[quote=pri_dk]I find it difficult to keep up with the latest terms for various races. I know that blacks were once called “Negros,” and then called “colored” (my mother still calls them that but I know she doesn’t mean any harm by it.)
I grew up calling them “blacks” but now it seems that “African American” is the latest fashion. I don’t use this term because it has too many syllables and I’m too old to change my ways.
I’ve also heard the phrase “people of color” which sounds like the old-fashioned “colored” but I think it’s different because it includes anyone who isn’t white (I’ve always wondered if whites are should be called “people without color” – that doesn’t sound very flattering, but I’m sure those who coined the phrase “people of color” never meant to imply anything negative.)[/quote]
According to the additive color theory (prism/dispersion of light thing) black is absence of color (i.e. black people are people without color) and white is a blend of all colors.
