# Is "Negro" a racist term? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 21, 2002, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072 "2002-07-21T07:31:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/41 "2002-07-24T20:28:39Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by DesertGeezer \* > \*\*But what about Negress? Many years ago, when I read Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer I was a little shocked by that term, which he used as if it were common in the 1930’s. I was struck, because it seemed a word befitting a subhuman species, as in lion_ess\* or tigr_ess_.\*\* You don’t have to look to the animal kingdom for examples this feminine suffix, some of them now outdated: poetess, authoress, sculptress, actress, hostess, princess, duchess, countess, baroness, adultress, murderess, patroness, stewardess, waitress, peeress, postmistress, songstress, temptress ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@Belowjob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/42 "2002-07-24T21:11:07Z")
But shouldn’t the feminine of “Negro” be “Shegro”? Just a thought. ---
**Author:** ![ElJeffe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@ElJeffe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElJeffe)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/43 "2002-07-24T22:20:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > Nevertheless, there is no “PC” rule agains the word black. The perception that black might violate some rule of PC (even if anyone chooses to live their life directed by Political Correctness) is simply a notion fostered by people who are ignorant. \*\* Maybe in your area this is true, but it’s be no means true everywhere. In the college community from whence I came, using the word “black” is sure to get you condemned as ignorant at best, racist at worst. I was once given a sermon by one of roommates on the preferred terms for various minority groups. “African American” for blacks, “Innuit” for Eskimos (even though “Innuit” refers to only one specific tribe of Eskimos - it’s kinda like calling all American Indians “Cherokees”), and so on. I agree that it’s stupid, but that doesn’t make it less prevalent. Can you remember the last time you read a mainstream paper and saw them use “black people”? I sure can’t. Jeff ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@Belowjob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/44 "2002-07-24T23:19:30Z")
Unfortunately, there isn’ t a good term for native born Americans of African ancestry who have descended from the Colonial era population. “African- American” is both inaccurate and grandiose, an awful bureaucrat-speak term that I never, ever use. “Black” is better, but a bit broad, bc it lumps together too many different historical and cultural backgrounds. “Black American” is better still, but it doesn’t distinguish between newly naturalized citizens and natives whose American ancestry stretches back 300 years. The indigenous peoples of the Great Plains called our mililtary men “Buffalo soldiers”. I like the term “Buffalo people,” or “Buffalo nation,” since we’re as American as that noble animal, and as strong. Somehow, I don’t think this usage will catch on. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/45 "2002-07-25T05:09:37Z")
I was once asked, by a community leader in an impoverished neighborhood in Cleveland where I used to teach, if I knew the origin of the word _Negro_. I said it’s Spanish or Portuguese for ‘black’. Wrong, I was told in all seriousness. _Negro_ was a code word deliberately coined to keep black people down. It was actually an abbreviation for “Never grow.” ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/46 "2002-07-25T06:18:09Z")
> [@](#): > > Maybe in your area this is true, but it’s be no means true everywhere. In the college community from whence I came, using the word “black” is sure to get you condemned as ignorant at best, racist at worst. Was that for the whole college? Or just your department or dorm? Small groups of ignorant people can set up rules anywhere they can get an audience. However, the last few times that Gallup or Harris asked the black community their preferred name, “black” got over 60% of the vote. At every place I have been employed for the last ten years (since “African American” was introduced), the black employees have all identified themselves as"black". Every manual of style that I have seen for journalists or universities accepts “black” as a legitimate word–and several specifically address the sort of situation that you originally brought up, saying that “black” is the best word (if ethnic background _must_ be mentioned) for people outside the U.S. Here is talk given by [Spike Lee](http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/slee.html). In this talk he uses both African American and black several times. I do ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/47 "2002-07-25T19:24:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Belowjob \* > **Incognegro.** Wow, I haven’t heard that in years, and good luck to a non-black person using it. Tom~ alluded to the preference of black people themselves and that’s an important distinction from what non-black people should use in reference to black people. I’m not sure if the poll meant how black people self-identify or how they prefer everyone to refer to them. As I mentioned above, _within_ the black community at school a number of terms were used which would not have gone over well had a non-black person (specifically a white person) used them. Anecdotally, I was at a gathering recently of all white women in a rural area where got up and commented on a speech she had seen by a Native American woman (I would use her tribe name but it wasn’t mentioned). She said that the speaker discounted to furor over Indian/Native American/etc. and said, 'Call us Indian, that’s what we’ve all been called all this time and its what we identify with." I didn’t rebut this with the idea that no one person speaks for everyone in a group but I’m hoping folks knew this. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/48 "2002-07-25T20:42:08Z")
> [@](#): > > 'Call us Indian, that’s what we’ve all been called all this time and its what we identify with." With the single exception of the former poster, **Phaedrus** , this has been my experience with the descendants of pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas. Russell Means and most of the other current and former leaders of AIM seem to use the word _indian_ most frequently. **RTFirefly** provided an anecdote on Fathom from [Tony Hillerman at a Smithsonian-sponsored panel on Native issues](http://fff.fathom.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=165794#post165794) that supported that notion, as well. If I encounter someone who _is_ a member of the group called indian/Native American/First Peoples I will use the terminology that they prefer, but I am not going to use “Native American” in my conversations until I see some indication that a majority of them prefer that phrase. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2002, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/49 "2002-07-26T01:35:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Walloon \* > \*\*You don’t have to look to the animal kingdom for examples this feminine suffix, some of them now outdated: poetess, authoress, sculptress, actress, hostess, princess, duchess, countess, baroness, adultress, murderess, patroness, stewardess, waitress, peeress, postmistress, songstress, temptress \*\* Interesting point, **Walloon** , and I’m ashamed that I never even thought of those examples. But you must admit that since the feminist revolution, most words using the “ess” suffix have been dropped from common usage because they spark almost as much reaction from some females as any of the above-mentioned “n” words do among (what word shall I use?) er, blacks. By the way, isn’t a walloon a balloon you rub on your shirt and stick to a wall? Just curious. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/50 "2002-07-30T04:24:16Z")
First off, I’m a white guy. Most people I know, black and white, use “black” in casual conversation when referring to those whose can trace their ancestry back to central Africa. In writing, I tend to bounce back and forth between “black” and “African-American.” If I’m writing about something that addresses only blacks, I’ll use “African-American.” If it’s regarding both the melanin-enhanced and melanin-challenged, I use “black” and “white.” Those using “people of color” tend to be whites whose political orientation is far left of center, and females more often than not. I found that locally newspapers catering to a city’s black population capitalize racial designations, using “Black” and “White” instead of “black” and “white.” In Buffalo, the term “colored” is still in common usage among many Polish-Americans and older ethnics. What’s an “ethnic?” In Buffalo, it was someone who is Polish, Italian or Irish. If you’re white but of English, German, Swedish or French heritage, you aren’t “ethnic.” Blacks don’t live in “neighborhoods.” They live in “communities.” It’s supposedly impolite to refer to a “black neighborhood,” because it sounds one step removed from “ghetto.” I grew up in a part of Buffalo called Kensington. As the area’s population changed from predominantly white to predominantly black, the media and local officials stopped referring to “the Kensington neighborhood” and instead referred to “the Kensington community.” Buffalo’s East Side is not a collection of “black neighborhoods,” but rather “black communities.” New Mexico didn’t have a large black population. When I lived there, whites weren’t “white” … nobody used the term. Folks were divided into one of two camps, “Anglo” and “Hispanic.” Hispanics didn’t think of themselves as “white,” but they were Causacian. Recently I’ve been told that “Hispanic” is now considered offensive, and that the polite term to refer to those who can trace their heritage to Spanish-speaking countries in North and South America is “Latino.” Why is “Hispanic” offensive? Because the term was supposedly coined by Anglos; it has a fairly sharp, blunt sound about it that seems naturally derogatory in tone, and the word rhymes with “spic.” Really. I give up. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/51 "2002-07-30T06:28:31Z")
I agree with those who say intent is the key to whether any word is racist or not. Some people will be insulted no matter what you say. Others (most, I suspect) are aware that, with a few exceptions, words themselves are not racist but some speakers are. Intent may be a little harder to discern in the written word than in the spoken, because of the lack of visual and aural cues. That really depends upon the skill of the writer. Unfortunately, some writers are less adept than others at conveying goodwill, even if that is their intent. You just have to expect that you won’t get it across to everyone, no matter which words you choose. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/52 "2014-11-06T14:46:19Z")
[Consciously bumping a zombie thread to see if responses have changed over a decade.] As a 50 year old New England guy, I never realized that a few/some/many/all viewed the term negro as pejorative. I knew it was somewhat antiquated, but I never knew it was viewed as racist. Is this universally the case today? The Army is taking hits over this term now. [CNN Artile on Army’s use of the term ‘Negro’](http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/05/politics/army-says-word-negro-ok-to-use/index.html?hpt=hp_t2) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/53 "2014-11-06T16:11:33Z")
> [@Hayduke\_Lives](#): > > I’ve noticed that on old shows like Dragnet that blacks are refered to as “Negros”. If someone were to use that term today, would it be considered a racist term? It wasn’t seen as a racist term in 1960- indeed, at the time, that was seen as the progressive term. Today, it’s outdated. Is it seen as “racist”? Sort of, but a lot depends on who says it and and in what context. If there were an elderly liberal white judge or Senator who used the term “Negro,” most black Americans would probably cut him some slack, figuring he’s just set in his ways and didn’t mean any offense. But it CAN come across as crude and racist. And SOMETIMES, you can tell it was meant that way. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/54 "2014-11-06T16:15:19Z")
I’m white and young and it’s been pejorative all my life. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/55 "2014-11-06T16:28:46Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > [Consciously bumping a zombie thread to see if responses have changed over a decade.] > > As a 50 year old New England guy, I never realized that a few/some/many/all viewed the term negro as pejorative. I knew it was somewhat antiquated, but I never knew it was viewed as racist. Is this universally the case today? > > The Army is taking hits over this term now. > > [CNN Artile on Army’s use of the term ‘Negro’](http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/05/politics/army-says-word-negro-ok-to-use/index.html?hpt=hp_t2) Well, sometimes these things get complicated. I was born in 1961. In the early Sixties, as I said, “Negro” was considered the respectful, progressive term, whereas whites who referred to “the Coloreds” were obviously bigots. But in the Eighties, “people of color” was, for a few years, one of the preferred, progressive terms. I remember that Berke Breathed of “Bloom County” fame, had some hilarious strips in which Steve Dallas tried unsuccessfully to convince his white trash Mom that there was a huge difference between “colored people” and “people of color.” I still tend to use the term “black” rather than “African-American.” For that matter, so do most of the black people I know. But is it possible that my use of “black” will eventually mark me as a crotchety old white guy, just as “Negro” does to some much older people? Who knows? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/56 "2014-11-06T17:23:26Z")
My grandmother used the term coloreds all her life. But she was born in 1900 and grew up when that was the normal polite word to use. Negro used to also be a normal polite word. But it’s now as outdated as colored. If you’re seventy years old you might be able to get away with it. Otherwise, you’re being a dick. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/57 "2014-11-06T17:27:44Z")
It’s an antiquated term like “colored.” We no longer refer to ourselves as “Negro” so it would be uncomfortable for another person who is not Black/African American to do so. If making people uncomfortable or calling unwanted attention to yourself is not a major concern, then using the word to describe others probably isn’t going to be a problem for some people. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/58 "2014-11-06T18:52:41Z")
I recall a couple of months in my teenhood when “Afro-American” was the in vogue term. There was a story going around about a recruit who, during a lecture on field sanitation, decided to state that he was offended by the instructor’s use of the word “chigger” to describe some small insect that caused itching. From then on, among both the training cadre and the other recruits, that recruit’s nickname was “Chegro”. ---
**Author:** ![DinoR](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dinor/32/2821_2.png) [@DinoR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DinoR)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/59 "2014-11-06T19:03:37Z")
The term Negro was included on the 2010 [census form](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/us-stopping-use-term-negro-census-surveys) (now dropped). Some self identified that way in the 2000 census despite having to write it in. Dwindling numbers self identifying that way and the backlash gives a clear indication of the connotation for current usage. > [@](#): > > In the 2000 census, about 50,000 people specifically wrote in the word Negro when asked how they wished to be identified. By 2010, unpublished census data provided to the AP show that number had declined to roughly 36,000. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072/60 "2014-11-07T01:22:49Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > [Consciously bumping a zombie thread to see if responses have changed over a decade.] Twelve years do make a difference. I was recently chided for re-asserting the point I made, here, that Negro was old fashioned, but not offensive. The poster who addressed me found more recent polls that indicated that there were a number of people who did find it offensive. (Back in 2002, I actually knew a couple of ladies who preferred Negro, although I suspect that, as old as they were then, they may well have died in the ensuing years, eliminating the last people who actually did prefer it.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-negro-a-racist-term/120072.md?page=4)