‘Negro’ Is An Acceptable Term for Black Soldiers, U.S. Army Says

NYDN ^ | November 5, 2014 | GINGER ADAMS OTIS

[DogByte6RER]

‘Negro’ is an acceptable term for black soldiers, U.S. Army says

• Color it a confusing command update. One military official says using the word to describe ‘a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa’ might be for people who prefer to refer to themselves this way. But another calls it ‘the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

What year is it again?

Army regulations still allow for black soldiers to be labeled Negro — a term that faded in the late 1960s.

The archaic policy was spelled out as recently as Oct. 22, when the Army issued an update to some of its command procedures. But the review failed to strike the term from its books.

Negro is an acceptable classification for “a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa,” according to section 6-2 of the Army’s AR 600–20 regulations.

The same clause — part of the Army’s equal opportunity policy — also gives the OK to use “Haitian” in addition to the more common black or African-American.

The Army said it didn’t know how long the paragraph had been in its directives. It could stretch back decades.

A spokesman said Wednesday that a change was already in the works.

“The racial definitions in AR600-20 . . . are outdated, currently under review, and will be updated shortly,” Lt. Col. Alayne Conway said.

[marron]

I’m about ready to move back to “Negro”. It is not a pejorative, especially if it is not intended to be. It was historically used in a non-pejorative way.

We gave up using it in the first round of “political correct” self-censorship, but the idea that “black” was more respectful than “negro” never made sense. But no one wants to offend, so we went with “black”. Then “african-american”. But to me “Negro” is the easiest and most respectful way to refer to your race, especially if you aren’t sensitive about it and no offense is intended.

So, I prefer “Negro”. Since I’m not Negro, though, and I don’t want to offend, I’ll stick with whatever people prefer to hear.

[morphing libertarian]

I worked with an African American. His parents were Italian working in Africa. He was born in Ethiopia. Aa is not a racial designation, it us a nationality or geographic one.