STAR : Words to Use

"Promoting diversity, inclusion and equality for all children"

Registered Charity No. 1023528

Words to Use - page 1

Some people worry a bit about which words are okay to use when they're talking about race or particular ethnic groups. Most people know words which are meant to be insulting, which are meant to put people down, but aren't so sure about other words.

Take someone who has a mother who is black and a father who is white. At one time they would have been called a 'half-caste', or even a mulatto, but this is now usually thought to be a bit insulting. 'Mixed race' was used next, but nowadays most people in this situation seem to prefer 'dual heritage'.

Remember the old playground rhyme:

'Sticks and stones may break my bones
but names will never hurt me.'

This is not true — anyone who has been called names they don't like knows that. But how do we know which names and words will hurt? The best test is to ask, but this is not always easy or possible for everyone. To help with this, lots of people have been asked about these pages to try to get them right.

The people who ought to decide whether a name or 'label' is okay (or not) are the people who the name is used for, the people who have to wear the label.

If young people don't like being called 'kids' then adults should ask them what they want to be called.
If someone who can't walk doesn't like being called a 'cripple' then others should respect that.
The same goes for girls who don't like to be referred to as 'birds'.

Words which people generally think are okay

Black
People with roots in Africa or the Caribbean generally prefer this word to describe themselves (though some older people may not). Of course they are not really black like shoes can be black, but then 'white' people are not really white, are they? One of the reasons the word 'black' is preferred is that in the past people were often taught that black = bad or evil, and many people now want to say that there is nothing bad or evil about dark skin and that they are proud of it. As long ago as the 1960s black people in the USA summed this up in the phrase 'black is beautiful'. Some people with Asian roots call themselves 'black' but most don't.

African-Caribbean
This is the term people with roots in the Caribbean tend to prefer, as an alternative to 'black'. They prefer it to what they used to be called, which was 'West Indian'. In fact, in modern usage it is usual to refer to people having an African or Caribbean heritage as belonging to the African-Caribbean British community.

Asian
This is the most general word for people with roots or family connections in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. You aren't likely to annoy anyone by using it.

Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Chinese, etc.
If you know someone has roots or family connections in one of these places then one of these words is fine, though people can be touchy if you kind of suggest they are not really British when they think they are. If you had a friend with an Italian name because her Italian grandparents moved to Britain in 1950, would you call her Italian or British? Perhaps you would not be sure, perhaps it might depend on whether she felt a bit Italian herself, spoke Italian, went to an Italian-speaking Catholic church?