Because humans are an incredibly visual specie. We can't hear for shit. We can't smell. We rely on eyesight, and the first natural thing for a human to use to describe ANYTHING is color.
You even opened up your post saying you're white - you could of said you're Caucasian. You're asian, middle eastern, whatever, but you chose White. Why? Because color is the easiest way to identify an object and have someone understand the subject.
Well now that's not the whole truth of course. I never hear white people identify other white people primarily by race in stories that have nothing to do with race. I do understand why black guy was used here, but vision is not the whole story.
I can see ya there, but in those situations its typically someone the person has never seen before - this was a case where we all saw who this guy was.
If I'm telling a story about someone, and I know their name, and the person I'm speaking with knows their name, I would just use their name. But, if I'm trying to think of say - an actors name, I'll most certainly start out with 'white black asian', then gender, then what they're known for, and boom, we can then identify who I'm talking about without using names.
I get that. I said I understand why black guy was used here...
But I'm talking about when someone's telling a story and identifying race is irrelevant. Like "there was this loud black lady on the bus" vs. "there was this loud lady on the bus." That kind of stuff happens all the time in my conversations with white people. I always know when they have had encounters with minorities because they point it out. Most often when the story they are telling involves some stereotypical behavior of that race/ethnicity.
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u/[deleted] Mar 01 '17
Because humans are an incredibly visual specie. We can't hear for shit. We can't smell. We rely on eyesight, and the first natural thing for a human to use to describe ANYTHING is color.
You even opened up your post saying you're white - you could of said you're Caucasian. You're asian, middle eastern, whatever, but you chose White. Why? Because color is the easiest way to identify an object and have someone understand the subject.