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

Wow! How brave of you to post such a question. I appreciate your concern in being sensitive to folks preference but understand, you can't please everyone, all of the time. That said, I am a Black woman. I don't have a problem with being called or classified as Black or African-American. I'd raise my eyebrows at ***** though, especially a non-Black calling me one! I refer to Asian people as Asian--not Chinese (as in cuisine) and not Oriental (as in rugs). I say Hispanic until I learn how a person identifies himself. (I'm in Texas where Mexican versus non-Mexican identification can be real touchy subject, and as a Black woman, I work hard not to offend others--lest I'll be offended.) I say Indian from India or Native American. It's funny that I found your question today--having had a conversation with a gentleman from the Philippines earlier today. He called himself Philippino--not Asian, nor Hispanic. I call White folks White. I hardly ever say Caucasian. My pastor (who is Black) says Anglos--which sounds weird to me.
Good luck on ever feeling comfortable when speaking about other people. I think we've made it way more complicated than it has to be. My husband (who is Black) and I used to ask one other "B or W?" whenever talking about people in the presence of our children so as not to persuade them. Now, they, like you, describe people without revealing the race. I have to ask them Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Indian-- if I want to picture the scenarios they are describing.
I think you would do well to find out what is acceptable and pleasing to the people in that area. I hope this sheds some light!

Answer 2

I'm white as well. I understand the confusion. I never call myself Caucasian. That word wasn't even heard of until slavery was abolished. Blacks and whites are the only race that are called according to skin color. Others are according to the country they are from or their ancestors are from. I'm not white then, I am Russian-American, I guess. I understand many blacks people don't like being called 'black' anymore, the term African-American is better to them. But then shouldn't all Americans be called according to their ancestory? I know some Latinos that aren't called Latino-American, or Canadians aren't Canadian-American, etc. I personally don't know what is what anymore. One day I can say black and that black person is fine with it and the next time I'll say black & that black is insulted. Growing up my dad called Asian people 'yellow'. I guess it a personal preference but how do we know who will be insulted and who won't be?

The problem I see, and I have to admit that I am guilty of this some times, is when I am talking about a balck person on a TV show, movie, in a store, ... most whites will say their race, whether black or African-American, so others know exactly who they are talking about. I never say "that white guy..." I would say "that guy with the hat or the blonde hair or in the blue car..."So I have to work on this myself. But I don't understand why being called 'black' is insulting. I am not really white yet I am never insulted by it. Maybe it's an inferior or less than inferior thing. Sorry I am no help to you on this.

Answer 3

I hear you - it is a veritable mine field out there of terms and opinions. I am white, I prefer to be called white rather than causasian. I refer to people as Black people - and I have 1 white girl friend who wants to correct me all the time. Funny thing is that I have heard some Black folks being called African American and they get bent out of shape because they are not african or do not hold that culture as a part of who they are. I will stick with Black.

I have always refered to Asians and Oriental, and this same friend says 'Rugs are oriental, people are Asian" - but isn't Australia and India in Asia too? That being the case Asian is not very specific. Here I stick with Asian though, because I don't have enough experience with Asian people to say what they prefer.

Perhaps you can describe people not by their ethnicity, but rather a description of the person. He is a tall dark skinned man with glasses - he might be African or South American... That sort of thing. It's hard, for sure - but you will walk away from this experience with some great people skills.

Peace!

PS - you can also go the way of Carlos Mencia and just call it as you see it as respectfully as you can - and if corrected, apologize and correct the way you refer to that person.

Answer 4

I just moved from an area just outside of Miami and there it is especially hard because of the different ethnicities there. You can't really say african american because they have a huge Carribean population and that term would be incorrect. You have an enormous Jamaican population, a very big Haitian population, as well as several populations of people from Trinidad/Tobago, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands and also many people who are direct descendants from Ghana, Nigeria, and many other African nations as well. You also have a large hispanic population made up of Cubans, Dominicans, Mexicans, Argentinians, Columbians,etc etc. And many hispanics can appear to be of black descent. So I understand how it can get confusing. While I was there, I would usually refer to a black person as "dark skinned" , hispanics were " hispanic or latin" Asians were Asians, and I refered to people who were white as "light skinned"or "pale skinned". It is much easier than trying to nail down a correct origin. After a while it will become easier as you become familiar with the different accents and traditions. I know it did for me. I lived there for eight years and even after a short while I could tell the difference between the different accents and clothing, the different foods they like to eat and even the native languages they spoke even though I didn't speak them myself. Take advantage of the opportunity to learn about the different cultures as Miami has one of the most diverse populations in the country. It is a rich and valuable learning experience and it is so fascinating to learn about all the different kinds of people who reside there. I loved that about Miami. In the meantime hang in there and it will get easier. Good luck

Answer 5

I am white, and this is the feedback that I've received from friends of different races:

Black or African-American depends upon the person. African-American is generally considered more politically correct, but it's also longer and clunkier.

"Indian" should refer only to people whose family is from India -- Native American for "American Indians."

Asian is a good neutral term for East Asia -- Chinese is often wrong (as many actually come from Korea and Japan); Oriental is usually considered offensive.

The best advice I can give is to emulate -- use the language that the individual prefers, if you know it.

Answer 6

I am half white and half chinese. It doesn't bother me when I hear someone being described as "white" or "chinese". Sometimes you have to say it like that so people know who you are talking about. In regular conversation I think it's okay. In a place of business, at work, etc. it is more appropriate to use terms like "Asian" or "African American". This way, no one gets offended.

Answer 7

I am mixed, but I most of the Black people I know like to be to called Black. African Americans and West Indians maintain a separate identity, so just say Black. Hey, at least you didn't say "That thar ***** in the other department".

Answer 8

I am from Costa Rica and a naturalized U.S. citizen. I have been called Mexican ,Hispanic,Latino and central American. I am 75% Aztec Indian. Don't try to classify everyone, sooner or later you'll get it wrong and will offend someone inadvertently. I have lived in the U.S. for 40 years, please I am just an American. If you need to describe me just say "the short guy with black hair" that's better than trying to play the "guess the race" game.

Answer 9

I can see your dilemma.

But you know what? You can't make everyone happy, especially on an issue like this.

I worked in an outreach in my city for some years, where most of the clients where aboriginal, and every once in a while someone would call me "white guy". I had zero problem with it, because there was no malice involved. But when there's a group of Indians talking about one particular guy who stands out as non-indian... then maybe they call him "the white guy".

Who cares? Not me!

I call afro-Americans, "Black", I call Asians, "Japanese" or "Chinese" or "Vietnamese". You wanna be respectful, but you don't want to drive yourself nuts trying to satisfy every single person's personal preferences.

Answer 10

If you call all blacks African American you could still screw up. What if they are from Canada or Europe? Then they are African Canadians or African European. To me white or black covers all black or white people whatever their nationality. But then you can never please everyone, someone will always be ticked off no matter what you do. People embrace being victims.