by Nulinvoid on November 8th, 2006
It's simply a perception. A matter of interpretation. A darker skinned person when first seen by a caucasion, probably seemed black, simply because he had never seen anyone so dark before. The opposite may be true for the first black man who saw a white. I'm just guessing. The truth is that we are all different shades of the same color. There is only one color of human skin pigment. Caucasions simply have less of it than all other races. That's why we are tan, not white.
by Dread on March 20th, 2009
white people simply like to segerate excuse whit people back then loved to segergate and point out the difference of something
by CaptainHarley adores his life penguin on September 17th, 2008
People like to place things in stark, mutually exclusive categories so they can deal with them more easily. It's a survival characteristic. Being able to quickly categorize an animal as "Predator" can help prevent problems. : ))
It's only when we apply that same tendendy to categorize to ourselves that we run into difficulties. We tend to make two categories ( at least ): "Like us" and "not like us," with subcategories like "White" and "Black," which are a lot easier to manage than twenty different shades of color. : )
by Miggim on September 17th, 2008
I don't believe history adequate records the origins of the use. Herodotus described the skin of Ethiopians as burnt, for example. It may be lost in translation over millenia.
by Lex Carbo on September 17th, 2008
I know this is off the subject but....I simply have a question....Why are all black people called African American if all black people don't have an African decent? I don't understand...I am brown skinned but my heritage on my mother's side is italian and my heritage on my dad's side is Irish...so what shall I be called brown Italian, Irish American...lol?
by anonymous on September 17th, 2008
Simply because for society it is easier to describe a person for their color as apposed to their ethnic background. For instance, they would not say that the guy who mugged me looked tan or Italian. they would say he was white....;)
by Osteon on November 8th, 2006
Throughout American history, black people have always been oppressed primarily because of their race. They were called many derogatory names to degrade them. Many Americans of European decent refered to them as "Negros" as a non derogatory name in the late nineteenth century. In the early sixties, the civil rights movement had altered the racial profiling of Negros to the term of "colored." In later years, colored Americans were content with being refered to as "black." However,in recent years, the term "black" was changed to "African American" as a choice of political correctness.
To answer your question, being refered to as black or white is just a short and simple way to express the two races of people. Rather than refering the two races of people as Caucasion or Negro, it's much more simplified and non derogatory to refer to them as white or black.
Do We Still Need Affirmative Action?
by Answerbag Staff on December 9th, 2009
| 2 people like this
I am a Chinese , I would like to know what you foreigns think of China.Say something about China...
by xpohhh on January 27th, 2010
| 4 people like this
For a country so overly concerned with political correctness, why is it that we have racial check boxes on all of our paperwork?
by nukedout on January 17th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
Should the results of I.Q. tests be hidden from the public if they prove that some ethnic groups are smarter than others?
by Abraxis on January 29th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
Why don't the Obama Administration deal with gangs in the United States? What his policy about that? What have he done so far?
by 1 on January 25th, 2010
| 1 person likes this
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