Ok, this is going to be crazy long - strap in, here we go down my 'thought rabbit hole'.
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2BthatUnnoticed
Do not let this “cis is from Latin, you can’t be offended!” shit pass.
100% on board with you, 'cis' is offensive to those of us that can see through all of the rhetoric.
I have dark skin and was called “Negro” (among other things) as a child. Negro is from Latin too.
Exactly! I want to start this rant by expressing my disgust/sadness that you were called such things and have experienced prejudice through words and incorrect societal assumptions about you based on your sex and the color of your skin. Beyond oppression and stereotypes of those distinct classes you have undoubtedly experienced judgement based on a plethora of negative stereotypes for being a dark-skinned girl and now dark-skinned woman.
From what I have read and been told by dark-skinned elders, in the US 'negro' was considered a term of respect and preferred by many dark-skinned Americans above its predecessors (colored, slurs, et al) until the '70s. It became a hateful epithet from that point forward. Since I was born in the '70s I've never heard it or any variation/derivative used as a respectful term (except when speaking to dark-skinned elders, light-skinned elders have said it to me in a derogatory way as a quiet/encrypted way to say a slur).
As we know niger (Latin) is the root of negro in Spanish and Portuguese meaning the color black. In French it became negre and negress to hatefully describe dark-skinned peoples and was obviously used as a slur (French for the color black is noir). English ran with niger and we know where that led.
I don't like using 'black' (unlucky, bad, villain, hell, moniker of oppression) to describe dark-skinned people and using 'white' (fortunate, good, hero, heaven, moniker of privilege) for light-skinned people. Some US dark-skinned people share a common ancestry/history but not all, same goes for light-skinned people. Calling all dark-skinned or 'black' people in the US African-American is an insult to the diversity of the group of people with skin termed 'black'. 'White' Americans as well as other light-skinned Americans in attempts to be respectful tend to use African-American as they are at a loss for what is appropriate and correct in describing dark-skinned people.
'Othering' is pervasive, no one is safe, regardless of the continent from which your ancestry hails and regardless of the color of your skin. If you are without power/influence and wealth you will likely experience some level of oppression.
Being dark-skinned in today's US (my best point of reference) comes with some light-skinned people preaching about your equality as if affirmative action wiped away more than two centuries' worth of oppression, abuse, and dehumanization. Efforts to close the gap of imbalance (affirmative action, desegregation, Title VI, Title VII) don't magically create equality of existence - it's completely irrational and illogical.
While dark-skinned people of the US have reclaimed 'black' some 'white' people still use it to signify 'other' or an alternative to the negative derivatives of niger to veil their racism. Describing dark-skinned people as 'black' does not describe a universal race/culture/ethnicity beyond color-based oppression of people with dark skin. Not all (not even most) dark-skinned people are from Africa (some 'white' Americans are dismissive of this - as they see all 'black people' as the same).
Describing dark-skinned people in the US as a group can be difficult without either (1) using 'black' which I believe is negative (see above) or (2) applying incorrect labels i.e. African-American, or (3) dark-skinned (depending on audience perspective) can mean African, Middle Eastern, or Columbian (et al) people whatever the audience associates with the term.
It means a lot to me that my language is clear, recognizes historical as well as current oppression, and is respectful to the group which I am describing. How I am perceived is much less important then how my message is received.
Describing individuals is easy - I describe myself as having medium tone olive skin and one of my friends as having dark tone caramel skin and another as fair tone peach skin. Because in those descriptions I am describing one's appearance not ethnicity/race, and if ethnicity comes up I may or may not (in most cases) know the person's origins/ancestry.