How insulting is Colored (vs. African American)

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I assume you don't like it because you're not from Africa, which makes perfect sense. But how is someone supposed to know that? Are there noticeable differences in features or skin color?

No, there usually aren't features and skin color differences.

She and all other people of the African diaspora will just have to take it on a case-by-case basis. Being Jamaican or Brazilian, for example, are not racial designations. Black and African American are pretty standard. People can specify their cultural or ethnic designations from there. Black and African American are the least offensive and least nitpicky of the category labels, as far as I'm concerned. They originated for a reason.

Originally Posted by 33girl

This makes me think of an old WWII propaganda poster I saw once, the jist of which was "how to tell a Chinese person from a Japanese person so you're not unnecessarily mean to the Chinese person since it's not them we're pissed off at."

I consider that different than "Black people" from all over the globe. Chinese and Japanese are not only culturally but ethnically distinct within the "Asian" racial category. I can usually tell the difference because the different Asian ethnicities tend to have different physical features.

Does anyone remember the martial arts film "Chinese vs. Japanese?" Great film. A lot of people didn't know there WAS a difference before that film was released in America.