If it is, I know a whole lot of Spanish speakers who are in for a world of trouble. They better come up with a new way to describe the color black.
While the origin of the English term is the Spanish word, they do not quite have the same meaning (one would not describe a black dress as being negro, in English) and do not have the same pronunciation. They’re related words, but different ones.
If “African-American” becomes unacceptable some day, what word should it be replaced with?
If that ever becomes the case, the ‘replacement’ terms will already be in wide use. That’s how language changes over time – some terms become archaic, but if some descriptor is still needed by the language, another term will have taken its place.
Actually, when I was a kid, a lot of the Puerto Ricans I knew referred to African-Americans not as “los negros” (the blacks) but as “los morenos” (the browns).
Interestingly, we have a park nearby where I live named Negro Bar:
Lake Natoma includes the historic Negro Bar area in Folsom, the site of a gold rush era African-American mining camp.
However, down-river there is an area formerly known as Goethe Park (still called that by many out of habit), which was renamed to River Bend Parkin 2008. This park was named after C.W. Goethe:
Charles M. Goethe (1875–1966) was an American eugenicist, entrepreneur, land developer, philanthropist, conservationist, founder of the Eugenics Society of Northern California, and a native and lifelong resident of Sacramento, California.
Seems odd to rename the one park named after someone considered racist, but still accept what some would today consider a racist term for the name of another, nearby park.
There is a big difference if you believe in the thinking underlying person-first language. Not everyone does–or even when they do think person-first language accomplishes something, not everyone thinks it’s always the right sort of accomplishment–but it’s not just a made-up difference.
The Bloom County strips in question:
http://www.thecomicstrips.com/subject/The-Color-Comic-Strips-by-Bloom+County.php
#5
Viewable Date: 1989-01-29 Pub. Date: 1989-01-29
Image Number: 86463
#8
Pub. Date: 1988-08-28
Image Number: 85999
Is it just me, or is “people of color” making a huge comeback right now? I hear it all the time. I hope it goes away soon, because it strikes me as a really awkward and stilted phrasing.
I don’t think person-first language ever really went away in academic writing. I could be wrong about that, but it’s my impression that it never went away.
People of color is a term like LGBT that attempts to encompass a bunch of different groups under one umbrella. People of color does not mean African-Americans, or even black people.
People of color, of course, means “non white” without putting an emphasis on whiteness as a characteristic.
When the “people of color” issue came up in discussions, I always figured that it would be better to call white folks “colorless.”
And it’s not even really about skin color. There are many, many “people of color” who are lighter skinned than many Europeans. Is a Japanese person a “person of color”? I think the best definition of that term would be: people who are perceived in the US as being not of mostly European heritage. But even that doesn’t really work, since the current head of the NAACP is 80% of European heritage. While the “one drop rule” is no longer in effect, perhaps we have the “few drops rule” now.
Former head. The new President/CEO is Cornell William Brooks.
Thanks. My info is outdated!
He’s still black, though, right? 
Not at all. It’s the difference between ceasing to honor someone dishonorable, and catering to mere linguistic presentism.
From my discussion with my “black friends” ™, it seems like the term Negro has passed though the “antiquated but tolerable if you’re over 70” stage and into the “no” stage.
Tanned ones, literally, and in origin said as a joke . The brown ones would be los marrones.
I think colored, negro, and even darkie have had turns at being the non-pejorative word for black. Darky as an acceptable non-pejorative word was among pre-civil war abolitionists.
[QUOTE=Random House Kernerman Webster’s College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.]
n., pl. dark•ies.
usage: This term, though rarely used today, is perceived as patronizing, demeaning, or insulting. Its earliest uses in English show that it was a neutral, informal term, but its degree of offensiveness has increased.
—n.
[/QUOTE]
A racist usage is one that by intent or by general understanding is about demeaning someone’s race. Dragnet wasn’t a particularly racially sensitive show but its usage of negro was intended to be a neutral,descriptive term.
Using antiquated terms about race outside of period piece plays or television is to be avoided I think because it be hard to know what one’s intention in doing so would be. People caught up in time travel vortexs should likely be cut some slack until they get oriented.
The invalid assumption here is that just because someone was an abolitionist, they weren’t racist.