Why does the US adds African-American or Latino/Hispanic-American to minorities? Shouldn't they just be Americans? Like you never hear African-Australian or African-British.

I've never understood this..

I have actually never thought about this

Because of the segregation of those cultures there?

I just thought about it randomly, like is it made to try to degrade people? Like white people aren't called British-American or wherever they came from.

African American was a term created by blacks to name themselves because many whites at that time could name where they came from. Blacks did not have that, but they knew the continent was Africa. It was during the Black Power movement, and it a bold thing to do to name themselves instead of using a name made by whites like negro, colored, etc.

Latino/Hispanic was created at the same time. Before this, they were sometimes lumped as white, or simply Mexican. During the 70s, the term was created since there was a larger influx of Latino immigrants in the US. So they just called themselves Hispanics. Many Latinos came together and united under a cultural bond for strong political clout.

Really, there isn't anything "racists or xenophobic" about it. These groups called themselves African-American or Hispanic for political and social reasons at the time. The 60s and 70s were a time where people needed to work together to get things passed.

i think its a bit of a dated term tbh

Ive actually had arguments with Americans because i said someone was black , they were like african American actually, and i said there not american though. They started arguing that its offensive to call people 'black' and not 'african american' even when theyre not from the US

I would also like to add that white Latinos much like people from the Middle East were considered white by census until the 1970s. However, because of this they are not afforded proper representation that other minorities would get. Its much stronger to be your own group, then stuck in a majority white country. Which is why today, many Middle Easterners would rather reconsidered their own group then lumped into white by the census. It gives them proper funding and opportunities and lowers their chances of being ignored.

Also, Indians were considered white, but are now considered Asian according to the census. In other words, race is stupid.

This

If they would be all called americans , wouldn't SJWs scream that they are appropriating idk whose culture?

Thanks for the history lesson, Tropez!
Although I'm glad in the UK, I don't get referred to as African-British

what is this post? american isn't a race. and second of all, so if you're black, but born in america, you're not american?

It's an outdated practice tbh. Now there are so many second-third generation immigrants they really are just Americans.

It started because in the 90s there was a huge influx of refugees from Sudan, Iran, and other various countries. There were literally millions of people here who were not originally from the United States, so we started this as a way for immigrants to feel accepted without having to give up their identity of the their home countries culture.

It doesn't seem like Europe is as welcoming to their refugees tho.

they like labels. its their security blanket

You say that as if they purposely segregate themselves. The mainstream is resistant to them so it's natural to form a community of familiar people.

2014
Refugees in the US: 263,662
Refugees in the EU: 980,984

2004
Refugees in the US: 420,854
Refugees in the EU: 1,670,501

1994
Refugees in the US: 631,051
Refugees in the EU: 1,853,419

Lol. Don't even try it.