Professor Booker T. Washington, being politely interrogated … as to whether negroes ought to be called ‘negroes’ or ‘members of the colored race’ has replied that it has long been his own practice to write and speak of members of his race as negroes, and when using the term ‘negro’ as a race designation to employ the capital ‘N’ [Harper’s Weekly, June 2, 1906]

I have lived through the progression of terms to describe people with dark skin. There was even a Bloom County Sunday comic strip about it sometime in the late 80s that caused a bit of a stir. In my youth the proper term was Negro. Its derivative, now euphemistically called the N word, may not be spoken aloud by anyone… well… except for N words themselves. Should the word escape the lips of someone with a lighter complexion it is nearly a capital offense. However those who liberally call themselves N words are permitted to sprinkle it throughout their dialog (often preceded by the F word) and call all their friends and anybody else with a darker complexion a F word N Word as well and that’s perfectly acceptable. Especially coming from a dark skinned comedian. Negroes, colored people, African Americans, people of color, and now I guess it’s “a crowd of rowdy teens.”

Like George Carlin once said as part of his famous routine about the seven words you can never say on TV, ” You’re not fooling me: shoot is shit with two Os.”  

Bring out the Scoops!!!