Black vs. African-American

John McWhorter worries about what to call himself and others in this country who trace their origins to black Africa. He settles on "Black." I'll call someone whatever they tell me they want to be called, but I do prefer "Black" (for those who are black). "African-American" was never meant to include north Africans like Egyptians and Moroccans, so it's not entirely accurate, is it? But the bigger drawback to African-American is you need to know if the person is an American. And it doesn't address how one is to refer to all those black-skinned Africans outside America. Nelson Mandela, for example, is not an African-American. I once heard a TV announcer stumble when he nearly referred to a black Briton as "African-American." He quickly decided not to refer to the subject's race at all, probably afraid that "Black" was not PC.