US 2010 Census: Do you consider the word "Negro" to be a racial slur?

[Kerry]

Robert Groves

US 2010 Census:
Do you consider the word Negro  to be a racial slur?

In TIME magazine this week (South Pacific April 5 edition), the US Census director answered 10 questions from TIME readers.

This question was submitted by Matthew Thacker of Bowling Green, Ohio:

"Why is the word Negro - considered by many to be a racial slur - used in the race section?"

Robert Groves responded:

"Before the 2000 Census,there were a set of studies that queried how people would self-classify racially. One of the discoveries was that there was an aging cohort of African Americans who [used] Negro.  For this reason, in the 2000 form, the word was used. The check box had the label Black, African American or Negro.  There were about 50,000 people who checked the box and also wrote in Negro.  We inferred that they felt pretty strongly about [using that word] to describe themselves. We analyzed that group, and to our surprise, half of them were under 45. That was a finding."

What's your view?

[Sheriff Roland]

Even though I do not see the 'slur' part of the 'negro' word, the question is not whether I prefer some other options, as the answer list offers ...

So, simply said, I don't think it's a slur and no other options ought to have been offered. Yes or No - or no opinion.

There are limits to political correctness.

IMO

[serious crayons]

I'm not the ideal judge, but I don't see it as a slur. I do see the term as dated, though. To say it without irony seems not so much racist as clueless, as if someone hasn't kept up with the race conversation since the early '60s.

An acquaintance recently used the term "mulatto" without irony, which I thought also sounded dated and clueless. I'd go with "biracial."

The best non-race analogy I can think of is, when I was married, if someone would refer to me as Mrs. (husband's first name) (husband's last name). When in fact I kept my maiden name, didn't go by Mrs., and would never use my husband's whole name as a substitute for my own. To say it that way is not exactly sexist but, Dude, where have you been?

[Monika]

It´s not a word that I would use. Sounds old-fashioned and racist to me.

[Kelda]

This sort of profiling is good thought I think. It allows for positive discrimation and for organisations/ local authorities to profile what their communities look like and therefore what type of service etc they need to offer.

I always tend to answer tha bit, I have nothing to hide.

That said, i don'ty like the word negro personally, as buffy said, it seems very old fashioned.

I chose Black because the african american thing always confuses me. What if you're not american? or are not from african heritage?

[CellarDweller]

I remember seeing an episode of "All in the Family" years ago.  The Jefferson's son (Lionel) was arguing with an older uncle, and the uncle used the word Negro.  Lionel corrected him by saying "Black, uncle".  The reply was.

"Forgive me....it took me a long time to go from 'nigger' to 'negro'.  Give me some time to go from 'negro' to 'black'."

I always took the word negro to be a slur to some degree.  Not quite as bad as nigger, but a slur none the less.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Negro is no more a slur than is Caucasian.

[serious crayons]

Negro is no more a slur than is Caucasian.

Caucasian isn't exactly free of racist subtext, itself.

From Wikipedia:

Caucasian race

The term Caucasian race(or Caucasoid, sometimes also Europid, or Europoid[1]) denotes the race or phenotypes of some or all of the indigenous human populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia.[2][3]  The classification has been used in scientific racism, a concept that asserts the superiority of one race over another.[citation needed]

In common use in American English, the term "Caucasian" (rarely supplemented with the word "race") is sometimes restricted to Europeans and other lighter-skinned populations within these areas, and may be considered equivalent to the varying definitions of white people. The term continues to be widely used in many scientific and general contexts, usually with its more restricted sense of "white", specifically White American in a US context.

Origin of the concept
The Georgian skull Blumenbach discovered in 1795 to hypothesize origination of Europeans from the Caucasus.

The concept of a Caucasian race or Varietas Caucasia was developed around 1800 by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, a German scientist and early anthropologist. Blumenbach named it after the peoples of the Caucasus (from the Caucasus region), whom he considered to be the archetype for the grouping. He based his classification of the Caucasian race primarily on craniology. Blumenbach wrote:

    "Caucasian variety—I have taken the name of this variety from Mount Caucasus, both because its neighborhood, and especially its southern slope, produces the most beautiful race of men, I mean the Georgian; and because all physiological reasons converge to this, that in that region, if anywhere, it seems we ought with the greatest probability to place the autochthones (birth place) of mankind."

[Marina]

I would have to say a qualified "No".   For me, the word is antiquated and has too much of an association with that other, terrible word; so I was surprised to read that a number of people self-identify as it, and they are under 45 years of age.  Who am I to argue?  I tend to defer to the person and how they would want to be perceived, and would be happy in a world where labels and classifications were not necessary.   In all my years on the planet, I have found that people are not so different.   Some people may draw pride and strength from that word and its history.    That said, sometimes people can go too far with the PC-ness; even the color black can be misconstrued as offensive when it's not being used that way, in any way.  The word has many definitions and associations, and race is just one; a benign color is another.   It's all about the intent, how the word is used.   That other word even sounds terrible to the ear, aggressive and harsh.  I am interested in history and the world's cultures; and they are exquisitely beautiful and complex, no matter where they originate.  For something such as taking a census, it's benign.     It even took me a long time to feel comfortable with the word "Queer" from which some of my friends also draw strength and pride.

"Caucasian" is a very broad category, and I believe some Georgian people, and that entire Caucasus area, can trace a history to the Middle East and ancient Persia?   Beautiful.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Caucasian isn't exactly free of racist subtext, itself.

Are any of these terms free of racism?

Have I missed something (which is probable)? Has anyone seen an explanation as to why the U.S. Census Bureau is still categorizing people by race in the first place?

Is this just something carried forward since 1790, when these categories were necessary for calculating representation (because under the Constitution as adopted, a "Negro" only counted as a fraction of a person)?