It occurs to me that dark matters quite a lot when I have to consider the context and date to decide what terms to use to refer to someone.

When I was in college and a member of the school chapter of the NAACP, there was this controversy as some of the 'black' students were just rejecting being CALLED 'Negro' and were opting in favor of 'black'...Stokley Carmichael and the Black Panther Party were very much in the news, and language was very much in turmoil. Several meetings had trouble getting past terminology. There was, at the time, one group campaigning for "Afro-American", but they were a minority.
Even today, 40 years later, it is not settled. I find typing (or saying) "African-American" awkward, partly because of its length, and partly because it just doesn't cover all the various groups...especially in large urban communities. When I have to fill out a form, 'white' is usually adequate to describe ME...even though 'pale pink' is probably closer. I would HATE having to type 'Caucasian'...but would, if there were some standard way to describe the other categories.

It is so frustrating to have to PONDER whether "Latino", "Hispanic" or "Spanish" also covers "Mexican" and who will be insulted if I get it wrong....and with the world shrinking and marriage across cultural boundaries increasing, there soon won't BE enough categories to cover everyone.

I'd prefer to not NEED to identify anyone with a label, except when it's necessary...like a description for a police investigation, or when there is some event celebrating some ethnic group. If I need to just single out someone in a group, it would be convenient to say "the black guy standing next to the white guy with the cap".....I don't want to fret over whether the 'black' guy will be offended is he hears me.

We have several 'dark' members in our craft guild--in fact, one was just elected president-- and we almost always just refer to her and the others by their name...and if someone is not sure who we mean, we mention their craft, not their color.



...as I type and think, it dawns on me again that 'being dark matters' BECAUSE various folks are constantly making it matter...from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson appearing on the scene whenever an 'incident' happens, to news programs speculating about Barak Obama and wondering "if America is ready for a black president"....shucks, I'd have voted for Barbara Jordan years ago, if she had run....and I suspect she'd have done well!

This is the TV era...there is NO doubt that Obama has some 'dark' heritage, but I'd LOVE to see the entire campaign go on with no direct mention of it. Then maybe we'd be moving toward the day when it DIDN'T matter.