This is how Ice Speed introduced the thread about names for blacks:
"I am starting this post because I foolishley used the term African American, which is an improper name for blacks. The term black refers more to skin color than race/ethnicity so I dont really like that term. Personally, I like the term Negro, but it is considered a derogatory term nowdays. It is the proper scientific term and nothing negative is meant by it, so why can't it be used."
Earlier on in this thread, in reply to Col. Reb, I wrote: "The names for blacks threads is about how what whites are supposed to callblacks seems to change periodically. At least that's the way I interpreted it."
That's still the way I see it. That thread wasn't about listing the many slurs for blacks that everyone knows, it was about the proper term to refer to them that isn't derogatory.
We could easily have a thread about names for the white race that would be in a similar vein, and maybe we will one of these days. For example, I don't like the word "Caucasian" used as a name for whites. To me it's an unattractive word, yet many people use it for whites and not in a negative way or as a slur. In fact, I know racially conscious whites who use it as their preferred term. Other people call whites European Americans or Euro Americansor Euros. "Anglos," which Ithink is silly,is popular among hispanics. Then you have other names like Nordic, Aryan, Alpine, Mediterranean, Indo-European, and many others.
The wordNegro isequivalent tothe word Caucasian. It is, as Ice Speed states,the name for a specific race of people and is what blacks were called traditionally, along with colored, and still are to some degree, just as whites are sometimes called Caucasians. You seem to think it is a slur or name calling, but I don't and I don't believe that is the general perception of it.It may not be politically incorrectbut itis the "n-word" derivative of Negro that is the infamous slur. And while the name of the thread may lead some to think that it is about name calling, all they have to do is read the actual posts to see that it isn't. And if they read the material on the site and on the board to any degree they'll realize that we argue our positions without using racial slurs.Edited by: Don Wassall