Black and White

 

The word “black” often has a pejorative context … possibly driven by the notion of night versus day. This is an unfortunate semantic that Afro-Americans must  live under. 

Here are some of these negative semantics:

black swan event, black sheep in the family, he was black-balled, it’s a black day, a black mark, blaggards, black eye, black widow, pot calling the kettle black, black out, black and blue, coal black, black magic, Black Tuesday stock-market crash, no-Pope black smoke, black hole

A pretty daunting list! But there are also some positive or just neutral memes:

Black Beauty, black is beautiful, black and white, black-tie event, black gold, black squares,  black-strap molasses, in the black, black don’t crack, once you go black you don’t go back,  black gum tree, Black Jack Pershing, Black Friday after Thanksgiving

Obviously, these many idioms will likely persist … unless, of course, the liberal language police takes notice … maybe banning this word altogether?

Afterthought: Maybe this is whyThurgood Marshall wanted to ban the use of the word “black” and replace it with “Afro-American?”

STAND UP FOR SEMANTICS!