It's official: it's offensive.

[Geoffrey Nunberg]

On the other hand,

Research done before the 2000 Census, [Census Bureau Director Robert] Groves said, had indicated a substantial bloc of older African Americans would be more likely to/comfortable with identifying as "Negro," as opposed to "black" or "African American," and that 56,000 people, half of them under 45 years of age, write "Negro" in on their 2000 questionnaires.
The Atlantic, March 26, 2010

> 
> Nicholas Jones, chief of the bureau's racial statistics branch, said census research, using public feedback, has now confirmed that most black Americans no longer identify with the term and find it "offensive." 

> From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Date: March 25, 2013 10:42:17 PM PDT
> Subject: Re: It's official: it's offensive.
> 
> 
> On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 10:26 AM, Jonathan Lighter
> <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> A routine check of earth-shaking events reveals the following:
>> 
>> http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/us-census-bureau-drops-negro-surveys/story?id=18591761
> 
> 
> Guess I'll have to write in - or should that be, "write-in? - "Negro"
> in the OTHER space, being an older Southerner. Well, an older Texan.
> 
> --
> -Wilson

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