The Army has offered an apology for having the term “Negro” in a policy document that called the word an acceptable alternative to “Black” or “African American.”
It’s just dawned on the Army that’s it’s 2014 and not 1950.
The term appeared in a lengthy document called Army Command Policy, covering personnel standards and policies and has now been dropped.
According to The Independent, the term was sandwiched between descriptions of what prejudice and racism mean in the context of the armed forces, a paragraph on black or African American? reads: “A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as Haitian or Negro can be used in addition to Black or African American.”
The Associated Press reports:
The Army issued a statement saying it removed the term “Negro” Thursday as soon as it realized it was in the document. It did not say when the term first appeared in the document, but it apparently was many years ago.
Do we really need to make a list for the military of other terms not to call black people?