[Gooracouppy]

Are you not listening? Someone from that part of the world even just confirmed what ive been saying.

I can't see why I should trust a random stranger on the net, when I can just ask my Aboriginal relatives?

I'm sorry you feel that way, but they have already been defined as black like African American have been. Light skinned Melanesians who are descendants of Black Melanesians are also often enough Referred to as black, or mixed, same as the U.S. So you can't agree that Melanesians are black (even though they are), but you Can agree that African Americans are black, why?

Yes, locally, based on derogatory labelling by the colonists. And I don't care if African Americans are "Black" so I never said that "they are Black".

What? Define what black is as a racial term please, What is it?

In this context, in order to be a valid global "category", it has to be applied to people who are the same in some way, such as shared origin, culture or whatever you can come up with. Otherwise it is just a colour. I don't consider "Black" a valid racial term in any case.

Those kind of labels only have any real usefulness for the diaspora, otherwise ethnicity and nationality is all the label you'll ever need. This applies to "white" too. In some cases it is the label used by outsiders for the locals - usually meant as a derogatory term, or just a descriptive, relative term.

A little history, India was colonized by the British. They were divided and put into race categories based on their appearance (sound familiar?) Dark skinned Indians WERE classified as black. If India had never gained independence, guess what? They would have been a part of the socially designated "black" peoples on earth.

Se above.

Are you serious? You would call a Somali black and Will Smith black. Do these two have very much in common culturally? Do you think all black people have the same culture, or history?

Would "I"? No, I call Somalia people Somalis, period! In fact, most people here can recognise Somalis just because they're relatively common. If I didn't know where they were from, maybe I would think of them as African (although I could also just not know). If I didn't know of their existence, I would probably mistakenly presume that a Melanesian was Africans, if I met one, but that would just be due to ignorance. If I went to somewhere in Melanesia, I would obviously know that the people I met, who may look dark and superficially similar to Africans, were Melanesians and not African. Again, context, context and context.

Locally? Lol, Where were African-Americans defined as black, in Asia? Lol, they were defined as such Locally, by Europeans and the ideology of that definition spread. Melanesians, even outside of Melanesia will be socially seen/classified as "black." Tanned white people will not Globally be perceived that way.

Maybe they will. At first glance, some people will probably call them Black, but don't think that American/English labels are especially valid globally. It all depends on what you mean by the label you use, so it also depends on context. The "white" people who are considered Black are not especially tanned, but still the label "black" is used. There's no "global perception" of people, but you're trying to create one, it seems.