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[B]lack People
It's a little thing, really, but I often think about it when I see the word "black" placed in front of "person" or "people."
Should it be capitalized? I mean, you have Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, Indian, Inuit, etc, but often when people talk about "African-Americans," they don't capitalize "black." When, and if, I use it, I always capitalize it like all the other ethnicities or races. The same goes with "White people"; It's capitalized. But what do you think is the correct way to spell it? While we're also on the topic, to those of you who are Black, or often have to refer to the "African-American" race, what do you prefer to call them, and why? I would not mind calling myself a person of Color (as seen on the Pantene Pro-V line for us Black women) because our race has such a wide variety of skin tones (and not because of the varied amounts of time we spend absorbing ultraviolet rays). Unfortunately, the 60s and surrounding years corrupted the connotation of "Colored People," so I'm probably one of a few. I do not like calling myself African-American because if I go back four generations, I still will not have come across someone in my bloodline who was born or raised in Africa. There are several immigrants from Africa now who deserve the term, but I don't feel that I fit under that description. But, I don't really want to be called Black, either. I'm not the opposite of a "White person," because neither of our skin is black or white. Call me Brown, shoot. Or better yet, Caramel :cool: |
I personally don't mind either term being a "person of colored" myself. It's only what you make it. I agree with what you say about the being the opposite of someone "White" but I guess I'm so used to it, it doesn't bother me. Maybe that's a bad thing...
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This has always been my view:
Black = African-American White = Caucasian WHY? Because I think it just sounds more respectful to refer to a person as such rather than labeling them like colors from a crayon box. People use Native American, Asian, Peurto Rican, Mexican, Porteguese, German, etc. But I have often wondered about the "African" part of the term African-American because as you stated, there are many whose heritage does not originate from Africa. So that part to me is rather confusing. I myself am very fair skinned and I am of Italian and Spanish descent almost entirely. And I will tell you this ~ when my EX Mexican neighbors (recently got kicked out by landlord for racism and harrassment) were constantly calling me and my children "white bitches", you better believe I was highly offended by that. I was more offended by the fact that they were calling us WHITE bitches than just bitches. I know that sounds odd but its very true. Im not sure what is considered respectful or not to most people but if I were Native American, then I would not want someone calling me "Redman" or whatever. You know? Just doesnt seem right to me is all. But I am going to subscribe to this thread because I truly would like to know how others feel on this particular subject. And what makes them more comfortable or even better, what term makes them feel disrespected. |
1. You just got Suzanne Vega's "Caramel" stuck in my head.
2. I'm never sure what term's polite to use. I tend toward African-American, because that's what I was taught. But for myself, I use white, mostly. I'm sickly-pale though, so I can't even claim tan. |
Usually when I refer to "Black" or "White" people, If I'm talking about an individual, I'll refer to them by their gender. And if I need to describe them, hair color, then clothes. But if I'm in a conversation about the people in general, I'll go with whatever term my conversational partner is using at the time ^.^;
My grandparents were very unkind while I was growing up, so I try to avoid any terms that may be taken offensively to make up for their lack of tact. But of course, it's all in the -way- you say it too, so maybe I shouldn't worry so much? :) |
I don't think "black" should be capitalized, because "black" is a colour, not a race. The race with which black skin is associated is African(-American), which is capitalized.
In my language, it's highly offensive to refer to someone by their colour... I've no idea why anyone would capitalize something offensive ^^; |
@Volucria:
See, that's the thing. People are using "black," the color, to identify race, so if it's being used as the race, then it should be capitalized like the others. If you were to call me a "black person," it'd be false, because neither my hair nor my skin is black. Both are brown. I have not this black skin to associate with being African(-American). When I go to color a picture of myself, I reach for the brown marker/crayon. Black can sometimes be used to indicate dirtiness or evil, both of which I am neither (did I say that right? "of which I am neither"? "both of which I am not"? Whatever). That, and I'm not from Africa. My great-great grandparents are not from Africa. I do not know much more than what National Geographic tells me of the African culture. Efeoghene from Nigeria, however, does. Fefe, Odonekwe and Okeze's parents migrated from Africa, dress in African attire from time to time, and sometimes speak in their native language to their family, so even those three fit under that description. I just feel that if you're going to call me a color, let it be closer to my skin color. |
"Neither of which I am" seems the best grammatical construction.
So, we'll call DeLish caramel and Yuu peachy, and what not? |
So for anyone who thinks the term should be "African-American," what if that same person was born and lives in England? Now they are neither in America, nor have they come from Africa, either.
I usually will use the term "Black" because for myself I will say "White." And I just thought of this... I know many people who although born and raised in the United States still refer to themselves as "Asian" or "Latino/a"... So why is it that "African" isn't widely used and is so connected to the idea of coming from Africa? |
@ DeLish: if "black" is used as a race itself, for people who aren't really from Africa and whose close family aren't either, it can be capitalized. But it's still a weird thought :XD If you call someone black or brown here, people cry racism as if you just declared war on everyone with that skin colour.
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I'm from Minnesota, where we have a lot of immigrants from Somalia due to the civil war conflict there, and they usually prefer to be called African-Americans or Somalian-Americans. Usually I just use Black to describe someone of Color unless I know they're from Africa or they ask me to refer to them as otherwise, but like with people of Color, there are different shades of "white," if that makes any sense.
For instance, I'm what my Irish great-grandmother would call, "pale Italian olive with Irish cream and English pinks" (I kid you not), which actually describes me kinda well. During the spring and summer I turn a pale Italian olive, while during late fall and winter I go to a pale Irish cream with a ruddy English complexion. Most other people who are White up here, however, are just simply called Nords. They're tall, fair, and well...Nordic. Sorry, I can't think of a better way to describe them other than their Scandinavian surnames and the Minnesotan accent. |
I enjoy that Melanin-Enhanced name.
It's scientifically correct. I'm basically yellow/Asian. My mother's skin tone dominates, I'm only the pale creamy white of my father's side when my skin sees no sun at all. |
i prefer African-American, even though it's been a while since anyone in my family came from Africa, but i accept black too. the only thing about using the term black that is different from white is that things commonly associated with black are negative :[, which i've never cared for. also the skin color is brown; the thing about that is though, if people use brown to refer race, it is more likely used to describe someone of south or southeast Asian descent.
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I don't mind being called whatever, as long as its accurate. People tend to think I'm half of whatever they are -- even though I'm pretty white, it's odd.
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@ Guivre- Yeah, I get that a lot from people too. I've had people who thought I was half Spanish (from Europe) or Hawaiian.
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Honestly, i just say black and white out of pure laziness. the whole African American thing, that is a mouthful! I'm white, and I usually don't find it offensive if someone else refers to me as white. But then again that depends on which context it's being used. In depth, black people aren't really "black" and white people aren't really "white". black people would be better referred to as brown if you were going to use a color to describe them. They are many different shades of "brown" as white people are many different shades of "peach".
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Calling blacks caramel... well, there are different shades, and blacks =/= caramels ; racially-mixed == caramel xD
Now, onto the main debate, black is just a crayon color, used commonly because it's far easier than saying "a male of olivaceous complexion" or something like that ["Melanin-enhanced" :'D]. But it's just a slang, and just as you don't write Whites, one wouldn't expect you to capitalize Blacks. One, however, does capitalize Caucasian and African-American. But if you really want to avoid using the word "black" for people, just describe them as "a young dark-skinned male American", or use the word "Negro". Negro is spanish for "black" but I see it being used as a sinonym of this race on wikipedia o.o PS: People here in Latin American don't get anoyed by this... here we even call dark-skinned women "negra" and it's not offensive... not that people care if we capitalize it or not >.> |
It's like this:
cracker is offensive, white is slang. N***R is offensive, black is slang. Wetback is offensive, mexican and/or latino is slang. all these slang "derogatory" words were built out of pure laziness! these words are only offensive when used to insult someone. like ass is a slang term for a donkey, but it's offensive when used to insult someone. Insults are insults. Racism is racism. |
I'm white. I don't capitalize black or white. I don't really ever use Caucasian, and when I do, I don't normally capitalize it. I do capitalize African-American, Latino, Spanish, Hispanic, etc. Being called white doesn't offend me. I'm more offended by being called "redneck" or "hillbilly" when used in a derogatory context. I don't use "black" in a derogatory context, it's just a common, less confusing way to refer to a group of people, the same way "white" is used.
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my best friend growing up preferred negro if anything at all. which confused me because it's so close in sound to the bad word. *which really makes me mad when i hear it*
personally, i don't capitolize any of them. on a side note here, there seem to be a lot more people of jamacan/trinidadian descent in my area so calling them african would upset them. when writing stories about colored people, i usually use terms like honey, as i find this not only unoffencive, but pretty too. though i suppose when i think of it, most of the colored people in my stories come from the islands like the people around here do, and most of my friends are a cross of hatian and porto rican decent and their skin tone is generally a clover honey color that i'm very envious of. xp of course i don't normally do this in front of people as i never know what's offencive to them or not. i was raised in a period where black was the proper term and anything else was disrespectfull. |
I'm not sure. My general response to such issues is what would I want to be called?. I prefer Caucasian for myself or Northern- European ethnicity.
What their ethnicity lacks is a good term for their race. We had the term Negro which would have been the corresponding term to Caucasian,but it has become a negative term. Maybe someone should invent a new term which corresponds and doesn't mean something negative. I often say dark skinned, which seems to be a neutral descriptive term. I'm OK with being light skinned, so it seems acceptable all around. |
What the fuck does it matter the skin color now and days? I do not give a fuck yoru skin color. I work with mexicans, blacks, asians, philipinos, rednecks, gays, straights, whites and pretty much every other fuckin' minority and they all want to be addressed in a minority so what the fuck. Fuck politically correct! Fuck minoritys! Everyone is a fucking HUMAN and should be treated equal!
</rant> |
My school is the most mixed school in our district. Most of us aren't all that racist, but we always refer to ourselves and other people by their color. Caucasian are white people, African-Americans are black, Indian & Middle Eastern are brown. Except for us Asians and Mexicans, that's pretty much all we say. No one really does take offense to us color coding people because it's always been common. We all know that we're human and we all respect our differences. We usually just use color references as jokes. But in my opinion, I don't think it should be capital.
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hmmmmm I use white and black but not in a derogatory sense.
Though .....now that I think about it......why white and black? Why white people aren't 100% white.....there more of a peachy sandy color....with a few exceptions....and black people are more brown skinned..... lol random thought...sorry... |
I get really irritated when I hear "african american" or "asian american" or whatever, aren't we all just americans? I'm being to lazy to do a lot of capitalizing right now. I think that we need to stop labeling and just call each other people. I understand that some times it's necessary to maybe say "He was a black man" or "He was a white man" for purposes of describing the way a person looks but, why do we have to make such a big deal out of the color of someone's skin and their ancestry for every day purposes?
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