Somebody I know was once telling me a story of an experience that she had in Europe. As part of her story, she referred to one of the people involved as an "African American". Which struck me as very odd, since SHE WAS IN SPAIN at the time.
So that got me thinking . . . should she have referred to that person as an "African Spaniard"? But what if he, like she, was just a tourist in Spain on vacation? How do you know where he was from, so you could refer to him correctly using this type of reference?
Going through all possible iterations of what other "African-Somethings" could have been used, I determined that it is much simpler and more accurate just to refer to black people as black people. It's just an adjective. Like "short woman", "skinny dude", "blonde chick" or "stupid guy". It's a black guy.
"African American" is just plain silly.