Do you consider yourself a African-American?

I've always considered myself just Black. On my grandparents' and parents' birth certificates, their race is listed as "Negro." On mine, as a 32-year-old, it simply says "Black."

Today, I got into an argument with a guy in the doctor’s office. The topic? That ridiculous claim about the plane crash being caused by DEI. For context, they had Fox News playing in the background. Things escalated, and at one point, he told me, "Go back to Africa, motherfucker."

I responded, "I'm an American."

His comeback? "Yeah, an African American."

Thankfully, the staff stepped in and asked him to leave, but the whole thing has been bothering me all day. I've never thought of myself as African American. In my family, we don’t even use that term. My grandfather literally calls himself Black or Negro—never African American.