I want to say right off the bat, this post is strictly about using certain terms that are true to your characters, NOT about political correctness.
I grew up in the seventies. They taught us in school (and probably at home) that the word negro was out, and we should use the word black. While I know that African-American is politically correct now, it does not roll off my tongue easily. For no other reason than I have always used the word black.
I have noticed that in books written by black authors, the characters refer to themselves as black, not so often as African-American. This term seems to be reserved for white writers and their white characters who refer to black characters. Like I was just reading a book where the writer had the teen character say, “Our principal is African-American.” Interestingly, and somewhat to my annoyance, the writer also had this character point out the Latinos, Asian-Americans etc. while never once saying, “She was white” when introducing a new Caucasian character, but that’s an entirely different post, so let’s not go there right now.
So my question is, are writers having white (or non African-Americans) use A-A because it’s politically correct, or because that is the term that teens use today? Are you a teen or do you have a teen? What would you/they say? And how does my (adult) black character refer to himself? Does he call himself black, or A-A?
The reason I’m asking is that my new MC has grown up in a predominantly white world and she makes friends with a black man and she contemplates her thoughts on race. I’m just wondering if it is more natural for her to think/say, “I’ve never had any black friends before.” or “I’ve never had any African-American friends before.” I want to be true to the character, not to political correctness.
Any thoughts?
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.
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…
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.
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