After reading Brain Droppings, I've gleaned a few brilliant ideas. The first regards race - specifically being black. The politically correct phrase people of colour really means the same thing as coloured (stemming from a time when white people believed black people were coloured - as in dirty, impure and tainted).
But have you really ever met a black person? Aren't they all really just different shades of brown and tan? And what about Indians? Their skin is often as dark and yet they're considered more similar to white people and they're never called black; they're not even called brown. And often, dark-skinned white people have darker skin than light-skinned black people. And white people are really just different shades of pink and beige. So why is colour so important? The answer: it's not. It's meaningless.
Another suspect phrase is African American (or Afro-American). Why are only black people considered African American? What about Egyptians? They live on the African continent and yet they're never called African. If you met an Egyptian living in America, you'd think him middle-eastern; not African American. And what about South African white people? Afrikaans. They're African, and yet - if one moved to America - they wouldn't be called African American. Why? Because they're white. It's casual racism, folks. Just call black people black. It's harmless, it's descriptive and it's not racist.
And, whilst we're on the topic of race, I'd like to say a few words on Native Americans. First off the bat, Native Americans are not natives - people have been moving around since time immemorial; if you truly want to know what nativism is, go to the Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia - that's where humans' early ancestors originally lived. (Isn't it oddly poetic how no humans currently live in the Great Rift Valley?)
Second of all, Native Americans aren't American. Before white people - their masters and oppressors - came along, they probably had a different name for their country (if they were even aware of it being a country - there were obviously just tribal lands before white people came into the picture; there was never an America). Why would Native American be their chosen term? Why would they choose to name themselves after the people who stole their country from them, killed most of their people and put the rest of them on substandard reservation land? In fact, Native Americans find the term Native American insulting.
When Christopher Colombus* first encountered Native Americans he dubbed them una gente in dios (Indian - see?), which means a people in God. Doesn't sound so bad, huh? The word Indian has nothing to do with the fact that Columbus was looking for quicker trade roots to India and instead found a couple of huge immovable continents; nor is Indian derogatory - the word is just oddly convenient and so gets misappropriated. (Also Colombus only made it to South America after his fourth try - he originally landed on a little island which was later to be called Cuba.)
So, whilst most people think the term American Indian is politically incorrect, it is in fact the better term to Native American. But you know what an even better term is? No: not red-skin, you racist bastard. Call them by their tribal names - the names which used to represent them but which have now vanished into obscurity. Cherokee, Sioux, Apache, Blackfoot, Navaho, Blackfeet, Huron, Erie, Tomahawk.... You got it.
*The word Columbus is actually an anglicisation - the real spelling of the eponymous Italian's name is Colombus. The country is Colombia; not Columbia.
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