Genuinely confused, what is the 'correct' term for someone with dark skin- black or coloured?

[ilikeyoursleeves]

This is a genuine question as I really don't know what is 'PC' regards this. I was describing someone today and called them 'black' and someone said 'You can't say that, it's 'coloured''. To which I said that I was being in no way racist or whatever, it was just a description so they knew who I was talking about!

I am mixed race myself, and descibe myself as mixed race, and I am not racist in any way at all, although I do hate people describing me as 'different'

So just wondering what term I should be using and if we use the 'wrong' term does that insinuate that we are racist in some way? I hope not!

The correct definition in current pc terms is 'person of colour'.

'Black' sounds harsh though has been pc for the last 20 years and is still way better than coloured.

In America it's 'coloured' though.

My DH and his family all refer to themselves as Black people and would see the term coloured as offensive.

Mostly all of the black people I work with refer to other black people as coloured and are not offended by the term for themselves (or to obviously use it for others)

They even use half-caste.

I have asked what their preferences are and the replies were "couldnt bloody care less"

Where did you get that defintion from Laurie as it is highly offensive but used in America.

with increasing numbers of Southern Africans living in the UK (those on Zimbabwean and South African passports alone are reported to be close to 1 million.........and that doesn't include those who came here on British passports, or have since got British citizenship) I wouldn't be too sure about the indicators.

I think it goes without saying that calling a black person coloured is out of the question - no matter where they're from.

But coloured with regards to mixed race - not quite so clear cut imo

But call my DS's black and I'll get p*ssed off

African American if they are a yank.
Black seems to be the acceptable term in the UK.

Tocca, why would you want to encourage an outdated racist term to describe your children?

I realise you will probably not agree with that comment and I certainly don't wish to offend you.

coloured to describe a black person - wrong

coloured to describe a mixed race person - check with them first.

It's not offensive to me, that's what they are - coloured, their father is a black Zimbabwean, I am a white Brit, they are coloured (or as their older cousin described them the other day goffal ownes)

Coloured is not acceptable to anyone...sorry shaking your beliefs here, I know.

I don't see Caribbean as offensive in itself, if used to convey a geographic rather than an ethnic origin. So, I might refer to my dp as Caribbean if I'm talking about her having been born and raised there. I'd say black Caribbean, or African Caribbean, if I wanted to communicate her ethnic origin.

you're not shaking my beliefs in the slightest, I had the privilege of having great friends in Arcadia and Braeside in Harare. Indeed had we stayed there after we married we could well have ended up living next to Braeside as my FIL had an (empty) house there.

Under white rule they had more rights than blacks, but less than the whites, and sadly under Mugabe they are still viewed and treated as an underclass. So the coloured communities from Zimbabwe have mostly left and spread across the world (although there's a large community in Milton Keynes just down the road from me)

I'm talking terminology...the term coloured is offensive.

forget it - you obviously don't get it at all.

My children are coloured, they know and understand coloured in the context of who they are, and in the context of being offensive, they know "mixed race".

If I taught my children that being called coloured was offensive full stop they'd be having a hell of a shock every time we visited exH's family either here or in Zimbabwe, or when we go to the local (Zimbabwean owned) shop on the corner - who refer to them as coloured.

Mixed Parentage is in use now.

my xmil used to describe herself as coloured, despite the fact that I couldn't call her that......

she wasn't mixed race. She was adopted, so she wasn't going to describe herself as being from the country she was born in. She was not black. She was coloured and british. I think she was baffled when the term coloured became 'unusable'. She was left with no appropriate word to replace it. Because she was not mixed race.

tocca, I'm not trying to have a go.....just because others use an outdated racist term, it doesn't mean we should continue with that usage. "Coloured" is a term steeped in racist policy, indicative in African history - it is to be avoided not perpetuated.

what has replaced coloured when describing a person who is NOT mixed race?

Black,
dual heritage,
mixed parentage

(the term coloured was recognised as offensive about 20 odd years ago so it is not new )

my x mil would have been upset by any of those labels. NONE fits in her case. Her parents were from the same village. Her parentage was not 'dual' or 'mixed'. she would have been very annoyed if that had been assumed.

I think they need a new word to replaced coloured.

So sad that there are all these labels and cultural pitfalls.....not surprising people can't remember which terms are acceptable and which are not.

Sorry, I'm not sure what you are trying to say MagalyZz....I never fit into any of the racial "boxes" either but I know what is offensive and what is not.

I agree TheNextMrsDepp...I also think that if a phrase is deemed offensive then it is, regardless of previous common usage.