Does "black people" mean offensive?

While there are parts of the world that still use the term “colored people” (mainly in South Africa to describe people of a multiracial background), we no longer use that term in the United States. Another word we no longer use is “Negro”. Both of these terms are considered outdated. There are two major exceptions to this—the NAACP (the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and the UNCF (United Negro College Fund). There is a general understanding that these two organizations are a product of their time, so there’s no issue in saying those names. “Black”, is an adjective. Saying “She is a Black person”, or “She is Black” is totally fine. Do *not* say “She is *a* Black.” However, because AAVE is a dialect, and therefore a noun, you would say: “This person is speaking *AAVE*.” The reason why AAVE is more difficult for you to understand is because it involves some words and grammar rules that are not taught in General American English. It’s something that has adapted over time, and it varies across generations and regions. Also keep in mind that White Americans (and Asians and Latinos and Native Americans, etc) have regional accents as well. A White person from Boston might sound radically different from a Minnesotan. Matter of fact, the U.S. has 30 different regional accents. So if you’re having trouble understanding lyrics or dialogue, read along with lyric notes or subtitles. Many native English speakers do this, even if they understand the language/dialect/accent perfectly.

African-American in the United States usually (but not always) means "American citizens descended from African people who were taken through the slave trade and involuntarily brought to this country." "Black" often means "anyone perceived as belonging to the race designated as 'Black' due to perceived characteristics." Not all Black people are African-American, though most African-American people are Black. (Though again, not universally, due to the phenomenon known as "passing"). It's complicated; Racial politics in the USA are a tangle. AAVE is no longer the preferred term in some circles: we might say "Black American English" or my preferred term, "Black Language." Not all Black people speak it, and not all people who speak it are Black. But it is a dialect governed by its own rules, and it's fair to say that you find it difficult to understand, just as I find some dialects of Spanish really challenging to understand. The term "Black" isn't offensive in itself. I would say something like "The dialect that some Black people use is hard for me to understand." That wouldn't be regarded as terribly offensive by anyone. To call anyone "colored" would be offensive, though, but in a really weirdly old-fashioned way. That was the socially polite term about seventy or eighty years ago. No one really uses it anymore. Disclaimer for all this: I am not Black.

“Black people” is usually not offensive in and if it’s self, but it can be used in an offensive way if you’re making a generalization or prejudiced statement about black people as a whole. Defiantly don’t use “colored people,” that is offensive. African American is also fine if you’re talking about black Americans.

African-Americans *are* black people born in America.

African American usually refers to Americans of African descent. People who immigrated to America from somewhere in Africa are also called African-Americans, which is confusing, yeah. Don’t use “colored people,” nobody says that anymore. If you’re talking to somebody just say “can you talk slower?” or “I can’t understand your accent”

Black people from Florida have a different accent than black people from Illinois, Texas, New York...hell...even from different places in that state. Generalizing an entire group of people based on race is racist. Mind you, There's a spectrum of racism. Try not go generalize based on one thing. Often times it's incorrect.

Colored people is worst than saying black people. I would stick to AAVE because not all black people or white people have the same accent

You're probably talking about African-American Vernacular English (AAVE). Call it that. > but its about africa america people What is? What do you mean? Not all African Americans speak with an AAVE accent.

It’s not an accent it’s a dialect. All you have to do is say “AAVE is hard for me to understand” and most people will code switch to facilitate conversation. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t study AAVE for understanding, it just means people will be considerate to the non-native being unable to grasp a pretty complex dialect of their target language.

I’m southern. My recommendation is that you say that some regional or cultural accents are harder for you to understand. For what it’s worth, some native speakers of American English also have trouble with regional or cultural accents. Some of us can modify our accent or speaking patterns to facilitate understanding.

It is not offensive.

Depends, when in doubt, Yes

“black people” is fine to use when you are just referring to black people as a group. using “black people” as an adjective to generalize a facet of culture such as food, music, dialect, etc. can be racist because black people live all over the world and have unique cultures and dialects, just like any other race. would you call a standard American accent a “white people accent”? what about a Swedish accent? the accent you are referring to is specifically AAVE, so that is the most appropriate term to use

You can say some black Americans.

Do not say 'colored people', that is an archaic, racist term. "Black people" is just fine. If you want to be broader and more 'politically correct', then you can say 'people of color', or 'POC', but that includes all non-white people.

"African-American" here means Black Americans born in the United States, not Africans. There is nothing racist about the term "Black people" in and of itself. AAVE is actually a subset of African-American English (AAE), however; not all Black Americans speak AAVE.

Worlds too easy for nazi projects nowadays, yall too polite

what is a black people accent? AAVE/ebonics/slang isn’t an accent. we sound the same.

No one else has mentioned it, so I will add that "Black" used as a noun is somewhat offensive, but the adjective is fine. It's okay to say "Black people", but not great to refer to "Blacks". Language is funny, and it shifts over time, so it's a good idea to keep an eye on current usage. (The same sort of shifts over time have happened with language around disability. It happens because there is prejudice in society, so words that start as polite can have impolite feelings attach to them over time.)

Saying “black people” is not offensive. Being black is a unique cultural identity, especially in the US. AAVE is a dialect that a lot of black people in the US speak. It’s often only used amongst other people speaking AAVE. Most AAVE speakers will code switch depending on topic. However that is different from a “black accent”. The US has many regional accents and a history of racism and segregation has meant that black people have been in insular communities with their own accents. You absolutely should not be saying “colored people” in the vast majority of situations. It is VERY offensive. It is a direct call back to the racism and the language used before the 60s in the US. I would question if your issue understanding “black accents” is actually only related to black accents or if it’s just a difficulty understanding anything except a neutral standard American accent. Do you have trouble with Southern, Cajun, Boston, Midwestern, NYC, Latino, Asian, etc accents? If so I wouldn’t single out black people specifically.

You always have the option of not saying anything about a particular topic. Stick with “sorry, I’m still learning English” and leave it at that.

AAVE is how the words are structured and has little to do with the accent. Despite what many people here are saying; if you are on the phone with a black person who is not speaking in aave, you will still know they are black 95% of the time because of their accent. However, a southern and northern person will still have different accents. Accents can be regional or cultural. Gay people sometimes also have a cultural accent, though maybe not quite as widespread amongst themselves.

i just say black accent. It’s a vibe check really

They find anything offensive.

“Black people” is fine as a term. But there is no single “black people accent”, so using that phrase is likely to not be received well. There’s no single “white people accent” either. I’m assuming you’re talking about specifically English in the US? There are so many regional accents in the US; even native US English speakers from one region might have a lot of trouble with the accent/dialect from another region. AAVE is “African American Vernacular English”. That might be the right term for you, depending on which accent/dialect it is you have trouble with. “African American” is another fine term for black people in the US. It’s not just for those who have immigrated to the US.

"It's currently difficult for me to understand AAVE" is an appropriate thing to say, however, it could be considered racist if you have no intention of improving your understanding. Make sure to not imply that it's the fault of AAVE or that it's bad in some way. It's just one of the hundreds of accents in America. Black is an great and totally acceptable term. "African American" refers to people born in America as well as immigrants who are black, but it has fallen out of favor because it doesn't account for black people not living in America nor Africans of any other race. Colored is a deeply racist and offensive term.

Not all black people speak AAVE, and not all AAVE speakers are black, which is why it's best to say something like 'AAVE is harder for me to understand'. Definitely don't say colored people. \>  it said i could come up with some thing like "people with AAVE accent" but its about africa america people while im talking about the black people born in america accent. If you don't mean AAVE, what black accent are you talking about? I'm not aware of any other black sociolect in the US.

No one is going to think you're racist for saying "black people" but if you do say it and someone doesn't like it, just ask what they'd prefer and go with that when you talk to or around them. Most people dont care what color someone's skin is but if you need to differentiate them and the color is the most obvious thing, you can do that. eg. if there are 10 black people and 1 white person, you can say "the white guy over there" - very very few people will have any issue with that.

It's not racist to describe someone as black. However, it probably is racist to assume every black person has the same accent.

No it's not racist to refer to us as Black people 😂. Keep in mind though that AAVE can vary depending on where you are in America. Black people in the southern US sound different from Black people in the North-East US, and they sound different from Black people in the Midwest or West coast.

I think yes

black people are black/brown in skin color. Africans are people born in africa Theres nothing racist about being objective?

No. It’s actually preferred, because you don’t know their ancestry and nationality shouldn’t be said in replacement of color.

I think something like, "I have more difficulty understanding AAVE than other dialects of English" is both more accurate and less likely to offend

Just don't call us "the blacks" or "colored" Most other things are fine

“Colored people” is offensive. That’s some shit we did away with when we passed the Civil Rights Act of **1964**.

This is a tough one. As a brown person born in Canada, I prefer to be described as brown. Period. That is literally the colour of my skin. I know it's not the same for everyone.

Black Americans that trace their family back to the slave trade are usually in favor of "Black" for a category.  Whereas "black" is a more general term for people with dark skin around the world.  African American is still used, but has fallen out of favor as black African immigrants often don't like being lumped in with Black Americans (it's a thing and it gets unpleasant), and Black Americans are pretty insistent that they are just "Americans" with dark skin.  Black is actually a pretty useful category, as Black Americans are the only truly "American" culture.  Every other group refers to their heritage as a qualifier, even the indigenous have their own culture they fit into America.  Black Americans descended from slaves never had this option.  The slavers did their very best to destroy any cultural rememberence, and replaced it with southern Christianity, the Black culture developed fully in America without input from other established sources.

You can say black people, but it all comes down to how you say it. But saying black people isn’t bad. You can say African American if you are talking specifically black people from America (usually). But not every black person has the same accent. Even AAVE will differ where you are. Like Atlanta is gonna be different than Memphis or New York. (Also wanna note any race can have a accent lol)

For the love of all things good, do not ever refer to black people as “colored” because that is definitely considered racist. Judging by your comments, what you’re actually having trouble understanding is slang. Not all black people use it, and many white people do. Accents are regional and most people who grew up in the region will sound like that region regardless of ancestral lineage. What you want to say is “I have a hard time understanding slang” and leave the color of their skin out of it.

In general, "black" is not offensive; "colored" is very offensive – it is reminiscent of the Jim Crow era in the U.S. AAVE is African American Vernacular English – it's a general term for a group of dialects spoken to various degrees by many but not all black (African American) people in the USA and Canada. It can be somewhat difficult to understand, depending on the listener's English language comprehension. As a non-native speaker, if you politely ask someone to clarify what they said, most English-speakers will repeat and/or rephrase it, regardless of their dialect.

Black guy here, no referring to us as black generally isn’t racist, we’re referred to as black people because most Black Americans don’t know their origin(unlike me I’m Nigerian Yoruban). The way we speak atleast in the south is AAVE which is why we would say things like: N’ah y’all know y’all spossed to elp with cookin ain’t na’am person came to elp(Now y’all know y’all supposed to help with cookin not one person came to help). It’s just a listening thing the more you get used to it, the more you’ll understand if not get the gist.

'I struggle with AAVE more than other vernacular.'

This is funny actually because a lot of non-English speakers think that referring to Black people as Black is offensive. It’s not. It often is in other languages, though. In Polish it’s more appropriate to say „dark skinned”, since saying „black” does have bit of a negative connotation sometimes. Or is confusing since sometimes we say someone is „black” if their hair is black (my mom does that). Although a lot of people still prefer to say the slur and refuse to acknowledge it’s a slur, because THEY don’t think it is one, but of course most of them have never spoken to a Black person in their entire life. Common problem in some European countries.

Referring to black people as black people is not offensive. It’s very normal. Do NOT use “colored people.” That is outdated and considered offensive by most. However, it’s also not a good idea to refer to a homogeneous “black people accent,” either. You’re probably thinking of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). So, just say “I have a hard time understanding AAVE.”

I’m not Black but I would like to clarify that AAVE is a dialect not an accent. It has regular grammatical rules just like any language and even some advantages over standard English. It’s just that not many people learn it because standard English is the language of business and academia and far more people speak and understand it. And others have said not every black person speaks AAVE and most speak both. That’s is referred to as “code switching” — I have seen friends and acquaintances become introduced in standard English and switch to the other dialect during the conversation when they sense that both of them would be more comfortable speaking their “home” dialect.

"African American" is used for black people born in America, it simply means a black American, someone actually born in Africa would be unusual, that's definitely not what people usually have in mind when they say "African American". Definitely don't call people "coloured", that's (to my knowledge, maybe there are some unusual dialects of English where it's not so) an archaic word that actually sounds racist, if someone tells you to use that then they're trolling you.  You see how "coloured" is an euphemism to avoid saying what color those people are? Beause of some weirdness about it? Yeah, don't do that. Compared to that, "black" is straightforward, just saying what color they are, not making it into some weird "code language". Saying "black Americans" or something similar will make it clear what you mean, and will not sound like you're someone obsessing about race and trying to come up with strange words for it.

One benefit of the #BlackLivesMatter movement is that it normalized the use of Black as a description.

Depends on what you say about us black people in a sentence.

I think what you're talking about is AAVE (African American Vernacular English) which is a socialect (a dialect of a certain community within a dialect) used commonly by Black Americans. It can be hard to understand sometimes as any dialect, socialect or otherwise. If you find there are a lot of black people in your area whom you struggle to understand then I recommend looking into AAVE (or Ebonics) and learning more about them.

yeah it's racist blacks are not people

(short version) Is it really accents that you are having difficulty with, or is it dialect? Vernacular? Slang? Accents and dialect tend to be regional to an extent, so someone from the south who grew up there may have a southern accent and dialect, regardless of whether they're black. If it's the vernacular you struggle with, well just keep it simple and say that you struggle with understanding some AAVE. (long version) I'm sure it's not your fault, but "racist" is a word that's thrown around way too much, incorrectly so, to mean anything and everything that someone does not like when there is a different ethnicity involved. That's not was racist means, and is not at the core of racism. That said, the statement you want to make is very generalizing and stereotyping, which can be offensive. Black people are not a monolith any more than white people or any other social/ethnic group are. Usually, when one starts a sentence with "black people" or "white people", it's usually grossly reductive, over-generalizing, and is almost sure to be easily refuted and put some people off. There is no such thing as a "black accent". I am from Georgia. My wife is from New Jersey. We are both black, and do not have the same accent, vocal inflection, pronunciations, or use all of the same slang. People growing up in different regions will have different ways of speaking. This applies to all people, not just black. If Chat GPT is referring to AAVE as African Americans, then yes, that is referring to black people born in America, not Africans who have moved to the US (what I would call an actual African-American, if they have gained US citizenship). I personally think it's a stupid designation for black Americans, as the majority of black people born in the US will not know much, if anything about their ancestral African heritage, myself included. I am American, and I am black. I couldn't tell you anything about my long lost African roots aside from the fact that my great-great grandmother was a slave, though I imagine my ancestors came from the Ivory coast or very nearby, due to the North American slave trade.

Side note-the term ‘African American’ refers to black people from the USA

I wonder if things that aren't sentient would also feel discriminated by others. The only thing that is offensive is the process of brain to ponder over such things.

Everyone has already covered the main question pretty well, so I won't address that. I just wanted to point out that you seem confused about what African American means. African American generally refer to American born people who are of African descent. It is a term used interchangeably in America with black and does not imply they were not born in America. AAVE is, in fact, the dialect used by many black Americans that you're probably referring to.

I'm Black and educated. I find some British accents impossible to understand. What are you on about?

I don't even know anymore I'm still living in a time where halfcast ain't racist

African Americans are black people born in the US. A large percentage of them do speak AAVE, but AAVE is not limited to Black Americans. Also it’s a little racist to assume a Black American has a specific accent, in comparison to a White American.

First: this is complicated and has a lot of history and pain affecting it; it makes sense that you're confused. > its about africa america people while im talking about the black people born in america accent. Do you understand that the term "African American" includes "black person born in the US"? When/Why/To whom do you want to talk about this?

it's not offensive to refer to black people as black people. what I do find off is generalizing all African Americans as having one accent. there are nearly 50 million African Americans in the US living all over the country in different regions. they speak in all sorts of different accents, so your comment is too general and doesn't make sense.