I know one 'African- American'. He is a white guy who grew up in South
Africa that loads boxes at UPS. I know a 'Carribean-American' though.

That's great. I always wondered why African American was reserved for black people. There are plenty of white africans. The other thing I always wondered that is somewhat related is why someone who's from mixed parents where one of the parents is black is automatically considered black and not the other. Does black supersede the other race? Examples like Obama and Tiger Woods spring to mind.

First, an FYI: I'm old.

I'm old enough to remember the series of "proper terms" for, and I've tried to stay current, a person of the negroid race as follows:

40's = colored,
50's and some 60's = Negro,
late 60's through the 70's = Black,
80' and 90's = African-American,
today = What's proper?

I don't know and I'm real confused. We should just stop referring to race entirely, any race? Anthropologists are coming around to the conclusions that "race" is undefinable in the long-run and essentially meaningless anyway.