I recently came across a medical article that accounted for a number of ethnic physiological profiles (women, blacks and diabetics) when interpreting the outcome of a trial. They consistently used the term "blacks", presumably for subjects of African descent.
My question is, how specific is the term "blacks" as an ethnic profile; what does and what doesn't it entail? And on a related note, how laden is the term "blacks"? In my native tongue "blacks" and "niggers" carry about the same connotation.
Edit in response to the comments
Thank you all for your comments. From your responses I distill that "blacks" is more or less equivalent to "African-American", but might carry a negative connotation.
@Xanne: "physiological profile" might have been more accurate than "ethnic profile", although I reckon the line between these two is blurred in the current context.
@Mitch There is a perceived difference between 'black' (the adjective for the group) and 'blacks' (the group label). Even though this seems infinitesimally different, they have pretty different connotations.
@AndyT "Black" is not equivalent to "African American". All African Americans may be Blacks, but not all Blacks are African Americans. There are plenty of black people who are not American!
Most responses have been concerning the connotation of the term "blacks". I would like to shift the focus to my other question:
Does anyone think that "blacks" may refer to a more specific or a more broad group than "African-American"?
Best Answer
There are official US racial definitions that government agencies follow, in a accordance with a Office of Management and Budget (OMB) directive, as explained here. Two of the definitions are
So keep in mind that some original people of Africa and their descendants, for example of Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, etc., are considered "white", at least according to official US definitions.
The term "African-American" came into wide-spread usage after Jesse Jackson endorsed in 1988, as explained in the 31 January 1989 New York Times article 'African-American' Favored By Many of America's Blacks.
However, subsequently there has been some backlash against this term from blacks. See for example:
Why I'm Black, not African American Los Angles Times 08 September 2004.
I'm Not African American, I'm Black Ebony 2012
Even Jesse Jackson was recently (4 April 2017) quoted as saying the phrase "blacks building slave ships", as explained in Rev. Jesse Jackson: Latinos Building Border Wall is Like Blacks Building Slave Ships
The naming of black organizations such as Blacks in Government and National Association of Blacks In Criminal Justice further shows that "blacks" is not an offensive term.