IMHO firing a journalist for using the word colored in a news promo seems unjustified. Yes he should be counseled to use African-American or Black instead.
I was taught to use the term colored by my parents and teachers. We used that term in our American history textbooks & classes. It was preferred over Negro. Heck the NAACP uses colored instead of Negro.
African-American became common in the 70’s and I switched to that word in high school. We had a African-American studies club at my high school. It was primarily black students studying their cultural heritage. It’s still commonly used today. Black is also commonly used.
Context is everything in referring to race. A rant against Senator Harris could easily be seen as racist regardless of the term that’s used.
I agree colored is a bit out dated. But should a journalist get fired for using it in a news promo? He was reporting a historical fact. Senator Harris is the first Black VP candidate in US history.
Well, her bio page on the US Senate website refers to her as, “the second African-American woman and first South Asian-American senator”. I assume she had a hand in writing or editing that bio so I take that as an indication of her preference.
And her bio on the Biden election website refers to her as “the first Black and Indian American woman to represent California in the United States Senate”. So I see no sign that she’s favoring “colored person”.
I could understand firing the guy if this was a hot mike situation.
I can’t see a person deliberately risking their career by using a outdated and possibly racist term in a news promo. He may have been a clueless idiot. I wouldn’t fire someone for that. Maybe suspend him two weeks without pay.
People make stupid mistakes. He wouldn’t make this one again.
A bit outdated? How about extremely outdated and, today, the baggage it carries is usage by racists. Should a journalist who uses that term today be fired? Yes.
The reason the NAACP uses the term is because that was the term current for Black when the organization was formed. It seems to me there are valid arguments for the organization to change its name but also valid arguments for it to retain its historical name. While their name is still the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, I do not recall their using the term colored to refer to their membership in recent memory other than in the organization’s name.
The term Colored was in my junior high US American History textbooks in the early 70’s.
I was in high school before African American became commonly used. My college textbooks were updated with the newer word.
That wasn’t exactly ancient times. The Rolling Stones are still touring. Whenever Covid goes away. Jimmy Carter is still building houses. The 70’s aren’t that long ago.
I had never heard that the word had transitioned from obsolete to racist.
So the textbooks you used 45-50 years ago used the term (and who knows when the books were written). Is it possible that things might have changed in those four or five decades since?
The Rolling Stones are still touring. Whenever Covid goes away. Jimmy Carter is still building houses. The 70’s aren’t that long ago.