Q What do Charlize Theron and Elon Musk have in Common?

yer right. both born south africa and now american.

What is the point you are making SC?

Do they both have their American citizenship? If not, they are just african.

Yes, they are both naturalized citizens.

The point is why do we call black Americans African Americans when they were not born in Africa?

That does not make them "African-American" (a term I absolutely hate btw) in the context that it is used. The term is implies an ethnicity, not origin of nativity.

Shadowcat is right. How is "American" a nationality, but "African-American" an ethnicity?

@SC “The point is why do we call black Americans African Americans when they were not born in Africa?”

Technically, “we” don’t. You are correct that a lot of people do. It’s why “black” is still an appropriate descriptor for dark skinned people who are not African American. Caribbean, Jamaican, etc are not African American, but it’s not often pointed out.

And African American is a term derived I suppose because in thus country we tend to look at where people’s ancestors came from. Rarely will people answer the question “what are you?” with “American.” Most people will say I’m 1/2 Irish and half Polish or whatever. They won’t say I’m Italian-American. My guess is that because most black Americans are descended from slaves that before dna testing they weren’t able to know from which part of Africa they were descended, they needed a better description and so African American became a term. Or I could be completely wrong.

You're completely wrong. It's all about dividing the electorate and identity politics.