Is it offensive to refer to black people as “black” and/or “African American”? White people seem like they’re walking on eggshells, and they say “African American” a lot (when people might be neither African nor American).

We black people fought for black. Seriously. Check your history.

The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice? Black is beautiful? Say it loud, I’m black and I’m proud? Is any of this ringing a bell? Calling another black person black before the 1960s used to be fighting words until we embraced our beauty and culture.

You can call me African-American if you’d like, but black is more than okay as well. As long as you don’t call me or act like I’m a spook, a jigaboo, a spearchucker, a shine, “one of them,” a negro, a colored person, or a nigger (seriously, non-black people, that’s not your word to use anymore), we’re good.