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A few points, in no particular order: "A black man" paints a very different picture from "an elderly black gentleman" or "a tall, black-skinned young man". In the first case, the skin colour is t...
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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43324 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/43324 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
A few points, in no particular order: - "A black man" paints a very different picture from "an elderly black gentleman" or "a tall, black-skinned young man". In the first case, the skin colour is the _only_ thing the narrator sees about the man. That's a bit disconcerting if you look at it like that. In the other examples, skin colour is one of many characteristics, it could have just as easily been "red-haired". - You definitely don't want to use 'African' for a person who might have lived in the UK for three generations. Your character doesn't know the person is a foreigner - it's not like the story is set in Russia. - As an alternative to 'black', you can use 'dark-skinned'.