Army manual: It’s OK to use ‘Negro’ to describe blacks

It’s embarassing to even write this, but it’s true. On November 6, 2014, the Washington Times published the following:

“The U.S. Army has given its stamp of approval to the use of the term “Negro” when referring to blacks or African-Americans, a newly published regulation states. The military confirmed the use of the term in its Oct. 22 version of the “Army Command Policy,” or AR 600-20…”

I couldn’t even believe this was still “on the books” so to speak.  Shortly after the spotlight went on the U.S. Army for the term, they promptly changed it.

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I filed an FOIA request for all documents, communication, etc. that related to the change. I wanted to take a sneak peek at what went on behind the scenes. I received the following:

 Army Communications Regarding Army Regulation 600-20 Changes [ 30 Pages, 0.6MB ]

https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/controversies/600-20-ArmyChanges.pdf

 Army Regulation 600-20, 6 November 2014 [ 140 Pages, 0.9MB ]

https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/controversies/r600_20.pdf

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This post was published on February 23, 2015 10:37 pm

John Greenewald

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