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Semantics of race

Semantics of race
18.July.2019

"Kevin and Holly: Is it the word that makes one go hmm or ah? Colored people > Negro > Black > Afro-American > African-American > People-of-color ... they don't always mean the same thing but my grandmother from Pennsylvania used "colored people", my older cousin was brought up with "nigger", I was brought up with "negro". In Costa Rica I use moreno. I can't say what is/was the proper usage in Tennessee or Texas. I haven't lived in either places. Words change meaning though time and place and carry cultural trappings. I have lived in various places at various times. I haven't recently checked with the Keepers of Political-Correct Speech. Here in Montana we have very few non-White people. We are Very White. 6% is Native American (another term that has morphed). What few black and brown faces one sees here are Latinx (in Spanish, the proper term these days), the next generation of Hmong, or African students and some African-Americans (recent immigrants not Southern, not the descendants of slaves). Houston is multi-cultural (perhaps 9% undocumented) and Knoxville is 17% black or whatever the 2019 proper Tennessee term may be. There is more to discussion about racism than mere semantics. Like ... who your friends and family are, what experiences you've had through life, and how you interact with people who are different (not merely the black/white "divide")."

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