Symbolism of color, dichotomy black and white,
gives different connotations.
Words like black markets, black list and black male
carry negative connotation and are seen to be undesirable.
These invokes the history of colonialism, where the white skin color
is seen as superior and the black skin color is seen as inferior.
These terms are regarded as subconsciously racialized.
My question is, will it not be much more appropriate to give
skin color descriptions using other words, rather than white
and black descriptions?
So I will answer the question
in two parts, because I believe that there are two themes.
Firstly, when we look at examples such as black market,
black list and black mail, we can question whether these examples
are directly linked to skin color or whether they are linked
to other kinds of symbolisms, such as those of mystery.
And secondly, on the question about whether we should use
different words to describe skin color.
I would disagree with that because I think that could reproduce the problems
surrounding the skin color dichotomy of black and white.
What I would suggest is that we focus on colonial histories
to better understand why and how they determined
which skin color should be inferior and which skin color should be superior.