[JasonTakeshi]

Any words/expressions can be seen as an insult/accompliment. There are people who will be extremely offended if you call them "cute", and others who will be all excited if you call them "ugly". Thats the same if you call a black person "black". Eather he will freak out, or will accept it since hes proud of the color of his skin. Wherever if the concept/context of it is negative/positive, different people take it differently.

I have this best childhood friend, who is black, who i kindly call "Preto" (Black, in portuguese) and he doesnt realy mind if i call him that. Why so? Because thats what we are, friends. He knows my intentions are not to insult him, and even if my intentions were to insult him, he would probably reply: "Yeah, im black and im proud of it, thanks for the accompliment."

People tend to follow "clichés" to the extreme... Just be proud of your color and if people calls you Dark/Black/Preto/Negro, just dont take it negatively EVEN if its in a negative way. If you are "black", be proud of it. Its just like if people call me "portuguese guy" or something like "F*** you portuguese guy". I dont take neather positive/negative. Im portuguese, i have no problems on people calling me so. Now the "F*** you", that would not be polite.

Edit: If black people continue to follow such cliches, getting pissed off by such words, people from other races will ALWAYS tend to use it as an insult. Why? Because black people find it an insult.