I'm glad someone else is thinking. From an etymological standpoint, negro is short for negroid. When whites are referenced, they're often "caucasian," a derivative of caucasoid. And the final racial delineator is mongoloid, referring to those of Asian descent.
The fact that negro was a marginally offensive term used up through the 1960s doesn't make it patently racist. The roots of the word come from scientific roots, and I'm frankly pissed off that we prefer to call blacks "African Americans" instead of black or negro. Call me a caucasian, I don't give a damn.
This is akin to the militant feminist movement wanting to change the spelling of women to wymyn because the word "man" or "men" is in the root. It's part of the root of the word, dammit! Get over yourselves. These leftist movements want to redefine words that "a bunch of white men" coined millenia ago. Like our esteemed leader said, "they're just words."
To an extent I agree with you, but as a homo sapien I would still object to being called a "homo" (for short)...;-)