I often ask people what term minorities, particularly black people, liked used. It comes from a place of genuine curiosity and concern, so I've never offended anyone. Me caring enough to ask is often appreciated. My roommate is fine being referred to as "black" as long as it's used for harmless description and not for put-down purposes. And in fact, she thinks "African American" is kind of weird, because why should you need to differentiate between Americans? She wasn't born in Africa, she was born in America. She's American. My friend Christy is similar. She's indifferent depending on the intention. But I've heard others rail against the term "black" so I always try to be careful. It would be disrespectful (and insensitive) to call someone something they didn't want to be called.

I really don't see what's wrong with being sensitive. Overly-sensitive is a problem, yes, but it's not only demonstrated by the PC crowd. Right-wing media personalities make spectacles out of themselves constantly because of their over-sensitivity and crybaby tendencies. But that doesn't mean we should respond to one extreme with another by being rude for the sake of not being (or being called) sensitive.