Many non-black folk complain about race titles and labels and how they seem to change with the wind. Is it racism or semantics?
There is a classic and cliche arguement I still hear regularly from white people, about how they are confused about what black people want to be called. Many white people seem offended that black people would want to re-label or re-title themselves as a race. But I think it makes sense.
In the USA, especially, we are a nation that struggles with the idea of race and race labels. In a nation founded on slavery, the name we use for black people has evolved from negro, to colored-person, to black, to African-American, to person of color. (It should be noted that the NAACP is still the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People probably based on the recognition of their acronym.)
I think that searching for suitable and acceptable race labels will continue to change over time. Labelling and re-labelling is how we process things as humans, it's also how we identify ourselves.
I also think that if tomorrow black people decide to call themselves The Chiefs, I'm cool with that. If white people are suddenly offended by their label ("I'm not white, I'm pinkish-beige!") and want to change their racial designation to something that they feel is more descriptive or accurate, why not? After all, what the heck is a caucasian anyway?
The other statement I hear, "Why don't they just pick a name or label and stick with it?" Sorry, it the progress of semantics. It is what has made dumb people, mute; crazy people, mentally ill; retarded people, mentally challenged. Words and/or labels do mean a lot to us, and need to change as our perceptions do as well. It is this same freedom of language that allows new words into the vernacular everyday just as google has become a verb.
I'm just saying that this kind of faux indignation at changing race labels that an ethnic group wants to give itself is really about racism and the fear of something they don't understand. Black people are constantly trying to redefine themselves in a changing world that still gives them little or no power. If a name, identity, or descriptive change helps them to feel empowered and to move forward, why not?
And just to spell it out, we are all prejudiced in some way, and not necessarily race-wise. I am predjudiced against the ignorant and the over-educated equally. We just need to constantly question our comfortable beliefs about race and race identity so we can understand our societally ingrained notions. We are all bigots and need to accept that to be able to make progress.
