I guess that "black man" and "white man" are still used commonly enough to "sound acceptable", but for my part I don't find any of the four acceptable! I think that "African-American" is a step in the right direction (even though it's a mouthful), though of course one needs a way to refer to people of native African descent who aren't in America and/or who don't have ancestors who were slaves in the Americas!

I find it very strange that, when I'm required to fill out forms (census forms and the like) that include a question about one's race, the form-writers are very careful to be politically correct when referring to "African-American" and "Asian-American" and "Latino" and so forth, but they still use the word "white". Don't we get to be "Caucasian-Americans" or something? I feel PC-deprived!!! *BG*

But back to the song that this thread is about: I'm curious about the reference to the color white as "the color of... burning shame". I can't find that color-meaning on any web-page on the subject; is the songwriter making a reference to the white robes of the KKK, or what???