Black or coloured?

Question

I recently spoke of a 'coloured' person to a friend in reference to a person of Jamaican/African appearance. He said that this is wrong and would be offensive to them as they are not 'coloured' they are black. What is the properly acceptable description so as not to be racial or offensive?

Answer 1

He was right, nobody says colored anymore, it's considered to be very offensive.

Answer 2

Colored?
You're kidding...right?
Colored what?
Purple?
Blue?
Possibly green?
The term "colored" was always a derogatory term and egocentric .
The fact that you used the Queen's English in spelling the word "colored" says you are obviously not from the Americas.
And I really don't mean to sound insulting and I sincerely apologize if I do.
I just find it completely amazing that in 2006 there are people in the world that are still confused over things like this.
Think of the word itself..."colored".....colored what?
What color are you?
Beige? Pink? Porcelain? Pearl? Egg-Shell?
Right now with the North American heat wave, being half Irish and half Native American, I'm kind of this Reddish-Brown Brick color.
Say you have an Arab, a Cuban, a Jamaican, a Moroccan, an Ethiopian, and an Australian Aborigine.
Are they ALL "colored"?
You are a "color".
Does that make you "colored", too?
See what I mean?
As much as we as a world are so racially and nationally mixed we just do not use the word "colored".
If you are trying to describe a British gentleman who happens to have the skin color of someone in the scientifically classed Negroid racial grouping based on skin color, you would simply say a BLACK BRITISH MAN.
If he was Jamaican, all you have to say is he is Jamaican.
Because Jamaicans are a black skinned people with a predominantly African descent.
If he is a Cuban with black skin, he is a Cuban with African descent.
Being British, Cuban, and Jamaican are their distinguishing qualities......not their skin color.

Answer 3

Most people think of coloured as a racist term considering it was really used to separate white people from anyone else. Black is probably a better term.

Also you might want to note that coloured or colored was also used to refer to Asians and Latinos...so it's offensive but it's also inaccurate.

Answer 4

Coloured was a term used till the 60S
Black has been used since 1970's,
The only people who like being called coloured are the mixed race south africans bcs they think they are superior to blacks and are obviously a SAD bunch of people.
DONT use the term HALF CASTE either youll get punched in the face term to replace that is MIXED RACE
Any more questions you can contact me. Its okay to ask if we dont ask then how in the hell do we learn?

Answer 5

thecinically, in the days of apartheid in africa, a person could only be called white if they were purley caucasian, black meant really dark and coloured meant every shade in between. some of those classifications still exist and perhaps coloured now also means bi-racial and its considered more offensive to call someone bi-racial than black.

Answer 6

It actually depends which era you were brought up in. When I was in school I was led to believe that a chalkboard was a blackboard and I always called a coloured person black, whereas, nowadays, with all the P.C. madness you can`t really say anything without fear of upsetting someone.

Answer 7

Black! but can't u speak to these people without mentioning their colour as if they don't know it already. The only reason I think of is you have inferior complex by demeaning them you feel superior.
In many cultures In Asia White colour not skin colour is bad luck

Answer 8

This is a truly a strange issue. Our skin is NOT black, yet we call ourselves black. The word colored is actually more fitting as we are multi-hued. However, we have been addressed so negatively before civil rights were granted, as colored people, we prefer not to be addressed as colored ever again. The "C" in NAACP, actually stands for "colored", yet again, we hate being referred to as colored.

Some prefer to be called "African-American". This is not a preference for me, as I do not have dual citizenship. Furthermore, Africa is a continent, not a country. To which country would I identify? Wouldn't it be more appropriate to hyphenate the name of a country with America?

In a nutshell, black seems to be the winner.

Answer 9

In Africa most are black, but in South Africa you'll still have a chance to find coloured persons.
The best way to spot the difference is to listen to the way he/she talks.
Coloureds mostly have a bit of a dutch accent and always mix their languages. No offence,but it is like that

Answer 10

Coloured was only used on official documents to discriminate between the races. Avoid using it. Especially Alabama or South Africa.
I try not to describe someone by their physical appearance.
Although I have a friend who has a difficult time with this.
"Hey, remember that fat girl"
"Bignose just scored a goal"
"Ugly told me to give this to you"
Poor guy just cannot remember names.

Answer 11

I have many African friends and they all prefer to be called Black. So I presume the correct term is Black.