The U.S. Army has backtracked with an apology after approving the term “Negro” as an acceptable reference for black service members.
The decision comes two days after the dated term was found listed as an acceptable classification for “a person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa” in section 6-2 of the Army’s AR 600-20 regulations.
The revised policy now limits the acceptable terms to “Black or African American.”
“The U.S. Army fully recognized, and promptly acted, to remove outdated language in Army Regulation 600-20 as soon as it was brought to our attention,” Army spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Alayne Conway said in a statement.
“We apologize to anyone we offended,” she said.
According to Defense Power Research about 21% of active-duty members of the Army are black.
The U.S. Census Bureau had up until last year used the term “Negro” on its forms, along with black of African-American.
Census officials said some older black Americans still self-identify with the term but they eliminated it after critics complained of it being outdated and offensive.
With News Wire Services
