Q: How should I call 'Black People'?
A: With a telephone.
A: With a telephone.
How should I call 'Black People'?
I myself would strongly agree with the use of "black people" over "African Americans" for the reasons that have already been stated (which I don't need to repeat).
What are the PC terms for other races?
a) White people, Caucasians, European/European decents?
b) Yellow people, Asians, Mongolians?
c) Red people, Native Americans, American Indians?
a) White people, Caucasians, European/European decents?
b) Yellow people, Asians, Mongolians?
c) Red people, Native Americans, American Indians?
In the UK, at least, the term 'black people' can be used to refer not only to people originating from sub-saharan Africa, but to anyone who isn't of European descent. So if you are an olive skinned Spaniard with black hair and dark brown eyes you are 'white' and if you are an olive skinned Iranian with black hair and dark brown eyes you are 'black'. I believe this semantic polarising of humans with regard to 'race' helps to maintain the system of white dominance and privilege. It not only gives people of European origin the idea that they are somehow different from everyone else in the world, but actually that they are the total opposite. Of course they are only labels, they do not mean that people are literally white or black skinned, but this shows the power of words. A dark-skinned Southern European is likely to still believe that it is a FACT that they are white, not in terms of literal skin colour, but in terms of something innate within them, that makes them them racially the same as a blonde Swede, but different from an Arab.
In hispanic America black people (negros) are usually called morenos (brown) which is not a good euphemism because almost everybody are brown there. In English i would say colored people
Many blacks in the US take offense to being referred to as "colored" because to them it implies that they are being labled as something other than "non-colored" which really doesn't make a lot of sense since "white" people and Asian people also have "color".
Anyway, in the US it seems that no matter what you say SOMEONE is going to be offended. I think that this is very different than on the European continent where the PC train is still at the station. I have had some very interesting conversations with Germans regarding some of the things the people in the US take offense to and they never believe me.
Ever notice that the restroom and handwashing notification placards in McDonald's in the US are often neither black on white or white on black but split with both diagonally?
Anyway, in the US it seems that no matter what you say SOMEONE is going to be offended. I think that this is very different than on the European continent where the PC train is still at the station. I have had some very interesting conversations with Germans regarding some of the things the people in the US take offense to and they never believe me.
Ever notice that the restroom and handwashing notification placards in McDonald's in the US are often neither black on white or white on black but split with both diagonally?
<< In English i would say colored people >>
That is a terrible idea. "Colored" is strongly associated with the way race relations were in the US before the 1960s or so, which was pretty darn bad.
<< Anyway, in the US it seems that no matter what you say SOMEONE is going to be offended. >>
That's true. Some terms are less offensive on average than others, though.
- Kef
That is a terrible idea. "Colored" is strongly associated with the way race relations were in the US before the 1960s or so, which was pretty darn bad.
<< Anyway, in the US it seems that no matter what you say SOMEONE is going to be offended. >>
That's true. Some terms are less offensive on average than others, though.
- Kef
I had this discussion with my English teacher because I was writing poetry, or a descrption and I wanted another synonym. Personally I use black people (Not blacks) and If I was in a very formal or politically correct environment I'd use black-skinned people or dark-skinned people, though these may aply more to a physical description than to the race.
I
know this is the English forum but I'm going to briefly mention the comparison my teacher made. He said that in English there are less words for different skin colours because of political correctness, I was looking for an adjective for *brown* skin and there were few. In other languages like Spanish there are less complications, negro or negra are affectionate terms. I do not know how effective this experiment would be in English, but if in Spanish songs and poetry we were to change negro for afro-americano or afro-colombiano, etc. they sound hilarious, the rhythm is completely lost and they are not natural.
I
know this is the English forum but I'm going to briefly mention the comparison my teacher made. He said that in English there are less words for different skin colours because of political correctness, I was looking for an adjective for *brown* skin and there were few. In other languages like Spanish there are less complications, negro or negra are affectionate terms. I do not know how effective this experiment would be in English, but if in Spanish songs and poetry we were to change negro for afro-americano or afro-colombiano, etc. they sound hilarious, the rhythm is completely lost and they are not natural.
There isn't any way to describe people who have ancestors from Africa, imo. Take B. Obama. His Dad was from a country in Africa, but he doesn't have the heritage of many black people in the US.
He is Kenyan-American.
He is Kenyan-American.
There isn't any "good" way to describe people who have ancestors from Africa without knowing each person's preferred way to be described and as many people have suggested, it is easy to give offense by using terms that some people may not like.
I knew a professional who was of mixed heritage (African, French, Cherokee) and he complained that another black person was "too white" even though HER skin colour was much darker. In this case "white" was a behaviour, not a colour.
I knew a professional who was of mixed heritage (African, French, Cherokee) and he complained that another black person was "too white" even though HER skin colour was much darker. In this case "white" was a behaviour, not a colour.
Wow i believed that the term coloured was the state of the art in political correctness, Definitely world changes too fast. In my country "subsaharian" is also used. What do you think about "camitic"? Cam is Noe's son from which the Blacks descend, according to the Bible.
Cam? You must have Spanish as your native language. In English we use (I am not making this up!) "Ham".
A Black person is an African-American
An Asian person is an Asian-American
A Brown Hispanic is a Hispanic-American
A white person SHOULD be a Euro-American
Even though the term does exit, no one uses it, and that's BS and discrimination, if I were black and someone called me an African-American, I would say: "No, I'm an American" or "Yes, am an African-American as much as you are an Euro-American"
An Asian person is an Asian-American
A Brown Hispanic is a Hispanic-American
A white person SHOULD be a Euro-American
Even though the term does exit, no one uses it, and that's BS and discrimination, if I were black and someone called me an African-American, I would say: "No, I'm an American" or "Yes, am an African-American as much as you are an Euro-American"
>>A Black person is an African-American
An Asian person is an Asian-American
A Brown Hispanic is a Hispanic-American
A white person SHOULD be a Euro-American
Even though the term does exit, no one uses it, and that's BS and discrimination, if I were black and someone called me an African-American, I would say: "No, I'm an American" or "Yes, am an African-American as much as you are an Euro-American" <<
I agree, but of course it's to do with who is the dominant group in society. Some people of European origin do still have a 'hyphenated identity i.e. 'Irish-American, Italian-American'. I'm sure that must because they were a later wave of European immigrants, who initially also experienced prejudice at the hands of the first wave of European immigrants, the British, Dutch, Germans etc or were already prejudiced against within Europe. So even within the so-called 'white' group, there are still some people that struggled more to be accepted and as such have not quite been accepted as simply 'American' either.
An Asian person is an Asian-American
A Brown Hispanic is a Hispanic-American
A white person SHOULD be a Euro-American
Even though the term does exit, no one uses it, and that's BS and discrimination, if I were black and someone called me an African-American, I would say: "No, I'm an American" or "Yes, am an African-American as much as you are an Euro-American" <<
I agree, but of course it's to do with who is the dominant group in society. Some people of European origin do still have a 'hyphenated identity i.e. 'Irish-American, Italian-American'. I'm sure that must because they were a later wave of European immigrants, who initially also experienced prejudice at the hands of the first wave of European immigrants, the British, Dutch, Germans etc or were already prejudiced against within Europe. So even within the so-called 'white' group, there are still some people that struggled more to be accepted and as such have not quite been accepted as simply 'American' either.
<< Wow i believed that the term coloured was the state of the art in political correctness, Definitely world changes too fast. >>
In the US, it's politically incorrect to call people "colored" but it's perfectly okay to refer to someone as a "person of color" or a group of non-whites as "people of color". Go figure.
Back when I was in grade school in the 1970s-80s, our teachers discouraged us from identifying people by their supposed skin color b/c it was considered un-PC, but now the whole PC-concept has been turned on its ear and you have Mexican-Americans and Filipino-Americans talking about "Brown Pride" and Asian-Americans (that's East Asians, formerly "Orientals") joking about white dudes having "Yellow Fever". It's all very confusing.
http://people.ucsc.edu/~muribe/brown%20pride.jpg
In the US, it's politically incorrect to call people "colored" but it's perfectly okay to refer to someone as a "person of color" or a group of non-whites as "people of color". Go figure.
Back when I was in grade school in the 1970s-80s, our teachers discouraged us from identifying people by their supposed skin color b/c it was considered un-PC, but now the whole PC-concept has been turned on its ear and you have Mexican-Americans and Filipino-Americans talking about "Brown Pride" and Asian-Americans (that's East Asians, formerly "Orientals") joking about white dudes having "Yellow Fever". It's all very confusing.
http://people.ucsc.edu/~muribe/brown%20pride.jpg