Is the word "Negro" a racial slur?
By clrumfelt
@clrumfelt (5597)
Tennessee Ridge, Tennessee
December 29, 2008 8:04am CST
When I was younger, the word Negro was more commonly used of black people, but not in a negative way. It never occured to me of Negro being associated with racially charged words until just recently. I only thought it was a word that had gone out of style. What are your thoughts on this?
1 person likes this
5 responses
@redyellowblackdog (10629)
• United States
29 Dec 08
Your remberance of the word, "negro" is correct. As to it becoming something with a negative connotation, the explanation is probably that there are persons perpetually looking for a reason to be offended. Since that other "N" word is seldom in use by whites anymore, this new "N" word might be the best they can come up with to justify feeling offended these days.
1 person likes this
@clrumfelt (5597)
• Tennessee Ridge, Tennessee
7 Jan 09
I think you're right some people are looking for ways to be offended. Sometimes they are looking for an excuse for their frustrations or a way to not have to take responsibility for their circumstances by blaming something else. In my opinion the word "Negro" is a classification rather than a slur, just as the word "Caucasian" is a classification.
@AnakSuNamun (2084)
• United States
29 Dec 08
Yes,it can be used as derogative towards African-Americans and I think that while it might be more refined and correct "black" sounds better. I haven't seen many people who would get upset with word "black",they actually use it on themselves.
One thing I never understood was why "Indian" is bad and "Native American" is ok to use? I don't see anything wrong with the 1st word but,I guess,native Americans do. Or was it just sensitive white people who prohibited that?
1 person likes this
@clrumfelt (5597)
• Tennessee Ridge, Tennessee
29 Dec 08
Thanks for your comments. I think you are right. ANY racially related word can be offensive depending on the attidude with which it is said. We'd all be better off if we paid attention to attitudes rather than the terms themselves.
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
29 Dec 08
I thought it was more of a description of color, like calling us the White race and since Caucasian was sometimes hard to spell, it made no sense to now keep calling Negroes, Negroes, so we now called them Black. It was more used as a compliment when I read stories where one of more of the characters were black, and they used the racial epithet Ni**er or C**n as an insult even then. But if they were polite or wanted to treat the character decently, they would call a man, a Negro gentleman, or a person of color and that gave some distinctive to the name. So the term was not in insult. it distinguished him from the white gentleman.
@sirnose (2436)
• United States
29 Dec 08
No, the word "Negro" is not a racial slur maybe a dated discription of people of color but not offensive as the other "N" word is...You are right that was the term America use to depict blacks,colored folks as they were also called,but today we say African Americans and with our 1st African American President in this new century look like we are starting to turn away from the racial divide...Thank God for that...
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
29 Dec 08
I think it depends on the area of the country you're in and the age of the person. Down here in south Florida the elderly blacks refer to themselves and each other mostly as "negro" but the younger ones prefer "black". When I lived near Washington, D.C. "black" was the preferred terminology but I never ran into anyone who was insulted by the word "negro" and I worked in a very racially diverse environmnet at a community college.
