I might as well stick my foot in mouth. I do write about “black issues” though I’m white, but I do have constantly evolving ideas when framing this issue. However, if you say Black, then I’ll use Black. I try to use “black American” and have recently capitalized it as “Black American.” I do this in contrast to “white” without American, because it allows me to emphasize the legitimate citizenship and dignity to Blacks in contrast to plain “whites”, who don’t need it in contrast and can be subtly de-escalated. I have used recently the term “ethnicity” in referring to whites and Black Americans, as that makes it into a constructed culture. I still employ “race” though I scientifically it we are all of the human race. My older brother is conducting this experiment now, as he and his new wife, who is from Kenya and is not Black American, will be having a baby shortly, around Christmas. The baby I’m certain at this point will be 100 percent human.
Technically, as I learned, more than 50 percent black genetically., like 52 percent or so, as I told him last year after receiving the results of my genetic ancestry test. There is a difference between science and humanities. In science, I discovered by grandfather passed the color line a hundred plus years ago, moving from New Orleans to New York. But my father didn’t tell us. So I was raised white, hence, white is a construct like black is a construct. That is Africans, who I meet a lot of in the course my days in a diverse city, are not “Black Americans” since they immigrated here and were were born and raised here. That’s my two cents, and if I offended previously, well, I don’t mean to and am willing to change. I try to listen and read many Black American authors. What’s important is listening to what people what you to call them and respecting them. Thanks much.