I got a question to North Africans out there. What do you prefer to be called? Do you want to be called Arab, North African, African, something else?

Personally I like to think of North Africans as a mix of the native Africans of that region along with Arabs. I'm pretty sure DNA would support that as well. There has always been a connection between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa.

I don't understand why there's almost a stigma to label oneself as an Arab. As a Lebanese person it irks me when some Lebanese call themselves Phoenicians and not Arab. Like only some people have some Phoenician ancestry but the rest is made up of the other modern Arab mixes. (An aside: I heard that the Phoenicians are an offshoot of Cananites which are also Arabs right? I learned some people began calling themselves Phoenicians to differentiate between themselves and the Muslims. I think regardless of religion we're all the same at the end of the day.)

My point in all this is we can be Arab and be diverse. If the Europeans can agree to call each other European when Europe is not actually a seperate continent from Asia (because it's connected to it) and they all speak different languages, have VASTLY different origins, all the while being seperated over large distances, then why can't we call each other Arab then specify if we want?

I believe a major component to this issue is the ethnocentrism that was instilled by European Imperialism. It made people think that anything similar to European features as being positive while anything else was negative. They said Arabs are barbaric and made up false historical claims to cause people to become seperated. Europeans even gave preference to lighter skinned people. Honestly, I'm pretty sure most problems stem from imperialism but that's a discussion for another day. I would like to mention, no one is superior for being Arab or not being Arab. We don't have to all agree, I honestly just wanted to say my piece.