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Racial terminology (part 1)

MrDeuce
Illinois
This question is primarily directed at black TUSCLers. Those of you who are melanin-deficient are of course free to chime in, but I don't much care what you have to say on this subject.

In my 60ish years on this planet, the term used by well-intended white people for black people has shifted from "colored people" to "Negroes" to "blacks" and I have personally gone along with these changes -- until the term "African-American" came along in the 1980s, when I refused to change again. It wasn't a case of an old man resistant to change -- I was only about 30 when I first heard "African-American" -- but rather of refusing to replace the perfectly good one-syllable word "black" with the seven-syllable monstrosity "African-American", especially since it was advocated by Jesse Jackson, whom I can't stand.

My question is: Do black people care whether white people call them "black" or "African-American"? My gut feeling is that they don't, but I would like to hear from some actual black people. Note: I live a very white existence, residing in an almost entirely white suburb and employed at an overwhelmingly white workplace, so for long periods of time the only black people I see are strippers (!) -- and I don't treat strippers' opinions as typical.

22 comments

Latest

chessmaster
•
9 years ago
black.
GACA
•
9 years ago
Black
GACA
•
9 years ago
I hate the term African-American personally it's not like we call white people European - Americans. I'm simply an American who is black (which obviously means African ancestry somewhere, just like being white means obviously European somewhere) but I think to be a uniform country we can't qualify or separate whatever type of American we are. My $0.02
Mistah_Fetti_Morbuxxx
•
9 years ago
Me personally I prefer black.
snowtime
•
9 years ago
@ GACAclub and gewings. As an older white guy (who met both of you briefly at Follies several weeks ago) I apprecate your comments. I have always felt the term African -American was so devisive. It seems to me that the point of the civil rights movement was that we are all Americans. Based on the multiracial make up and success at Follies, I would say that strip clubs are much farther along, in terms of racial harmony, than society in general.
rh48hr
•
9 years ago
I'm ok with either.
GoVikings
•
9 years ago
what rh48hr said
Mate27
•
9 years ago
I don't call them anything other than what they are......funny, cool, smart, bawdy, angry, hungry, intelligent, quick to judge, etc.

I never try the political correct route either. I Just avoid the labels and describe people by their personality traits and it's all cool. That's what most people do when they describe me as "that asshole!"
rockstar666
•
9 years ago
My black friends prefer that I call them 'black'.
IHearVoices
•
9 years ago
I second what GACAclub said. If you call me AA, I'm going to think you're trying too hard to be friendly.
Jdflyer2
•
9 years ago
I'll go one step further -- when I hear someone use "African-American" in a conversation with me, there's a pretty good possibility I'm going to hear something ridiculous fly out of their mouths in the next five minutes.
Mr_O
•
9 years ago
I posted in this topic but the post is gone. Censorship?
georgmicrodong
•
9 years ago
Mr_O: You don't happen to have inadvertently put yourself on ignore, have you?
GACA
•
9 years ago
^^^No he probably timed out
Mr_O
•
9 years ago
I see myself. I'll try again.
Mr_O
•
9 years ago
It shows now.
11bravo88
•
9 years ago
My buddy is from Egypt, so technically he is African-American. NOT ! May I point out NAACP contains the word "colored" also United "negro" colleges, What happened to the mantra "black is beautiful" ?
MrDeuce
•
9 years ago
Many thanks, black TUSCLers (and others) for your very honest and helpful answers. I especially appreciated GACAclub's and Jdflyer2's responses, for example: "If you call me AA, I'm going to think you're trying too hard to be friendly."
farmerart
•
9 years ago
Here is a story only slightly related to the discussion topic but it shows the power of words and also the idiocy of ignorance.

During contract negotiations with lawyers representing my potential customer I was trying to convince the lawyers to spend more money initially so I could finish the contract quicker and in the long run save money for the prospective client. I tried to convince the two lawyers to be less 'niggardly' in their approach to my daily expense rate.

Instantly, I was verbally assaulted by one of the lawyers. He called me several racist-tinged names. At first I was flummoxed over this outrageous outburst but I finally realized that the doofus lawyer had no clue what the word 'niggardly' meant. I was angered and responded with some choice insults of my own about the lawyer's intelligence and poor education. I wanted to reach across the negotiating table and bitch slap the asshole.

Negotiations were unsuccessful: I did not gain the business of that prospective client.
motorhead
•
9 years ago
Good story Art. There was a somewhat famous incident in the 90's involving an aide to the mayor of Washington DC. He used the word during budget negotiations and it sparked such a controversy he was forced to resign

Fortunately, the head of the NAACP came to his defense:

"You hate to think you have to censor your language to meet other people's lack of understanding"
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