Comments on: Staying True to Your Character

By: Taylor

Taylor — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:17:42 +0000

I’m a white freshman in college, and I usually say black, unless I am with people who I feel I need to be more PC around– employers, teachers, etc. With regards tot he previous poster’s comment on latin and asian people, I find that I generally use countries of origin more often because the people I know of these races generally are more recent immigrants, or are not even american citizens. So, if I were to meet a black person who was a recent immigrant, I would probably describe them by their country of origin, rather than describing them as black, and my friend who is Korean but was adopted and so has no real connection to Korea is just asian, not Korean. Also, with regards to the phrase African American, how do I know that a black person isn’t from, say, Haiti? And how do I describe a black guy from England? I just say black. Most of my friends do the same.

By: Robin

Robin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:25:41 +0000

Joelle, I have daughters (sophomore and senior in college) and have spent quite a bit of time with their crew—have never heard them or their friends refer to others or themselves as AA…it’s always black. I’ve never heard them use black derisively either…people are just black or white…however, if they’re referring to Hispanic friends they’ll usually do so specifically…latin (for cuban),mexican, puerto rican,belizian…seems more related to country of origin…and if they’re asian the same seems to be true…korean, vietnamese, chinese, etc African American seems to be more of an adult descriptor…plus they’re pretty economical about language and they just won’t use two words when one will do…

By: James

James — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:05:28 +0000

Hey Joelle,
Interesting dilemma! Dependeing on the environment or situation that I am in, I have used both terminology(black or AA). It also depends on whom I am speaking to. Most often, even speaking to white friends, I will use the term black. When speaking to someone I don’t know, black or white, I might use African American. One of my black friends who has a PhD refers to blacks as ‘of African American decent’. I don’t know if this is helpful, but just my thoughts.

By: Kristin Tubb

Kristin Tubb — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:32:26 +0000

Hi, Joelle! This is an interesting post, and one that I struggle with as a writer of historical fiction (we are all products of our time!). I always come back to my character, and what would suit them best. It sounds as if your mc doesn’t have a lot of A-A friends. If that’s the case, she’d likely refer to her new friend as “African American,” as this is what she’s probably seen in the media. Just my opinion, of course! Great post.
-Kristin Tubb