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I'm black 👀 This post kinda acts like there are no black people on lemmy but we here... at least I am lol

I know a couple of black people, but none of them is African-American.

We don't have African Americans here, we have black people. We don't call them African Americans because most black people in my country are not from Africa (we have a large Caribbean population) and they are not American.

You know "the black community" isn't a homogenous group right?

Well, not living in America certainly makes it difficult to start friendships with African American people.

But all the black people I know are extremely annoyed at the automatic assumption that their culture is Africa American.

I don't know any Americans let along African-Americans.

I live in a city immediately adjacent to one of the statistically blackest cities in America. I went to school in said black city for most of my childhood. I work in that city and have lots of black coworkers that I get along with just fine. My take? They’re just people like any other. Some of them are assholes. Some of them beat their wives. Some of them are total nerds. Some of them are the kind and intelligent. Some aren’t. Just like every other skin color. Black people are just people.

And yeah, people assume a lot of shit about them as a group and make idiotic blanket statements. I have some of my own preconceived notions in my head, and when they pop up in my head I remind myself how dumb it is to carry those.

I don't get out a lot period, but my friend is black. They live out of state, but we talk on the phone a couple times a week.

Now, on one hand, its a sample size of 1. On the other hand, that's a solid 50% of my social circle.

That being said, "black culture" varies just as much as "white culture". You're trying to generalize a massive number of people, and you'd probably be surprised how hard that is. I don't think you could pin down any single cultural element as being ubiquitous among black Americans.

I was close friends with 2 black kids from across the street all through my school years, and another black dude in my neighborhood for a while in my adult years until they all moved away. But, like... There wasn't much of a cultural difference from me; we were all "middle class" Californians.

I saw one of dudes from high school run into some racists yelling the N word at him once, but it was 2 skinny assholes vs like 7 of us and half of our group was on the football team so when we didn't just ignore them, they pissed themselves and ran away.

I grew up in a country where there was no black people at all when I was born. It wasn't till much later that black people could be seen about in larger cities as students or tourists, usually a bit of a tourist attraction themselves.

Whenever I went to the west my parents always asked if I saw any {hard r n-word}s about. I don't think they even knew it was offensive.

I try my best as a progressive to be anti-racist, but I have no clue about black people honestly or what problems if any they face in the UK apart from discrimination by the police and home office, as people they seem alien and strange, and in London all PoC in general I saw seemed to have no interest in interacting outside of strictly religious/ethnic/national lines and i don't mind that, though it did make uni cliques seem more like ethnostates.

I live in Canada. In Canada we just call them "people" or "Canadians".

I've met, worked, and work with African Americans in the US.

Grew up in a community that was whiter than yours was black.

4th grade was exciting: we had a new, native American student in my class! Everyone else was white. There were two adopted kids in my neighborhood that were brownish, raised quite white (islander and South American). The only black people in the city played for the university football team.

Moved away from there, did most of my work in music. Many black, Hispanic & Asian coworkers, some friends.

I'm back in my birth city now. Black & Hispanic people are now established portions of the population of the city.

Posting my reply to someone else.

I was born in the US, in Mississippi, but moved to Boston, Massachusetts, as a young adult. I am mixed from white and pacific islander - I look mostly white, just with Asian features - but a significant portion of my friends were black as a child, and then I fell in with an international community of Haitian-, Nigerian-, and Latin-Americans when I moved to South Boston.

As with anywhere, most people are nice if you express interest in them and their cultures. There will be preconceived notions for some people towards you, and it's important to understand that most stigmas stem from an absence of interaction. It can be surprisingly easy to break those barriers if you just make any sort of effort. It can sometimes be hard, but it's so worth it. The kindest people I have met have been from these communities, mostly I think because they've worked so hard to build a better life for themselves and their families and friends.

Few things are as rewarding as being accepted into different communities. You learn and experience so much that you wouldn't otherwise. My favorite experiences have been meeting the families of friends, being invited to cookouts with traditional foods and drink you have never had, and having an incredibly reliable community to lean on in times of hardship - we all help each other because we're all in the rat race together. All it takes is some humility and a willingness to learn.

I've had a couple of conversations recently where people have confidently said things about the Black community that are ridiculously incorrect

Do tell.

I have had close friendships with two black people. One was originally from Usa (which probably qualified him as African American for your question), the other was originally fom Nigeria, but was a German citizen.

I live in Germany btw. where nearly everybody has white skin color.

been living with a black woman for many years

What you describe is world wide problem.

We don't have much black people here (it is more curiosity than "the shit" you refer to) but there are some other groups like Roma people and recently Ukrainians, that gets to be the political punch bag.

And yes I know some people from these groups. I am pretty open minded and I see homelessness, excluded communities and stuff like that mostly as social or information problem.

No, i don't live in america

Well the main thing disqualifying me is that we're assuming I was ever good at making any friends or that this is my fault. I have African-American acquaintances, but if only true friends count, you'll have to give me a rain check on that one.