What Racial Terms Are The Most Disliked? New York Times Readers Speak Up

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The New York Times asked readers to speak on the racial terms they dislike most, and the responses are interesting.

More than 28 responses are shown from people of different backgrounds, with each one writing about the racial terms they find most problematic. While there is some overlap in responses, it is interesting to see what words people dislike and why.

For example, two people in the article wrote about their dislike for the terms "Articulate" and "Well-spoken," because they both are often used to described a person of color (often black) who talks like a white person.

There were also responses given in which a person used a racial term that, upon retrospection, made them realize how they were implicit in using terms that have a historical racist context.

"In a casual conversation with an African-American client (I am white), we were discussing a fraught situation where she had several bosses and clients of her own each with conflicting and powerful directives to her," reader Julie Stolzer wrote. In an attempt to acknowledge her difficult plight I offered that she had become adept at 'serving many masters.' As soon as the words were out of my mouth I regretted them. She ignored the blunder at least as far as I could tell. It made me really think about the 'benign' comments we think nothing of saying without realizing their historical racist context. I'm trying to be much more intentional about such things."

From there other terms are called out such as "minority," "not really black," Oriental" and "Jew." Although the diverse results speak to how people of different backgrounds feel about these racial terms (especially those that are directed at their race), what would have also made this more informative was the age of the participants.

There was one particular entry from a reader who said they disliked the new term "Latinx," which is the gender-neutral alternative to "Latino" or "Latina." She felt that neither of those terms needed to be revised, but in recent years use of the Latinx term has been used much more.

Read other responses from the article here.