Is the term African-American offensive to you?

that's definitely not describing the world I live in

Well, it depends on what he means by 'confronted by the issue or race of ethnicity'. I see people of all races pretty much every day but there's no 'issue' about it, so I don't know what specifically Set means.

Trust that I am working overtime to help them see things from other viewpoints.

And I am not a part of their therapy.

I think it's all about intent. I have occasion to use racial descriptors every day in my job because I work someplace where the population is always changing and people don't necessarily know every other person's name so they'll say to me something like, 'Is Mr. so and so in your class?' and I'll be like, 'He wasn't yesterday but he might be today - what does he look like - white or black - young or old - oh yeah...is that the black Welsh guy who blah, blah, blah?'
(Funny thing is - there actually ARE black Welsh people...the first time I heard a Welsh accent coming out of a black man, it was so disconcerting because you most often hear the black people at my job having West Indian accents).
I mean, I know at my job I'm known as 'the white American woman' and it doesn't offend me. I AM white and I AM American.

Here - they still call black people colo(U)red. It doesn't seem to offend anyone of colo(U)r here, although I can tell you it would in America.

I call my children interracial instead of the more popularly used term over here which is 'mixed'. I don't really like or use the term 'mixed' myself because it reminds me a little of mongrel puppies but I don't take offense where none is meant and I allow people to use their own terminology.

I myself use the term 'black' most often because I asked the black people in my family and life if they wanted to be called 'black' or 'African-American' and the black people I know were happy to be called black.
But if someone asks me if my childrens' father is English or American - I say African-American because it would be misleading to have them believe he was something other than he is. And I DO think it gives a more complete and accurate picture of who he is and what his life has been like to describe him accurately- including his race. His life has been different than it would have been if he were white - and I'm not going to ignore or negate any part of who he is. I'm very proud of his culture. I wouldn't just neglect to mention it, and it's not an insult if I do.

Sure. You can describe him in terms of how tall, how heavy, long/short hair, eye color, etc.

If he's the only black Welsh guy in class, just say so. If you only intend to to be descriptive, that's probably how it will be taken - unless someone happens to want to take offense.

It's pretty simple. Race and ethnicity don't matter in our day to day lives. The character of individuals may matter, but not the color of their skin or the names given to their antecedents.

Aid I had always found that most remarkable owing to the symbolic

..reminding me strongly of the term "gay," which, if I were one, would certainly consider derogatory

I think the sentiment of this post is wildly simplistic. Of course, we like to think that race or ethnicity has no importance in who we are. Everybody gets this. It's nicely correct, and most of us believe it to be accurate. So, two snaps up.

But, as a few people have proven, sometimes circumstances require that ethnicity is addressed. A few posters have shown this to be true - and yet, your mantra remains the same. It's as if you refuse to deviate from the safe, correct lofty theory - and step into reality.

In fairness, these kids are in seventh grade - in a way, they're ALL idiots. But I do consider it an important part of my job to expose them to new perspectives... At this age, they all have very limited views shat out by largely ignorant, xenophobic parents.

Presuming lash you're ESL--and to be commended for your efforts here--I think you mean "thread," not "post;" since as written you're referring to your own post

Thank you Lash for that one. It's not everyday…….

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_rn=1&gs_ri=serp&pq=http%3A%2F%2Fforum.philosophynow.org&cp=13&gs_id=j&xhr=t&q=two+snaps+up&pf=p&tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&oq=+two+snaps+up&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=bd40aa2cd75148d4&biw=1154&bih=657&bs=1

Yes I often reflect how risky the slightest reference to race almost anywhere

I didn't realize that "Mexican" has become a bad word among my Hispanic children. The non-Mexican Hispanics issued almost 100% of the anti-Mexico slurs I heard. They were acutely wary of being associated with being a "border-hopping" Mexican. Seems to be so much more lofty a nobility to have sprung from Central America...

Only addressing you because your posts are the only ones that have elicited a compulsion to respond.

MY screen shows that my post was addressing someone else's. Perhaps the site has allowed people to be jettisoned from contact with others in such a way that the name of the poster I was responding to is not seen on my posts. Who can know what intricate mechanism for the rebuffing of unfavorable posts may have been applied to our lovely site since last I kept up with these maneuvers.

Thanks for commending my ESL efforts. I learn something new every day. Your snazzy punctuation has truly dazzled me and given me great excitement for future sentences.

Way to provide an answer that's no answer at all. Ah . . . Sofia . . . it's so good to see you again . . .

This must be where you live. In the city i currently inhabit, your neighbors come from China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Korea, the West Indies, Kosovo, Greece, Macedonia, Russia, Poland, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Turkey, the Lebanon, North Africa, Italy, Portugal, Latin America . . . it must be a nightmare for the racists.

Before moving here, i lived in a small but rapidly growing town which could probably be described as a bedroom community for Columbus, Ohio. There was a significant south Asian population--India, Pakistan and Afghanistan--as well as an east Asian population, mostly Chinese and Vietnamese. Columbus is, or then was, the largest Somalian community in the U.S., and that showed up in our little town, too. Lots and lots of South and Central Americans. That place must have been hell for the racists, too.

Simplistic? I don't think so. It's just reality. When so many different groups live together, they have to get along. Race and ethnicity soon ceases to matter.

I think it can be important because of cultural differences. A Japanese Canadian has had a different history (and going back) than a Chinese Canadian or a Filipino Canadian or a Vietnamese Canadian. Very culturally and sociologically different.

Same thing with Americans and Canadians - we might all be North Americans, but Canadians have had a different history than Americans, ie. WWII and Vietnam, to name two. When I'm in the States, I get a very different response when I say I'm Canadian, so why wouldn't that be true of Ethno-Americans and Ethno-Canadians?

Lash I'm flattered but others condemn me for it

Maginficant reply, Lash.

How come you never say that to ME?! Huh?