The newspaper recently published several headlines describing a person as “a negro” in the context of reports on police abuses in the U.S. This expression has shocked many readers, and some have written to the Reader’s Advocate, considering it offensive. “The use of racist language to refer to Afro-descendants is totally outrageous,” wrote one reader some time ago. “I don’t think ‘a negro’ is the right term for a headline, as the depersonalized use of the word is degrading. I suggest changing it to: a black man,” proposed another reader.
A year after George Floyd’s death and in light of new cases of black citizens shot by police in the U.S., this is a highly sensitive topic. La Vanguardia’s style guide stipulates that “if it is necessary to indicate that someone is black, use this adjective, never ‘person of color'” and emphasizes something very important: “this aspect should only be noted if it is informatively relevant.”
In other words, there is nothing wrong with saying someone is black, and euphemisms should not be used, but this condition should never be mentioned gratuitously or in a way that could feed stigmas or stereotypes.
The head of the International section, Ramon Aymerich, points out that, unlike similar-rooted American expressions, the word “negro” has no derogatory connotation and is equivalent to the “black” used by major North American media. Alternatives like “African American,” Aymerich continues, are incomplete since there are blacks who are not or do not feel African. The word “negro,” on the other hand, does allow for reference to an “objectifiable” reality.
For many readers, however, it is not the same to say “a black man” as “a negro.” Although in the case of news about abuses, the aim of referring to the victim so directly in a headline is precisely to emphasize that the cause of the abuse is the color of their skin, we might need to consider whether readers actually interpret it that way and generate empathy or if we seem insensitive and create the opposite effect. Most of the time, however, the reason for identifying a person as “a negro” is due to space limitations in print edition headlines, where one often has to choose between using a broader formula or highlighting that the attack was carried out by the police or some other relevant circumstance.
It can be argued that if the headline generates outrage, it is because of the situation being reported and should not be softened, but it is also true that the socially accepted practice today is to refer to people who have suffered discrimination using expressions that do not reduce them to the condition for which they have been victimized. These are probably formulas marked by the cumbersome corset of political correctness, but with them, society as a whole emphasizes our solidarity with them and rejection of any form of discrimination.
Source: La Vanguardia
