He's Not Black

I think Marie Arana means we have progressed as far as electing a non white president, but we still insist in calling African Americans black. She even says, "We are racially sophisticated enough to elect a non-white president, and we are so racially backward that we insist on calling him black. Progress has outpaced vocabulary." I agree with her completely, I feel it's time for the language to move on and for us to catch up with our progress vocabulary wise.

We have progressed somewhat vocabulary wise, such as we don't call an African American a negro, calling African Americans black in my opinion is not nearly as bad. How racially sophisticated are we anyway? Well I think we have come along way, we have abolished slavery, African Americans have gotten the same rights as anyone else and everyone is considered an equal.

There are many things Marie Arana means when she says we're racially backward. I think she may be talking about how we consider someone to be black or white or Hispanic etc... If someone has lighter skin we consider them white and if someone has dark skin we consider them black. Marie Arana gave an example as follows:"I understand everything you say. I too am a child of two cultures. My mother is German, my father African American. I was born in Germany, speak German and call myself a German-American. But look at me. What would you say I am?" She was referring to her skin, which was light black; her hair, lush and curly; and her eyes, a shining onyx. "I am fifty percent German. But no one who sees me believes it."

That in my opinion is racially backward and we should not be classifying people by their skin color.

Arana writes: "Isn't it time for the language to move on?" How do you feel about this? Why?