Non-White/Asian/Hispanic/American Indian/Other

[mitsuki lover]

If you really want to get into it really deep down those of us who have ancestors from Lowland Scotland are really a hodgepodge of a melting pot:
Gaels,Romans,Danes,Saxons,Anglos,Jutes,Normans,etc.

[Icarus]

I keep forgetting to postagain on here.

I use "black" when neccessary. I prefer people use that when dealing with me; because, as several have said "African-American" sounds unwieldly. Even worse is if they look in my direction and hesitate slightly before saying it. I know they're trying to be sensitive, but it irks me none the less.

[Bobtheduck]

Well, I'm a fan of simplicity ... and I prefer 'human' or 'person', myself, but if I absolutely need to use a descriptor when referring to someone, I usually just choose whichever term comes to mind first.

Meh, that sentiment sounds a bit weird to me... There is nothing wrong with being able to separate.

"Give this to that black guy" is valid when there are only 1 or 2 black people in a room.

Conversely, if there were only 1 or 2 white people in a room "Give this to that white guy" would also work. Identifying a way of recognizing someone isn't racism. I say this because I had a friend who's mom was so hypersensative about being thought to be racist that she would never even mention the color of someone's skin... There was one black kid on my friend's baseball team, and she wanted me to give something to him. She said "Give this to the guy in the black shirt" Problem was, a LOT of people had black shirts, wheras he was the only one with black skin... I didn't know who the crap she was talking about. Looking at that now, it is rather rediculous. Simply identifying something about someone that is diferent from you (give this to that blonde / german guy / guy with the cleft chin) does not mean you are making yourself out to be better... It's just picking someone out in a crowd.

And Africain American? I don't do PC... No one calls me a scottish american...

[b0redx3]

i say black. as someone pointed out, not all of them were born in Africa. one of my best friends is from jamaica, do i call her "Jamaican"? ... no. lol, i didn't even know she was from jamaica until she told me.

[Bobtheduck]

i say black. as someone pointed out, not all of them were born in Africa. one of my best friends is from jamaica, do i call her "Jamaican"? ... no. lol, i didn't even know she was from jamaica until she told me.

That's another good point... It is questionable whether some of the dark skinned people that would be called "African" even originated in Africa... Such as Fijians... There is a definate difference between the way a Fijian looks and the way an African looks, but someone who was unaware of this would call them "African"

[Lady Macbeth]

I tend to use "black" for the most part. It depends on the people I'm around, the culture I'm immersed in, and the situation I'm in, though. You lose brownie points at a business meeting if you use "black" instead of "African American".

My mom was always irked by the PCness - she was all about skin color, which is why she usually used "black" while we were growing up. She also tends to use "Indian" instead of Native American, because somehow "Indian" is a color. XD This is the same mom who argued that schools who wanted to be fussy (which is usually when the topic came up) should call us "Native American" because our family has been American longer than anyone can remember. (We're a Mayflower descendant family, so no relatives of living memory are first generation immigrants anymore.) Discussion of how the distinction "Native American" came to be usually ended in an argument about my blonde haired, blue-eyed cousin who is enough Native to qualify for government benefits, so I gave it up after a while. XD

And, as far as using the N word goes with blacks - to each their own. If certain groups of blacks or their friends want to use it, meh. Around here we call each other white trash crack monkeys, but that doesn't mean we want outsiders calling us that. XD

Using a color like "white" or "black" is just being civil without being PC.