https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/black https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/black Check out the large number of senses in which the word ‘black’ represents somethi

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/black https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/black Check out the large number of senses in which the word ‘black’ represents something negative. Vice versa for ‘white’, ‘light’, ‘dark’, and more. This issue runs very, very deep in the English language. I guess this was behind the late-20th-century culture of deprecating the word black and replacing it with words like “colored”. As if that era had conceded that ‘black’ was an intrinsically judgemental word and should no longer be used to refer to people. But there was no getting away from the fact that the African skin tone really was black, and so denying use of the word black began to feel more offensive, as if it were something shameful to which attention should not be called. “Don’t worry, son, you’re not really black, you’re colored.” Pretty rough, right? And so we seem to have flipped in the other direction, and the word ‘black’ is increasingly worn proudly. So if ‘black’ is now to have a positive sense, it is all those negative senses which must come under scrutiny. I don’t know what the answer is, but I wonder how we manage to use the word ‘black’ for hair color without negative connotations.