Writing, Illustrating & Publishing > Research
Current PC words to describe different races
Lill:
I live in Texas, just a few hours from the Mexican border. Whites are often referred to as Anglos. Hispanic is a more common word than latino or latina here. Mexican or Mexicano are also used. The language and statistics from my city's 2010 census is as follows: 59.7% Hispanic/Latino/Spanish, 33.3% white, 3.9% African American, 1.8% Asian. (I didn't include the statistics on Native American, Pacific Islander, Mixed Race, etc.)
LeslieG:
A friend of ours is a graduate student in an African American Studies department, which she regularly refers to as Afram. Don't know how widespread that usage is, though.
Joni:
I read something somewhere that there are regional variances, so that what's perfectly acceptable and common in one part of the US is seen as offensive elsewhere. (Which is probably true on an individual basis as well, I suppose.)
One example I know of is that, while as Lil notes, Hispanic is still very common in some places, all the people who would meet that description whom I know personally in the Northwest find it mildly offensive and prefer Latino/Latina.
Are YOU from Michigan? I'd say just go with your best assessment of what's common there and maybe plan to discuss it with your editor (who, most likely being a New Yorker, may have a different take) later.
MysteryRobin:
As an aside, I was talking to a man once with a thick Spanish accent and he referenced his country, so I referred to him being "hispanic" - I got a very informative lecture after that about how one is not hispanic if one is from Spain. He was deeply offended, but very kind about and wanted very much to educate me on the subject. ;)
andracill:
Well, that's interesting to know. Even though many of the Latinos around here are from Mexico, calling them 'Mexicans' is definitely considered derogatory. So I guess I'll start by asking my aunt from MI (though I'm not sure she pays attention to such things), since it looks like Latino isn't preferred, either.
I will mention the specific Asian countries, as well -- thanks so much for all the information, folks! I appreciate it :)
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version