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Q&A How do I say that someone is black?

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...

posted 5y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:57:36Z (over 4 years ago)
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 by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T11:16:18Z (over 4 years ago)
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 by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T11:16:18Z (over 4 years ago)
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'. 
#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-03-11T14:04:18Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 34