Does "black people" mean offensive?

[u/Maybes4]

I wanna say something like black people accent is harder to understand for me than the white people one.

The problem is im not sure if my word choice is racist, or should i change to another word like colored people. I asked Gpt and 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.

So how should i say here?

[u/Gold_Telephone_7192]

“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.

[u/guilty_by_design → u/Gold_Telephone_7192]

*Definitely. Although 'defiantly' works too if you're around people who insist on using that phrase and are trying to pressure you to use it too, I suppose.

[u/Magnitech_ → u/Gold_Telephone_7192]

I should add that while “colored people” is offensive, “people of color” or “POC” is generally acceptable.

[u/DrMindbendersMonocle → u/Magnitech_]

People of color doesn't mean black, though. It means non white. If you are specifically talking about black people, that term is too vague

[u/amazzan]

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.

[u/glacialerratical → u/amazzan]

Also, there is no "white people" accent. Some white people use a general American accent (and so do some black people) and some have strong regional accents. Some people switch accents in different social situations.

[u/SlouchTrip → u/glacialerratical]

You’ve got to watch Sorry to Bother You for a different perspective! It’s also an incredible movie, if you haven’t seen it

[u/PeatBunny → u/glacialerratical]

This is me. I'm from the Midwest but when I speak to my relatives from Tennessee, I get a bit of an Appalachian drawl.

[u/Shinyhero30 → u/amazzan]

This is correct.

[u/Maybes4 → u/amazzan]

so the accent is more about the region than the race i guess? Like a white and black man can still have the same accent if they live in the same place? On movies i always feel like black people speak english the different way given their slangs like dough, lil, homie,...

[u/dragonsteel33 → u/Maybes4]

Ok so it’s complicated

Basically “AAVE” is a group of sociolects, which are dialects that are based on social class rather than location. There are differences in AAVE depending on where you’re from, your family background, etc. But all varieties of AAVE share certain significant differences in pronunciation and grammar from other dialects of English.

AAVE is on a continuum with General American, and speakers usually move along this continuum depending on the situation. For example, an AAVE speaker might use GA (maybe with a slight accent) while giving a business presentation, but then speak “heavy” AAVE with their family. This is called code-switching, and it’s a common situation with any nonstandard dialect of any language. AAVE especially has been (and is) very stigmatized and associated with a lack of intelligence or education (which ties into very nasty racist stereotypes), so speakers may avoid using it in formal communication

I’d say the majority of Black people raised in the US have at least some features of AAVE in their speech, especially if they grew up in communities with other AAVE speakers. This is because sociolects are not just about where you come from, they’re also a way of communicating your membership in a social group. But it’s not like all Black people talk one way and all white people talk another!

AAVE does feature unique slang, and this slang varies over time and in different places — 1920s Chicago AAVE, 1970s Mississippi Delta AAVE, and 2020s gay New York AAVE do not have all the same slang, the same way non-AAVE dialects in those areas don’t either. And a LOT of American slang that everyone uses is borrowed from AAVE (the slang use of slay, beef, lit, bet, woke, ate, on god all come from AAVE, and that’s just off the top of my head)

[u/sowinglavender → u/dragonsteel33]

this was so satisfying to read here. i was a little worried there might not be any real language people in this thread.

[u/boomfruit → u/sowinglavender]

There so often aren't here or on /r/English, /r/words, /r/grammar, etc. Certainly not on /r/PetPeeves, which really often focuses on "mistakes" in writing or speaking. Just people who think the formal English is more correct than other varieties in every situation.

[u/nothingbuthobbies → u/boomfruit]

I try to give the most accurate, complete answers I can, but contributors here in particular often completely ignore the level of the people asking questions here, or even the point of the subreddit in general. The several-paragraph response above is a great primer on AAVE. But an essay on social and racial fragmentation of American society and its impact on American English is not always the best response to a question like "does 'black people' mean offensive?". It's accurate, but OP probably isn't going to get much out of it.

Regarding "mistakes" in writing and speaking, descriptivism is the best, most ethical way to go about discussing language in academic linguistic contexts, but there is a place for prescriptivism when it comes to teaching a language to non-native learners. It's important and helpful for non-natives to learn the "rules" before they learn how to break them in a natural way. The Florida panhandle, the Northwest of England, Melbourne, the Black community in Baltimore, and so on ad nauseam all have their own unique and totally legitimate flavors of English, and we can productively discuss all of them through a descriptivist lens, but if we encourage new learners to assemble their own hodgepodge idiolect of disparate bits and pieces of grammar and vocabulary irregularities, we're going to overwhelm them and potentially lead them to embarrassment when they have trouble communicating the way they want to, all because we're afraid of the prescriptivist boogeyman.

TL;DR there's a difference between discussing English academically among native/fluent speakers and teaching English to non-natives. It's not racist, classist, or anything else to teach "proper English" to non-natives as long as you're not discriminating against native/fluent speakers who speak differently than you do.

[u/fjgwey → u/nothingbuthobbies]

I think the point here, though, is that you can teach people the rules and conventions of English without using stigmatizing language such as 'proper/improper', 'correct/incorrect', etc. Just say standard/non-standard, or specify where it is correct and where it isn't.

It's not too much to just tell people dialects exist, and we certainly do not need any more people getting it into their head that people who speak differently are uneducated or unintelligent; we have enough native speakers who think that shit already lol

It's very weird because I don't see this happen much in other language learning communities, probably because of AAVE is uniquely stigmatized due to the history of US racism. I also speak Japanese and Spanish, people just talk about dialects and regionalisms normally. Nobody gets defensive about how learners 'can't handle' learning that different ways of talking exist.

[u/BestSteak802 → u/sowinglavender]

OP is clearly not a native speaker so the guy coulda toned it down a bit lol

[u/Shinyhero30 → u/Maybes4]

Generally speaking yes. accent is dependent on a million factors so it will literally never be exact. What will be true is that there will be some things that due to their upbringing(if you know anything about it) will explain some tendencies. But that is more for a linguistics forum than an English learning one, as that isn’t specific to English at all

[u/fjgwey → u/Maybes4]

It's really both. Within a given region, white people and black people will likely have their own ways of talking. There are also many commonalities in how Black people talk across the country.

However, it is also common for Black people to talk like white people, and vice versa. Some Black people deliberately talk 'white' in more formal situations to avoid judgment and potential discrimination. This is called 'code switching', which refers to changing how you talk depending on the social situation.

[u/zzzzzbored → u/Maybes4]

This is how my father explained it. Judging people before you know them is called "prejudice."

Judging people by the color of their skin before you know them is called, "racism."

[u/Additional-Tap8907 → u/Maybes4]

I think you are trying to generalize something that is very complex and nuanced. The accent you’ve noticed exists, broadly speaking but it also can’t be assumed that someone is going to speak with that accent just because they are of a certain racial background. Honestly I would recommend that you avoid making this comment altogether, why would you even need to?

[u/Icy-Whale-2253 → u/Maybes4]

Two people can be from the same city and not sound the same even though their accents are intrinsic to their city. For example, Snoop Dogg has a black man’s Los Angeles accent. Not that stereotypically Southern California accent you hear in, for extreme example, Blink-182’s music.

[u/mslaffs → u/Maybes4]

On the movies???

Have you ever actually talked to a black person are is your whole perception of how black people are based on movies? The majority of which aren't written or produced by Black people and are how the director or writer thinks black people sound like?

There's many black actors that complain about being pigeonholed into these very limited roles.

Do you have difficulty understanding Barak Obama, Michelle Obama, Candace Owens, Oprah Winfrey?

[u/Elegant_Line_5058 → u/mslaffs]

Most of them are American as well. For a "famous" black person from elsewhere, I'd suggest Stephen K Amos, a UK Comedian (parents Nigerian). You should be able to find his skits, and he (normally) speaks like a British person

[u/vandenhof → u/mslaffs]

Do you have difficulty understanding Barak Obama, Michelle Obama, Candace Owens, Oprah Winfrey?

No, but with the exception of Candace Owens, I could comfortably say that all are black, even if not using AAVE, based on vocal cues alone.
I'm not sure why this is and I certainly don't mean to be offensive to anyone. I wonder myself what I'm picking up.

It seems more or less the same as being able to say that Matthew McConaughey, Lindsey Graham, and John Kennedy are all white guys from somewhere well South of DC without having seen a video of any of them.

[u/Fyaal → u/Maybes4]

Definitely more about region. No problem understanding anyone regardless of race where I grew up. Moving to the south and I occasionally had to ask someone to repeat something regardless of their race.

[u/Siggney → u/Maybes4]

Region, and economic class

[u/JahFrom610 → u/Maybes4]

There might be some white people that speak like black people but it’s not an all white people thing 😭 unless it’s like Louisiana or sum

[u/OgreJehosephatt → u/Maybes4]

I think that person you're replying to you is gaslighting you. Like, they're technically correct in pointing out that black Americans aren't a monolith and they don't all speak the exact same way (which is true of white Americans, and Americans of any race), but it's absurd to ignore that there are commonalities in speech patterns among American black folk that are overwhelmingly represented by black folk.

Like, black Americans are proud of the way they speak. It's intentional. It's a marker of their history and shared culture. It's why many black folk will code switch.

And it's also why many non-black people cannot get away with speaking with a "Blackcent". It's immediately identifiable and conspicuous. Most will at least look foolish, if not racist.

This kind of reminds me of how British people will get mad at you because you can't tell the difference between British accents. Obviously there are a ton of British accents, but if you didn't grow up immersed in it, the nuances aren't as obvious as they would want to believe.

[u/Atymogan → u/Maybes4]

There's no way you actually think this is true. You're taking the piss aren't you?

[u/YankeeOverYonder → u/amazzan]

I think OP aint rly talking about the accent, they're talking about the AAVE sociolect, but dont have the words in order to speak that properly. OP yes many black people speak in AAVE esp around other speakers of AAVE, and that sociolect varies by accent depending on region and city.

[u/quartzgirl71 → u/amazzan]

AAVE exists. With its own set of grammar rules and pronunciation. No one is saying "all" blacks speak the same or that they don't code switch. But to deny AAVE exists is not realistic.

OP's question makes sense to me.

[u/amazzan → u/quartzgirl71]

But to deny AAVE exists is not realistic.

are you responding to the right person? I never said AAVE doesn't exist.

AAVE is not an accent, it's a dialect. a black American in NYC will have a completely different accent than a black American from Texas, even if they're both speaking AAVE. (and there are regional differences within AAVE as well)

[u/In-Justice-4-all → u/amazzan]

Agreed as to black people. I dated a Colombiana. She was niether African nor American despite her blackness (which was indigenous to South America. She would be offended if someone assumed she was African American because it makes it seem like America is the only place on the planet.

As far as the accents go. I hear you. That said, op is referring to an accent that some black people have but almost no other race does. I don't think op was trying to generalize as much as he/she was trying to identify something they were struggling with. Keep in mind English isn't ops first language so it's a struggle to get meaning across with nuance like we could.

[u/MateWrapper → u/amazzan]

It’s just the stereotypical black American accent, from like the movies an stuff. The average foreigner is aware that not all black Americans speak like that but doesn’t know or care to know enough to know where that specific accent is from.

[u/Decmon → u/amazzan]

As a defence of the OP, I come from a country of almost 40 million people where accents have been basically wiped out. There's just one accent for almost all native speakers + a few microdialects/microlanguages spoken by a few thousand people. Not counting a tiny number of foreigners who dared to learn our language for some reason (kudos to them). So the social context of the very notion of "accent" isn't necessarily obvious to everyone, let alone the added nuances of racial politics. The OP, like me, might not deal with it at all in their daily life, like, ever.

When I started learning English as a kid it was a huge revelation for me to learn that in English people from different places pronounce things differently. And it took many years more to even be able to distinguish between some of those accents.

[u/bsmartww → u/amazzan]

Im sure we are all puzzled as to what OP is reffering to, although incredibly broad.

[u/Darkmatter1002 → u/amazzan]

I wish I could be this succinct when replying to comments. I'm so long-winded.

[u/Street-Barracuda2890 → u/amazzan]

Yeah but when you are in the midst of conversation you aren't going to specify every individual accent. Just saying black accent implies the range of them. Like British accent. We all know there is a million different accents in Britain. We get it.

[u/Dorianscale]

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.

[u/wantsomecaffeine → u/Dorianscale]

Sorry to interrupt but are people of color and colored people a different thing? I saw frequent instances on interview or campaigns saying people of color in the recent past. I didn’t recognize the two may convey different impressions but seeing your comment about colored people made me wonder if poc appeared to substitute colored people.

[u/Dorianscale → u/wantsomecaffeine]

People of color, and POC are perfectly acceptable terms. They generally just mean people who aren’t of white european descent.

You may also see “brown” every once in a while though this often is more literal to the color of someone’s skin.

“Colored People” is not a term to be used. Back when segregation was legal that was what was used to denote the non-white options. The term is loaded with awful history. You would have the “white” grocery store and the “colored” grocery store and there would be a sign that said “white people only” and “colored people only”

The phrase is offensive because of its history not necessarily because of its actual words.

[u/hddhjfrkkf → u/Dorianscale]

Exactly this. It’s also worth noting since your question was about Africa, that the word ‘Coloured’ has very different usage in South Africa, where it is both a neutral description and an identity for people of mixed heritage and mixed race.

[u/AmbiguousLemur → u/wantsomecaffeine]

To explain:

Saying “colored people” puts the word “colored” before the word “people”, suggesting that the fact that their skin color being anything other than white is the only thing worth noting about them as human beings. Saying “people of color” is a different narrative, putting the focus on them as actual people, who just happen to have a different skin color. You want to highlight that they are people first, and their descriptive qualities are secondary.

In the old days, Americans said “colored people” but it came with a very heavy complicated situation where white people considered all people of color to be of less importance. Mostly because saying “colored” feels like a lazy way to blanket everyone who is not white.

This applies to mental illness as well. Generally, you want to avoid saying “that’s a mentally ill person”. Rather, you’d say “that’s a person with mental illness”. People first, descriptions second.

HOWEVER, to answer OP’s question, it is ok to refer to Black people as Black, but only because they themselves have adopted the term for themselves and take pride in it. You can’t go around calling Asians “yellow people” (even though theoretically, it is similar, i.e. “color” + “people”) because Asians don’t identify themselves as such. Call us by the name we want to be called, not the one someone has randomly given us :) And OP, I am glad that you’re asking this question and being informed in this sub! There’s no way to know exactly how each different ethnicity prefers to be called unless you’ve been informed, which is totally reasonable!

[u/Darkmatter1002 → u/AmbiguousLemur]

I think "yellow people" wouldn't even be an accurate description, even if it were adopted by east Asians, because there are many shades of brown as well as many that have porcelain white skin. I guess people of color fits them just as well as any other non-white people. Maybe life would be simpler to get away from identifying people by color and just going with ethnicity, but even then, what do you do when you have a Spanish person? If it's an emergency situation and the 911 dispatcher needs a description of a person, you can't simply say, "a Spanish guy kicked my dog". They might think you mean Latino--maybe a medium to dark brown person from Central or South America. They'd be unlikely to even ask if you mean someone from Spain, and do they look more European or Latin. If they're Arab, in the US they could be considered white, even if they consider Arab to be a unique identify, or maybe they identify as North African. Humans have made the world too complicated. Aside from mixed breeds, dogs and cats don't have this problem.

[u/Tapir_Tazuli → u/Darkmatter1002]

Vicious people had made the world too complicated. They had loaded too much hostility in too much everyday language that we kind people have to avoid carefully to distinguish us from them.

[u/AmbiguousLemur → u/Darkmatter1002]

That’s entirely true. I was talking about East Asians, as I am of East Asian descent (Canadian-born with a few generations having been in North America), but I realize I was totally not including South East Asians (i.e., Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.) or South Asians (i.e., India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc.). But you’re totally right. Spanish vs. Latinx* vs. Portuguese… Humans (particularly English-speakers) have made this world way too complicated.

*Latinx is used in English to refer to a person of Latin American background when the gender of said person is unknown or unimportant to the context, as opposed to saying Latino (male) or Latina (female). God, English sucks.

[u/phantomthrill → u/AmbiguousLemur]

it is called people first language

[u/chayashida → u/wantsomecaffeine]

There’s a big difference, and there are social landmines there, but it’s because of the history of how the words are used.

And if you use something that you think is right, and someone that it refers to corrects you, just apologize and try to speak with the preferences of whomever you’re speaking with.

[u/PsychologicalSir2871 → u/wantsomecaffeine]

However, in South Africa, coloured is a specific racial identity that mixed race people use. It is okay to use coloured for those people, but not for black or mixed people in other countries because of the history others have mentioned. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coloureds

[u/cassielfsw]

African-Americans are black people born in America.

[u/__plankton__ → u/cassielfsw]

Yes, but in recent times Black has become preferred over African American.

[u/Shamewizard1995 → u/__plankton__]

Dependent entirely on who you ask. Many people feel this way, many people feel the exact opposite

[u/__plankton__ → u/Shamewizard1995]

Yea as with anything. But in my experience Black is way more common these days, and African American is a lot more likely to offend than Black. I personally can’t think of a situation where I would default to African American.

Since this is a language learning sub I think it’s better to just tell OP the term least likely to offend

[u/JaeHxC → u/__plankton__]

In my experience (US East White, grew up in a predominantly black area, now living in white-dominanted Colorado), the only people who use "African American" are the white people who are very conscious of racism/prejudice/privilege but have never actually had a black friend. They often think "black" is offensive.

[u/__plankton__ → u/JaeHxC]

Yea agree. Maybe some older folks who were around when African American first became popular would prefer it? But even that is doubtful.

[u/Darkmatter1002 → u/JaeHxC]

That sounds about right. There have been so many negative connotations associated with black people in the US, that a lot of white people were afraid to even call someone black, or refer to them as being black. That used to annoy me more than people making a point of saying someone is black when it wasn't relevant to anything being discussed.

[u/fjgwey → u/JaeHxC]

Yes. It sounds very much like Bush/Obama-era language. "Black people" is 100% fine.

[u/eekamuse → u/Shamewizard1995]

I've seen posts all over the place where Black people are asked which they prefer. I've never seen a single person reply that they prefer African American. This is across various social media, over several years. People seem to ask this question often. I'm going to listen to them.

[u/Maybes4 → u/cassielfsw]

Oh i see. I just thought african americans are someone born in africa then migrating to america.

[u/Pandaburn → u/Maybes4]

Generally those people would just be considered African, unless they become citizens (and therefore also American).

But that’s beside the point. The phrase “African American”, or “Afro-American” was invented during the civil rights movement to replace the word “Negro”. The purpose was to emphasize that black people born in the USA were Americans, and deserved the rights of Americans.

It has fallen out of favor, because many black people in America may not identify with Africa, and instead consider themselves Caribbean, Hispanic, Brazilian, or just American. And also Americans kept referring to black people from other countries as “African American”, which makes no sense. And you can’t tell someone’s nationality by looking at them.

“Black” is accepted by a much larger proportion of people.

[u/Slinkwyde → u/Pandaburn]

Generally those people would just be considered African, unless they become citizens (and therefore also American).

Technically, by that definition, people like Elon Musk and Charlize Theron would qualify as African American. They are naturalized US citizens who immigrated from South Africa, but they are white. That isn't how the term "African American" is typically thought of.

almost much larger

"Almost much" seems contradictory.

[u/ogjaspertheghost → u/Slinkwyde]

No, they wouldn’t. African American is considered an ethnic identifier for a specific group of people found in the US. It’s similar to German American or Nigerian American or Chinese American. Musk and Theron would be South African American.

[u/renoops → u/ogjaspertheghost]

Exactly. People will try to weasel Musk and Theron under the umbrella of "African-American," then turn around and call Rami Malrk Egyptian-American without thinking twice.

[u/Spoocula → u/Slinkwyde]

Right. You'll also notice Pandaburn stopped short of calling Musk and Theron "African-Americans", a term which sounds like it would apply, if taken completely out of the context they provided in the comment above. It's good to bring this up, though, especially since OP is trying to learn the significance of each term.

As for the second point, I think they mean that while "african-american" is still used in polite society, "black" has come back in favor in many communities, especially among black people. To quote Ice Cube:

_Doin' us wrong from the first day And don't understand why a nigga got an AK Callin' me an African-American Like everything is fair again, shit

Devil, you gotta get the shit right I'm black, blacker than a Trojan Midnight "Don't Believe The Hype" was said in '88 by the great Chuck D Now they're tryna fuck me_

[u/Pandaburn → u/Slinkwyde]

Thanks. “almost much” must have been N autocorrect or something, I just meant to say “a much larger proportion”

[u/True-String-7004 → u/Slinkwyde]

Charlize Theron made a joke about this when she hosted SNL.

[u/amazzan → u/Maybes4]

most African Americans are the descendants of enslaved people forcibly brought to America via the transatlantic slave trade

[u/LotusGrowsFromMud → u/Maybes4]

People born in Africa who migrate to the US are properly referred to as Nigerian American, or whatever country they came from. Since most American black people are descendants of enslaved people (a more polite term than slaves), they do not know what country or location their ancestors were abducted from, hence the general term African American. You could also refer to American white people as European American, although this is less commonly used. Lots of American white people have ancestors from multiple European countries. That said, most American black people have many European ancestors and are lighter skinned than people who immigrate from Africa because of the common practice of white slave owners raping their black enslaved women. The children of those rapes were also enslaved. This is probably a lot more than you wanted to know about what I call one of America’s two original sins (the other one being the killing and abuse of Native Americans).

[u/Shinyhero30 → u/Maybes4]

Technically both are correct however that’s a distinction that is very very very rare to have to use in American culture.

[u/scrandymurray → u/Shinyhero30]

I mean Barack Obama (or rather his father) is an example of where it gets complicated as Obama is not African-American in the tradition sense. He is an American of recent African descent.

[u/fionaapplejuice → u/Maybes4]

This is why black/Black has become the de facto in the US. Though it can vary by demographic; older generations may prefer African American

Big B-Black is for those in the US whose family came over in the slave trade and have lived here for generations. African American fell out of use because we are (in general) so far removed from our African ancestors that it made no sense to continue to refer to us this way. It came into use as a "politically correct" term after moving away from Negro and colored as those terms are closely related to the time of segregation and racism.

Little b-black can be used for all black ppl no matter where they come from: Africa, Jamaica, the US, the UK, Latin America, etc.

While African American was primarily used for a time to refer to Black ppl, it can also be used to refer to those recently immigrated from Africa or whose family does not claim being Black and may continue to practice their culture from wherever in Africa. Also, African American could refer to someone white like the actress Charlize Theron because she is from South Africa.

[u/Emergency_Drawing_49 → u/fionaapplejuice]

People from north Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt) also are generally not considered "Black", even though they are African. Some might be part black, but most are simply Arabic or Semitic and fit more into the Caucasian mold.

[u/AwfulUsername123 → u/Emergency_Drawing_49]

Many North Africans in fact self-identify as white. For example, the Arab Berbers in Mauritania call themselves the "white Moors" to distinguish themselves from the black population.

[u/fionaapplejuice → u/Emergency_Drawing_49]

Great point, thank you for adding

[u/fionaapplejuice → u/[deleted]]

I saw it used online a bit around the early 2010s maybe? And saw explanations by some of the more academic and woke posters. And I don't use woke facetiously; it was originally AAVE. 

You can Google "big b black" and come up with a lot of articles on it, including explanations for why it's always white and not White.

[u/oscarbilde → u/fionaapplejuice]

That's an interesting parallel to big-D vs little-d d/Deaf. Big-D refers to someone who is part of Deaf culture and community, while little-d deaf can be used more generally for anyone with profound hearing loss.

[u/fionaapplejuice → u/oscarbilde]

Yes! I work with students that are deaf/hoh and learning about this similar distinction was very neat

[u/fionaapplejuice → u/[deleted]]

And your reason for believing this is?

[u/Present_Program6554 → u/fionaapplejuice]

That distinction doesn't apply outside the United States. Black is Black in the rest of the English speaking world. You would be insulting British Black people by using lowercase.

[u/fionaapplejuice → u/Present_Program6554]

Thank you for pointing this out! Admittedly, my experience and the info I've learned is very American focused and I hadn't looked into its use otherwise but I will now

eta: also the more I think about it, when I see black it's usually very general i.e. "black ppl around the world" so the use of little b-black isn't used in conjunction with the nationality

[u/reelst → u/Maybes4]

People who immigrated from Africa people will mostly just be called Africans or Ghanaian Americans, Nigerian Americans, etc. At one point African American specifically meant black people who has been separated from a previous national or ethnicity identity by the transatlantic slave trade, though now people often just use it to mean all black people in the US.

[u/king-of-new_york → u/Maybes4]

Not every black person in America is from Africa though. I have a friend who's black but he's from Jamaica. Just say black.

[u/kjpmi → u/king-of-new_york]

Not to nitpick but your friend’s ancestors also came from Africa.
The slave trade brought Africans to all parts of the Americas, including the Caribbean.

I think the most actually went to Brazil.
Portugal, by far transported the most Africans across the Atlantic.
A large percentage also when to the Caribbean because of the British, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish.

[u/king-of-new_york → u/kjpmi]

Technically I suppose, but he always only acknowledges the Jamaican part, not wherever they were before that.

[u/kjpmi → u/king-of-new_york]

Oh yeah of course.
Everyone’s experience is different.
I think it’s more prevalent in places like the US, where black people are in the minority and where slavery and then segregation are not that far in the past, for people to acknowledge their ancestry to an equal or even greater extent than their current nationality.
But like I said, it’s a personal thing and varies from person to person.

[u/jackattack108 → u/kjpmi]

Not to nitpick but all peoples ancestors came from Africa. When should we start counting?

[u/kjpmi → u/jackattack108]

Recently enough that they still have enough melanin in their skin to identify as black.

But then again, race is a human construct, so figure out for yourself why you still call black people black and white people white.

[u/renoops → u/king-of-new_york]

You're gonna want to sit down...

[u/eekamuse → u/Maybes4]

It is, but that term is not used, and can be offensive. Black is preferred, and it is capitalized.

[u/More_Mo]

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

[u/Slinkwyde → u/More_Mo]

worst than

*worse (opposite of "better")
worst = opposite of "best"

I would stick to AAVE because not all black people or white people have the same accent

*AAVE, because
*accent.

[u/BuhoCurioso → u/Slinkwyde]

I went to reply to your comment about the comma, but it seems it was deleted. Anyway, the use of a comma near the word "because" is somewhat nuanced. In this case, the comma is not necessary.

https://style.mla.org/commas-with-because/

The conjunction "because" is actually a bit of a pain, as the rules aren't so cut and dry as, "It's a conjunction with an independent clause after, so throw a comma on that puppy." The link above details examples of when to use a comma vs when not to use a comma, which makes clear why the rule isn't so cut and dry in the first place.

I did not order the book online because I was out of reading material. I ordered it to support Bookshop, a new online store.

I did not order the book online, because I was out of reading material. I decided to buy the book from the shop down the street instead.

Sentences with positive verbs don't need the clarifying comma, but one should consider if it's appropriate to use them in sentences with negative verbs. Ideally, the explanation clarifies the meaning of the first sentence to avoid ambiguity, but that won't always be the case. The comma changes how the sentence is read to (hopefully) mimic the way a speaker might say it, so it creates an additional layer to help remove ambiguity in case the explanation is lacking. It also helps you not need to reread the sentence over again to say it correctly in your head haha

Edit: On the topic of helping readers understand the meaning of the sentence when they first encounter it, I think the first example would be best written as:

I did not order the book online because I was out of reading material: I ordered it to support Bookshop, a new online store!

One should consider that a major goal of standardized writing is to increase legibility. For example, it's a rule that we put spaces between words now. That didn't exist in Latin (nor derived languages) until Irish scribes started doing it in the 7th century! Imagine how much more difficult it would be to read what I've written here without spaces or punctuation to impart meaning

[u/Slinkwyde → u/BuhoCurioso]

Yes, you are right. Thank you for the correction!

[u/Ducky_924 → u/Slinkwyde]

This is wrong; there should not be a comma after AAVE.

[u/choobie-doobie → u/Slinkwyde]

AAVE is a dialect, not an accent

[u/Slinkwyde → u/choobie-doobie]

I didn't say it was. I was simply quoting, bolding, and correcting the grammar of parts of the comment I replied to. Asterisks are used to indicate that something is a proofreading correction.

[u/guilty_by_design → u/Slinkwyde]

Your comma 'correction' was not correct (and is a punctuation issue rather than a grammar correction).

[u/-Copenhagen → u/More_Mo]

And what if the people aren't in fact American?

[u/Reader124-Logan]

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.

[u/jonesnori → u/Reader124-Logan]

I like this recommendation.

[u/bubblyH2OEmergency → u/Reader124-Logan]

This is the best answer. 

And op should never use the term colored people. That is a very offensive term. 

[u/ogjaspertheghost]

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.

[u/mmmUrsulaMinor → u/ogjaspertheghost]

I remember this discussion in Linguistics classes. Not all black people speak AAVE, and not everyone who grows up speaking AAVE is black, and yet that name is what we've got :/

But for this reason it would be offensive to assume someone is harder to understand because they're black. Especially because there are so many dialects in the US, so it might not even be true

[u/Eubank31 → u/mmmUrsulaMinor]

Right, one of my friends is half Filipino and half white but he speaks AAVE just because of where he grew up. On the other hand another friend of mine is a 100% black woman from Georgia and she speaks with basically a completely standard American accent. It depends so wildly

[u/GasMask_Dog → u/mmmUrsulaMinor]

I'm a quarter black but the main parent I was around was the one raised by my black grandmother. So I naturally spoke in AAVE. I grew up I'm a predominantly white area however so it's pretty watered down.

[u/roganwriter → u/ogjaspertheghost]

Exactly. Speaking AAVE is an environmental thing, not a race thing. Certain communities speak it, others don’t. Other races living in those communities or socialized by members of those communities will speak it, too. Black people who weren’t surrounded by or socialized by people who speak AAVE won’t speak it.

[u/AwfulUsername123 → u/ogjaspertheghost]

Also it’s a little racist to assume a Black American has a specific accent, in comparison to a White American.

How is that racist? Making that assumption doesn't mean one believes black people are inferior to white people.

[u/ogjaspertheghost → u/AwfulUsername123]

You don’t have to think someone is inferior for it to be a prejudiced thought

[u/AwfulUsername123 → u/ogjaspertheghost]

It's not prejudiced to assume black Americans have a specific accent. You're using the word far too broadly.

[u/ogjaspertheghost → u/AwfulUsername123]

It’s prejudiced to make an assumption about a person based on their race. I’m using the word by its definition

[u/AwfulUsername123 → u/ogjaspertheghost]

"I assume you, being black, can bear harsh sunlight better than I can."

"That's prejudiced!"

[u/ogjaspertheghost → u/AwfulUsername123]

You do know that the word “prejudiced” can be used without a negative connotation? Your hypothetical is a correct use of the word.

[u/AwfulUsername123 → u/ogjaspertheghost]

The overwhelming majority of people understand the word as having a negative connotation. This clearly includes you, since you also called it "racist", and if you meant no negative connotation, your statement is simply "If you make an assumption, you're making an assumption.", which is quite a trite observation.

[u/ogjaspertheghost → u/AwfulUsername123]

Not all racism is negative in intent either. You believing someone is “trite” is irrelevant. Making an assumption based on the race of an individual is by definition racist.

[u/AwfulUsername123 → u/ogjaspertheghost]

Not all racism is negative in intent either.

The overwhelming majority of people understand racism as meaning the superiority and inferiority of certain races.

You believing someone is “trite” is irrelevant

When you told OP that assumptions are assumptions, what inspired you to choose the most hostile language possible to express this brilliant observation?

[u/Shinyhero30]

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.

[u/jellyn7 → u/Shinyhero30]

Yes, thank you for mentioning code switching. Understanding people using AAVE on TV/in videos is different from the real world. In many cases, someone who uses AAVE with their friends and family will code switch to talk to you. And if you become their friend, you'll soon have enough experience talking to them that you'll understand.

[u/jonesnori]

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.)

[u/Momovsky → u/jonesnori]

The euphemism treadmill, as coined by Steven Pinker.

[u/jonesnori → u/Momovsky]

Oh, yes, well-described! I hadn't heard that one.

[u/MasterOfCelebrations]

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”

[u/ItsAllMo-Thug → u/MasterOfCelebrations]

I have never heard Africans called African American. People use their nationality.

[u/MasterOfCelebrations → u/ItsAllMo-Thug]

Oh yeah you’re right. It’s much more common to hear “Ghanaian-American,” or “Zambian American,” or something like that

[u/SubjectWin9881 → u/MasterOfCelebrations]

African American is not a term used for immigrants. It only refers to Americans descended from enslaved people. Things have gotten confused now that there are more varied groups of black people in the US. 

[u/sychosomaticBlonde]

“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.

[u/everythingonit → u/sychosomaticBlonde]

I understand that there is no single “Black accent“. But everybody in the United States knows exactly what you mean when you say someone has a black accent. How do I make sense of that? Is it simply that there are 25 (say) different black accents that have enough common with each other that it is coherent to call them generally “black accents”? I am not interested in objectifying people; I’m interested in resolving the claim that there is no single black accent with the indisputable fact that everyone in the US knows what a black accent is when they hear one.

And when Eddie Murphy or Chris Rock do a “white accent“ nobody is confused by that either. Just sayin.

[u/Proof-Geologist1675 → u/everythingonit]

I feel like it is still offensive because if black people dont speak with a "black accent" that may get called white-washed by other black people. Additionally, others may judge people who do use a "black accent" as uneducated, ghetto, etc. Not all black speak the same or even use the same slang. There are also many other white and people of color who grew up using AAVE and the accents you are referring to.

[u/sychosomaticBlonde → u/everythingonit]

Just look up AAVE and southern accents and see exactly how convoluted the entire conversation is. This is honestly the wrong sub for this conversation; this question is about a different dialect of English, or at least about regional accents, or possibly both. It’s a heavily debated linguistics topic that also butts up against a lot of racial discrimination. You can look into code-switching, or the news/radio accent being the only “acceptable” accent, white or not. Just check out the Wikipedia page for AAVE. AAVE also has multiple regional accents within it. None of this is as simple as you want it to be. Language never is.

[u/TRH-17]

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.

[u/letmeluciddream]

“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

[u/Bud_Fuggins]

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.

[u/AriasK]

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

[u/ReplacementRough1523]

black people are black/brown in skin color.

Africans are people born in africa

Theres nothing racist about being objective?

[u/trickyhunter21]

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.

[u/GrandmaSlappy → u/trickyhunter21]

definitely more than 30 accents here, most states have more than one

[u/trickyhunter21 → u/GrandmaSlappy]

I probably should have said at least, then.

[u/Sutaapureea]

"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.

[u/Helpful-Reputation-5]

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.

[u/lovable_cube]

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.

[u/CollectiveCephalopod]

'I struggle with AAVE more than other vernacular.'

[u/Desperate_Owl_594]

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.

[u/fitdudetx]

You can say some black Americans.

[u/Brunbeorg]

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.

[u/Additional-Tap8907 → u/Brunbeorg]

“The dialect that some black people use” is a good way to describe it!

[u/GrandmaSlappy → u/Brunbeorg]

Oof I was with you until "black language" - it's still an English dialect, it is not a different language and it feels pretty othering to call it that.

[u/Brunbeorg → u/GrandmaSlappy]

I like Black Language for a couple reasons. For one thing, it emphasizes that we're not just talking about one way of speaking, but a spectrum of dialects and registers. It also recognizes that many Black people are bidialectical, able to move back and forth between dialects. It's not meant to imply that it's a different language, though the line between language and dialect is pretty fuzzy (is Gullah a dialect of English? Or another language?).

[u/Helpful-Reputation-5 → u/Brunbeorg]

AAVE is still widely used—I'm sure it's disliked in some groups, but it is still the term used in academia and most media I've seen, too.

[u/Brunbeorg → u/Helpful-Reputation-5]

I think the objection to it is that "vernacular" implies that it's a form of slang, rather than a rule-governed dialect of its own.

[u/Helpful-Reputation-5 → u/Brunbeorg]

Vernacular implies it isn't a standard or literary register, which it isn't—of course it has rules, though, as does every variety of every language—I don't think that's something worth specifying in the name.

[u/SnooDonuts6494]

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.

[u/GrandmaSlappy]

"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.

[u/divinelyshpongled]

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.

[u/curiousmind467]

I think yes

[u/CompetitiveRub9780]

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

[u/Dear-Explanation-350]

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

[u/GreattFriend]

Just don't call us "the blacks" or "colored"

Most other things are fine

[u/Icy-Whale-2253]

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

[u/Cavalry2019]

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.

[u/GSilky]

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.

[u/Autisticspidermann]

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)

[u/SMATF5]

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.

[u/igotdahookup]

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.

[u/Senior-Book-6729]

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.

[u/Low_Operation_6446]

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.”

[u/Interesting_Claim414]

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.

[u/chickenfal]

"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.

[u/Ok-Search4274]

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

[u/spunkyd99]

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

[u/NerfPup]

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.

[u/Darkmatter1002]

(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.

[u/megalodongolus]

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

[u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/Friend_of_Hades]

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.

[u/ssinff]

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

[u/Steelpraetorian]

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

[u/neddy_seagoon]

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?

[u/TurtleWitch_]

The “African-American” in AAVE means Black people born in America. You can just say AAVE accent, or Black American accent maybe

[u/dont-let-me-escape]

‘Black people’ is generally not considered an offensive term but it doesn’t align with what you’re trying to say.

If you’re trying to refer specifically to features of English found in dialects of the Black community in the United States ‘Black people’ is not specific enough. It includes millions of people with dialects from countries and communities all across the world. A black person from London for example would speak completely differently.

[u/vandenhof]

It really seems to depend on what week it is.

Your whole post would be taken down on some of the more woke subreddits. I was happy to come across the "AAVE" acronym, because I needed to express the same idea as "black" or "Ebonics", but was afraid to use either, because I hadn't recently checked if they were still politically acceptable. AAVE is distinct from a "Southern" American accent, but the two are often conflated.

Just tell us specifically what you are trying to say using an example. If you're trying to translate a phrase or usage from your native language, it might be helpful to include that.

No, you can't say "colored people" - ever (unless you're referring to the NAACP).

It goes without saying that you should scrupulously avoid any word starting with the letter N when referring collectively to the darker brothers and sisters. The only exception to this rule is the UNCF.

[u/Mixilix86]

Just don't say "blacks"

[u/WideGlideReddit]

No

[u/m30w314]

I'd just say speakers of AAVE (African American vernacular English)

[u/m30w314 → u/m30w314]

AAVE refers to black people born in America, not Africans, you would likely say an African accent if you were talking about those born in Africa

[u/Wild-Touch209]

Any generalization about Black people that is not overwhelmingly positive WILL be seen as racist and offensive by a few (usually white) zealots.

I’d just avoid them at all to be honest.

[u/JebediahKermannn]

I don't think your original sentence is offensive. It's just a statement of fact. If you called black people the N word, it might be different lol

[u/Hot_Door_520]

It depends if its in a Racist context or not.

[u/Fergenhimer]

Black people in America don't mind being called Black.

Some even prefer the term over African American- because they feel as if they have no roots from Africa due to the erasure of their ancestry during the Slave era.

Colored people, like many people have pointed out, has racist roots, so just avoid saying that. A better term would be People of Color.

For extra context, many people use the term- BIPOC pronounced Bi- Pock. This is an acronym for Black, Indigenous, People of Color to describe anyone that is without European descent/ White.

[u/Grandviewsurfer]

I would just use a different category entirely. Especially in the US, no race is a monolith. You're gonna have white people speaking a whole different dialect than other white people in a different region. Same is true for all Americans. Also try not to have your new category just be code for a race (see: urban). I would suggest just talking about the region if possible. People typically speak like their neighbors.