Is the use of the terms white or black to identify American communities primitive?

Question

Most Americans today are descendants of European refugees or immigrants, whether from Ireland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Scotland or England. These were people who were never united in the old continent. In the face of adversity, they developed a feeling of unity and created a new country in a strange land. Till that time, Europe was in contact with powerful Asian. Middle eastern and North African empires either for trade or for war. There was no use of the term 'white'. When slaves from Africa started coming in, most of them being very dark, it led to the origin of the word black or '*****' in Spanish by culturally ignorant farmers and slave traders. Over generations, most 'black' people today are light to deep brown skinned, and most 'white' people are pink, light brown or yellow toned. Neither is really black nor really white. Does anyone believe that this incorrect colour based classificiation is primitive and only speaks about cross-cultural ignorance in modern America?

Answer 1

I don't think primitive is the decisive factor here. The terms are used to confirm or reject racial identity, and to my knowledge are sometimes used with a certain pride associated with belonging to either a 'white' or 'black' community. The exact degree of 'whiteness', 'blackness', or 'purpleness' for that matter, seems totally immaterial in discussions about racial issues, it all depends on a perceived sense of belonging.

Primitive as this classification may seem, it conceals a powerful and intricate social connotation that is not as easily interpreted as the simple use of the terms black and white may suggest. Rather than skin colour, it refers to concepts such as cultural background, social stratification, everyday living conditions etc. This construct is illustrated in the movie Cry Freedom, where Denzel Washington, playing the part of South-African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, takes the stand during a trial and very cleverly lures the South-African judge into a debate about the terms black and white, only to prove that in reality these terms have nothing to do with actual skin colour, but refer to an arbitrary social classification system that separates the governing minority from the rest of the nation.

Answer 2

Personally i dont see why it should matter