AlphapeO6,
The line about Negroes was taken from the movie Red Tails. In the movie, a white bomber pilot asked a black fighter pilot "We call you colored, what do you call yourself?" The response was something like "when a white guy is embarrassed he turns red, when he's envious he turns green and when he's scared he turns yellow....and you call us colored? We're Negroes."
My second comment was a jab at racism and basically saying why are we identifying anyone by race at all - as the title of the thread does. We're all Americans.
I was not down playing their accomplishments but was instead saying they (their race) was equal to all others.
I submit that you are the racist one here jumping to the conclusion that since a white guy made a comment on race, the comment must be racist. I called myself a European American because it is just as ridiculous as the term African American. The vast majority of black people in the U.S. were not born in Africa nor have they ever seen or stepped foot on Africa. My daughter is half Japanese but she doesn't call herself Japanese-American (yes I know that some do). I think adding any origin in front of American perpetuates racisms. BTW, Negro is just the term for the anthropological origins of blacks, just like Caucasian is for whites. There is nothing derogatory about it.