NFL/NBA now have a Donald Sterling problem with Gayle Benson

Bongzilla said

somehow along the way, the words "black" and "African american" have become racial slurs.

You can still call an asian an asian, or a hispanic a hispanic, and without question you can certainly call a white person white..

But apparently calling a black person black is now a form of racism.

Click to expand...

There is this thing called context. There are not-so-subtle implications afoot when your employer adds "black" to her accusatory statement. Unfortunately, there isn't a handydandy list of words you can refer to that are either ALWAYS offensive or NEVER offensive. Being "politically correct" means you have to use judgement and sensitivity, and make the effort try to perceive how your words and actions might resonate and be interpreted from a minority's perspective. Nowadays people so often seem to think of this as too much to ask, but when my parents taught us to do that it was just called "good manners."