What is the politically correct way to describe a black person?

Question

This question is not meant to be offensive. I come from a little town in the middle of know where where people of different nationalities have recently begun to move to. I'm asking this question so I can inform my children of the proper way of addressing someone with out offending them.

My son just got in trouble a couple of weeks ago for calling a little girl brown girl after she called him white boy. As far as African american, I've been told that is inappropriate too by the school guidance counselor because not all black people have come from Africa which makes sense. Heck, I'm Irish, German, French, and Hungarian but you would never know it from the look of me.

Description is imperative at times. What made me ask this question today was my son asked me to go to a website, www.lunchables.com, so that he might help them decorate the treehouse. There are three cartoon kids on it. The one he recognized from the commercials was the brown/african american/black child in which he stated "I want to decorate the brown kid's room." He is quite accurate in description but could also easily offend someone in school if asked to describe someone. Say the question arises about someone doing something and he replies "I saw the brown kid paint that picture." I know everyone wants there to be no color issues but the fact remains there is and we need to know what to say and what not to say so as to not offend anyone and that is all I am trying to accomplish. Ignorance leads to misunderstandings which in return could eventually escalate to violence. I am trying to avoid that by attempting to be respectful of others beliefs.

If you look at the star thing, I was trying to see who starred me and hit the wrong button. I'm not being conceded and starring my own question.

Answer 1

Talk to them as iyou would wamt to be spoken to, They don't bite

Answer 2

Most of them prefer to be called African American. However, if this is no longer PC like your son's guidance counselor says, perhaps you can ask him what he would suggest. By the way, if your son got in trouble for calling a little girl "brown girl" after she called him "white boy", she should have gotten in trouble, too. She was racist first. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Even better than using a PC term for race, perhaps it would be best to refer to each individual by his/her name? I know I'd rather be called "Avie" than "white woman". I find the second to be rather offensive because I didn't choose my race or gender. It really says nothing about me. But my name is my whole identity. To use it means you see me as an individual person, not as the representative of a whole race or gender.

Answer 3

I'm going to help so your children won't grow up being racist you call them African Americans not black people because they are not really black they're brown the same way with whites were are not really white but Caucasian.

Answer 4

u cant just describe our whole race based off of what u hear, we are all different, and teach them to judge a person and not a race, no matter what you see or hear. i mean im not gonna tell my kids that all whites are this or that, it isnt right!!!!

its the media and the government that is racist in my opinion. all they do is show us what thwey want us to think of each race, they want us to think whites are racist. so what do they do, they show black racial attacks and not the other way around. they wanna make it seem like blacks and hispanics are all bad, so what do they do they show us only the negative. in consequence we start to believe what we see!!!

american tv tends to show only one side of things and not the other!!!!!

but about what to call us, i like african-american or black, i mean u have all kinds of black people jamaican, ethiopian and etc. my ethinicity is african-american, but i say stick with black because not all black people are african-americans

Answer 5

Why describe them by their race at all? Once we stop labeling people by their country of birth the world will be a better place. Teach your children that all races are equal, and deserve respect. Teach them to address adults as Sir or Madam or Miss, Mrs, Mr. Teach them to address their peers by their first names. Teach them to make friends, not enemies.

Answer 6

I believe the politically correct term is now "African American". I am of an age in which I recall that "politically correct" went from "colored" to "*****" to "black" and now "African American" and even, in some cases, "person of color"--remarkably close to the old "colored". I think it's just a case of acknowledging and respecting a culture's pride in their heritage.

Answer 7

How about asking some of them? The politically correct way to describe anyone is to first ask them what they prefer, or don't, and then use that.

Caring about another culture's feelings/attitudes is part of what PC was meant to correct.

Answer 8

Seriously, refer to someone black as "person". We really don't need to add a color to it. For instance, "My oldest friend Jon, whos white, is moving to Colorado" or "Have you seen the black family that moved into the Jones' old house?". Why not "My oldest friend Jon is moving to Colorado" or "Have you seen the family that moved into the Jones' old house?".

See?

Answer 9

Black - plain and simple. You said it in your question so I think you know how to correctly say it, otherwise you would have said "minority" or "person of color." So, what's the real issue here?

Answer 10

The same way you describe a white person----white.

Answer 11

The politically correct term would depend on their political choices in life.

What you call them face-to-face?

"Yo Mr. " works pretty good.....