Traditional Racial Labels No Longer Define New Generation of College Students

Traditional Racial Labels No Longer Define New Generation of College Students: Last year, a panel of students at Columbus State Community College in Columbus, Ohio, gathered to discuss the challenges facing the African-American male. But another topic unexpectedly emerged: who, exactly, was African-American?

That was a loaded question for many of the panelists and the audience because Columbus is home to one of the country’s largest Somali communities. For those students, “African-Americans” are American-born Blacks — an identity they didn’t embrace.

“There was rich dialogue around the difference between African, African-American and an African who is an American,” recalls Renee Hampton, Columbus State’s special assistant to the provost for diversity. “Those are things we have to be aware of in dealing with the students. We are trying to educate ourselves.”