Question Involving race, being politically correct, looking for all races to answer, please & thank you.?

Question

I am a white female that recently moved to Miami. I am going crazy about being politically correct. My job involves a lot of describing people, from the general public and other wk depts. Recently, I described a guy from another dept & left out his "race" but ended up saying "black guy" at the end b/c no one knew who I was talking about. When they figured it out, they said he wasn't black & corrected me. Today, I asked an African American co-worker about some keys I found. She said "There was an African American woman just there." Is it just wrong to say black? You never hear brown, so is it Latino? or Hispanic? I would say Asian, not "Chinese." I would say Indian, refer to Native American or India. I would like to hear from all races about how you like to be referred to & how you refer to others. Please include your race. If it helps, I am white, I like to be called white. Caucasian sounds pretentious to me. I just want to feel comfortable when speaking about other people.

Answer 1

I agree with Josey W. People know what is a derogatory racial slur and what is an attempt at description. If somebody gets upset at your honest attempt to describe them, then the shortcoming is their own preconceptions and negative experiences. I live in the U.S. and I'm sorry to the guy from Afghanistan, but I would not be able to immediately distinguish a person's nationality just by seeing them or even hearing them say a few words in their native tongue. If you want to call me Russian, fine. What is the big deal? If you really want to know I'll gladly tell you my nationality. Please lighten up people; life is way too short.

Answer 2

This type of question comes up quite often. Our society in the U.S., being the melting pot of the world, causes this situation by its own nature. Other countries do not worry about being "politically correct". Mostly because there lack of diversity. We as a country have used labels as a description of people, because of this diversity. Society has forced us to use numerous labels, and thru the course of time, some have become derogatory . what once was termed correct usage of a race, color, religion, stature, and yes ,even gender, has been made more refined to be more "politically correct". It seems that when you can identify a person more specifically ie; geographically in lieu of color. European instead of white would be the only time a color would work better than a geographic label! African American is more acceptable than black. Little person is more acceptable than midget. As we evolve , the next generation may redefine these labels. After all, we know all Chinese are Asians, but not every Asian is Chinese!!!!

Answer 3

I call blacks black or ***** depending on audience (if its an old person they call them ***** too and its proper terminology although archaic), I call hispanics hispanic, latino, or mestizo unless they are from Spain or Cuba (then mestizo is not used). I call white people white and Asians asian OR what area I believe they are from (I can tell most chinese and Japanese, but its the other areas around Asia where I cannot place them specifically so I just refer to Asian). Also with Indians I am actually politically correct for once, only to avoid ambiguity: I call American Indians Native Americans and Indians from India 'Indians".

Answer 4

Is describing someones race an important factor in pointing someone out? If you are feeling uncomfortable, why not refer to someone by what color they are wearing, if they are tall or not.

If you came up to me in the workplace and asked if I had seen the direction the tall guy with the Blue jacket on had gone, I think that would be just as good a description as, did you see where the White, Hispanic, Asian guy had gone.

It's a surefire way to avoid an uncomfortable situation.. Race should not be the determining way to identify a person if you are unsure how to address it.

I know I am a white woman, but I spent a number of years living in a rural part of Japan that was bombed to virtual annihilation during WW2, so I do understand what it is like to be referred to by a name that I don't like or is offensive.

If you are referring to someone by a racially descriptive name that is not meant in a harsh or offensive tone, I'm sure most people of all races will be ok with it..

Answer 5

As a black male I have no problem with keeping it simple. When describing people I say Hispanic, white, and Asian. If the person is black I say black male/female.

Lets be real here, I never had a problem until I came to America from Belize. In my country I'm Belizean. Dark complexion if you need to ID me.

African Belizean in unheard of where I'm from. You did nothing wrong, I guess it all depends on which part of the country you are.

The one thing I find odd is the word "colored." That is the dumbest description I've heard.

Answer 6

Generally, I like to refer to people as an individual, not based on their race. I remember a time when the Chinese were refered to as Orientals. One day I had to describe someone as oriental and was corrected. Now they call themselves Asians. It seems that the term oriental is now a food item and is considered an insult to the Chinese.
I am black, African American, and *****. It all depends on what part of your city that you are in. I have observed that the different locations prefer the use of certain slang of their cultural identities.

Answer 7

You may as well say African American, Asian, and Hispanic. This has been the tone already set in your office and since you are new, you may not know what happened before you got there for people to be so tense and exacting. In time, you may find out, but for now just be friendly with everyone and go with the flow. You don't want anybody singling you out when you just started, because some people sure like to find reasons for singling out the new person.

Answer 8

I'm white. I like being refered to as white.
I work with a lot of black people as co-workers and customers. I've never had anyone correct me for saying someone was a "dark complected black gent about my age" or "a lighter complected elderly black woman wearing a red sweater"
I think people sense when you are genuinely sensitive as oppossed to being anxious about trying to appear sensitive.
Its just a sense that I have - that the anxiousness makes people nervous - and not knowing how to respond they tend to do so with abruptness. I worked with an African (from Senegal) fellow who resented Black Americans being called African Americans - he wanted to know if I was called a Qubecois American. Its hard to please everyone. It's hard to know the luggage people carry around with them regarding terminology. So its possibe to offend people without trying.
Hispanics can be Latino - but not always the way around. Latinos are generally recognized as being from central and northern south america.
But that is one that I don't have to deal with too often. Then I try to use the more general descriptions....gender, age, height, build, facial hair, hair colour, clothing if possible.
The world is getting smaller - and requires gentle handling.

Answer 9

There's one in every crowd. And no matter what you do, someone will
complain. If you're a man, just saying women can get you in trouble today.
If you're white, just saying black will get you in trouble.
It's best to try and be nuetral, and universal. Don't even make the disctinction
between gender, or race. Just say an individual. Or us and we.
Doesn't work all the time though. And things change. To me, its
correct to use a singular and a plural in the same sentence. Expressing
ones individuality, without singling anyone out.

Answer 10

I am a black female that generally doesn't mind being called black. However there are times when it can kinda make my skin crawl and I'd rather be called African American. For instance, if someone was describing something and uses the term with a negative tone like "Yeah, did you see that black girl?" that would annoy me bcuz it sounds kinda like it's being said as if it's inferior to everything else.