Kyle City Limits
by BRENDA STEWART
A few weeks ago I was assailed for not editing out the adjective “black” and substituting “African American” while proofing a story. My tormentor accused me of horrific oversight and insinuated that I must have been sleep-reading to miss something so racist and blatant. It stopped me in my tracks.
Not only did I not miss it, I reckoned with the fact that race would not have even been mentioned except for the fact that the story was celebrating this person’s attainment of a position historically held exclusively by white people. Past the race card, there would be no story. It was about race.
I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s at the end of segregation and the beginning of integration. I remember using the word Negro as a term of respect. I remember “People of Color” and “Afro-American”, “Black Power”, “African American” and “Black is Beautiful.” I gleaned this through dialogue, travel and the media. Whenever I was around someone of a different race, I avoided the dilemma of race reference. I could just never be sure what was considered respectful and accurate and it seemed boorish to ask.
Today, and honestly for the past 20 -plus years, I was under the impression that “Black” was the preferred term if race was a necessary quantifier, mainly because of things I read in which black people took offense with the segregationist allusion of born-and-raised-Americans being identified as “African”. My papers are so muddy that I couldn’t even attempt to tag my ancestry. Anglo Saxon? Please.
I checked in with the subject of our story which landed me in this predicament. She graciously stated that she, personally, wished to be referred to as African American because Black harkened back to slavery and the discrimination of the Civil Rights Era. Easy enough. I just needed clarity. African American it was.
And just when I was about to relax, she laughed, saying she actually referred to herself and others as black and white and she felt that it was perfectly acceptable. Perhaps, she opined, that it was in professional capacities and in reference to historical events that African American was the preferred term. In less formal situations, color can be the designation. But, she reiterated, that was just her personal preference.
So, I’m back where I began, honestly unsure of the proper reference to use when it is necessary to designate race. My naivety doesn’t condone my ignorance, but it certainly isn’t a product of malice. I suppose that, as with everything, it really comes down to respect and intent. That, I can do.
EDITOR’s NOTE: The Hays Free Press generally has adopted Associated Press style as its editing guidelines. Until 2008, AP style preferred the use of “black” over “African American” because it reflected common language usage. In more recent versions of the stylebook, both “black” and “African American” are acceptable.
