> I wonder if this african-american/mexican american/etc. is a strictly American phenomenon. Do black people living in London demand to be called African-English? Are Chinese people who move to Russia angry at not being labeled as Chinese-Russian? I tend to think that this kind of silliness could only be created in the United States.

Well, my girlfriend, whose parents immigrated from Barbados in the 50's, has described herself variously as English, British, Black, Afro-Caribbean, a Black Briton, a person of colour, second generation and of Bajan ancestry. So much choice, but generally she doesn't give it much thought.

en'whitey'ile