[JRutledge]

The reason certain people call themselves "African-American" in the first place is because their origin or heritage comes from Africa. Labeling yourself Black does not tell enough in my opinion. There are many Black people that are from South America, Brazil and even Europe. Brazil has the second most (at least a few years ago where I heard the statistic) Blacks in the world outside of the continent of Africa (America is third). So for someone like me that realizes that most Black people in this country came from descendants of slaves and are completely unaware what country, tribe, culture or language they spoke in Africa. I live in a large city where people of all different colors and backgrounds claim their heritage and they were born in America like me. Unlike me though, they usually know what country they came from or know which Grandparents came over on the boat or plane to come to America. I am just as American as anyone here. I grew up in rural America around corn fields most of my life. I still know that my last name is not the original name from my family. I do not know many African people with "Rutledge" as their last name. Especially considering my last name has a European background.

Several years I ago when I was in college, my mom had a couple of Kenyan students (sisters) stay with her for about 3 months. If you looked at them they looked no different than any Black person from America. Once they talked that was another story all together. They each spoke about 5 different languages and dialects in those languages. They would speak in their native tongue all the time.

Peace