Using black and white as descriptors as to how people look can often be a healthy way to acknowledge that we do all look different, and there's no need to feel awkward about it.
"Sometimes people go out of their way not to notice and describe people without talking about race, and, in fact, it's okay to say, 'She's the black teacher in the third grade,'" said Sachi, explaining that's it's perfectly fine to use race descriptors as long as they're within a respectful context.
"We need to be able to use the words 'black' and 'white' to have a conversation about race in a country where black and white is sort of a historical dichotomy around race," she pointed out. "We're not saying something negative about a person who's black. That wouldn't be acceptable. But simply noticing that someone is not white is not offencive."
Beyond that, Shawnese explained it's also acceptable to ask people of colour how they identify. "It's OK to say African American and it's also OK to ask someone how they prefer to identify as because some black folks don't like to be called African American, they like black. You don't know unless you ask," she said.
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