How are we supposed to refer to black people?

I am a white person. My friend is a black person. What is the problem?

The word 'coloured' is just wrong on so many levels.

My match.com profile another example:

The problem is that such an explicit reference to race could quite easily offend someone. We live in a culture where only vague references to race are acceptable, 'Members of Ethnic Minorities', 'People of Colour'. Wouldn't that lead you to believe that the more vague term, 'coloured' is preferable to 'black'?

Consider the following:

I am a white person. My friend is a yellow person. What is the problem?

Black is fine. I've never heard about anyone complaining about being black. Coloured, by definition of "Anything which isn't white, and everything that is separate from us" - is not.




Am I the only one wondering why "east indian" comes as an entirely separate category apart from "Asian"? I think on the whole, this is the worst race tickbox I've ever seen

NO. This is the dumbest argument I've ever heard hahahah ha ha.

Lets call everyone coloured!

White and black refer to races/ethnicity, not an artist's paint palette.

What?
I've not been walking around yelling it, but I think I made a reference to 'people of colour' on a guest post for my friend's blog. I told her she could change it as it was her blog and her readers, and she went with it.

I'm not saying it's difficult to say black people, but I don't understand why there was such outrage over that actor saying coloured.

Is it really that offensive to black people should someone accidentally say coloured (whether it's an accident or they don't know any better)?

Okay, so what is actually wrong about the argument?

'White and black' are not ethnicities, they are not races. 'Caucasian' is an ethnicity, 'white' isn't. They do refer to ethnicities, you're right, but so does 'yellow' - it refers to people of Chinese origin.

I don't believe that we should call everyone 'coloured'. I believe that we should call everyone basically what we want, and people should accept that, so long as there is no ill intent, the particular word used is of little consequence.

Well you implied that its fine to identify yourself (who I assume to be white, although correct me if I'm way off) as white, but 'everyone else' as 'coloured'. Do you not think thats a bit ignorant?

I am indeed white. I don't see why I would think that is 'a bit ignorant'. There is a group of people, a large group, who are not white. In some instances I need to refer to this group, and 'coloured' is a word which seems fit for this purpose to me. What is 'ignorant' about that? It isn't as if I could refer to each ethnic group in turn.



I realise that, which is why I don't walk around referring to various people as 'Negroids' or whatever. This doesn't justify haranguing someone for using a term which, as far as I am aware (and apparently as far as many other people are aware), does not have significant racist connotations. It's also why I don't refer to Chinese people as 'yellow'.

The word coloured shouldnt be used to refer to black/brown people. In fact "white" people are the most colored of all! Turn pink when they blush, red when they're hot, purple when they're ill, brown when they're bruised...the list goes on. Whereas, black people stay the same colour regardless...now who is more colored? Just saying

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The world 'coloured' does have racist connotations, which have been explained enough in this thread.

Evidence from your posts suggest you are indeed very ignorant on this subject matter.

The thing that makes me laugh is. In some cultures it's perfectly fine for guys to call each other the 'N' word. But if someone else then calls them it, all hell breaks loose. Why? Personally, I think too many chips on too many shoulders.

Yes its offensive due to its historical usage and it's considered pejorative by many. I can't remember the last time I heard it so I'm surprised he even used it. The word "coloured" hasn't been acceptable or used in decades, I don't see why people are trying to bring it back.

The world 'coloured' does have racist connotations, which have been explained enough in this thread.

Evidence from your posts suggest you are indeed very ignorant on this subject matter.

I am brown. I am happy with that. I call myself brown to people who don't understand the term 'Asian-white'. To a certain extent, I do find 'coloured' a tad offensive. It sounds like you've got just white people and coloured people. White people and everyone else. It, to me, implies that white is the norm and anything else isn't. Personally, I don't really like it. It's not really about PC for me. The main issue is that I want people to refer to me as what I want to be referred to as. Nobody should continuously call me something that I don't want to be named as. We are all individuals. I wouldn't go mad if someone called me coloured, I'd say something like "By the way, if you're going to label me by race, call me Asian-White, mixed race or brown skinned. but I'd really prefer it if you called me Alex"

Being fairly young, I can't recall meeting anyone in my life offended by the word 'black'.

Let's not forget, white people are coloured too. In fact, we all are!

The world 'coloured' does have racist connotations, which have been explained enough in this thread.

Evidence from your posts suggest you are indeed very ignorant on this subject matter.