their true identities, will we ever begin the progress to move forward in unison.

If you go back enough, of course. But in the historical scope from which people around the world traditionally derive their heritage, it fits. I can easily claim a place i've never seen - i'm not making it my hometown, but that place was my ancestor's home. That place helped create who they were, and that all has an impact on the history of my family. If two Italians married and raised children in the US, would you say that the child couldn't claim to be an Italian-American?

I don't buy it. I don't want homogeneity! I enjoy having a culture and heritage to call my own. Saying that I should throw away something that helped form who I am so that we can all 'move forward in unison' is unfair. We should all recognize each other entirely, including culture and ethnicities, instead of all striving to be simply 'American'. Cultural heritage is a gift; there's a reason the adages say that 'You can't know where you're going unless you know where you've been', and that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.