Loury: I object, in the most strenuous terms, to this kind of political correctness policing of the language that would forbid the use of the word "negro." There's nothing wrong with that word, in my opinion. And I hold that position really quite strongly, because I frankly think it's a superior designation for Americans of African descent, and especially those of us who descend from slavery, because it has a profound historical resonance. There's nothing wrong with that word.
John McWhorter: No.
Loury: "Black"? "African-American"? I think you could criticize both of those designations as ways of referring to this population subgroup, although they've become popular.
McWhorter: Hmmm...
Loury: But where do people get off, trying to sanitize the language?
That's from this Bloggingheads diavlog, which is worth watching in full if you're interested in an extended, nuanced dissection of Harry Reid's infamous remarks about Barack Obama and the reaction to them. (All but a few of the diavlog's 44 minutes are about those 12 words.) Neither Loury nor McWhorter sees anything inaccurate in what Reid said, nor do I. It wasn't racist; it was a Kinsley gaffe.
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