Since black people won't tell me, perhaps because they don't know, I did some research myself on why the word "Negro" is considered offensive.
Opinion piece with history by what I presume is a white guy:
http://stuffblackpeopledontlike.blogspot.com/2011/02/76-term-negro.html
^^ This whole site is pretty much politically incorrect, but interesting and observant nonetheless.
Scholarly article by the Senior Editor of Ebony magazine, who I presume to be black:
http://www.virginia.edu/woodson/courses/aas102 (spring 01)/articles/names/bennett.htm
Interesting how people want to be called one thing or another based on emotion and not on anything historical or rational. The word "negro" has no connotation for me, either negative or positive - I just like the way it sounds as opposed to "black" or the mostly incorrect "African-American". It's a word that sounds rich and almost regal - it means "black" in Spanish, giving it an international flair. But it's no skin off me if black people don't want to take that word and make it their own.
Words and language are interesting to me. They mean something, as in they have a definition, then they get hijacked and turned into something else that has been declared offensive so you get yelled at for saying it. It's hard to keep up and annoying to even try.
Being neither here nor there, above is your history lesson for the day in case you care.
Opinion piece with history by what I presume is a white guy:
http://stuffblackpeopledontlike.blogspot.com/2011/02/76-term-negro.html
^^ This whole site is pretty much politically incorrect, but interesting and observant nonetheless.
Scholarly article by the Senior Editor of Ebony magazine, who I presume to be black:
http://www.virginia.edu/woodson/courses/aas102 (spring 01)/articles/names/bennett.htm
Interesting how people want to be called one thing or another based on emotion and not on anything historical or rational. The word "negro" has no connotation for me, either negative or positive - I just like the way it sounds as opposed to "black" or the mostly incorrect "African-American". It's a word that sounds rich and almost regal - it means "black" in Spanish, giving it an international flair. But it's no skin off me if black people don't want to take that word and make it their own.
Words and language are interesting to me. They mean something, as in they have a definition, then they get hijacked and turned into something else that has been declared offensive so you get yelled at for saying it. It's hard to keep up and annoying to even try.
Being neither here nor there, above is your history lesson for the day in case you care.