Is labeling a black crayon "negro" a racial reference and does Crayola have "some explaining to do"? No, that's not true: This is an example of a practice detected by Lead Stories: other languages use different words than English. The black crayon carries the labeling "negro" for Spanish-language users because that is the word for "black" in Spanish. It is not a racial reference, but a translation. The same crayon also is labeled "noir," which is the French word for black.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) shared on Facebook on December 17, 2020. It featured a close-up photo of a black crayon with the message:
Y'all Tell Me i am trippin or do this black crayon say negro ummmm crayola got some explaining to do!!!
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Sun Dec 20 21:04:29 2020 UTC)
A Google translate search (click here to see it) reveals the Spanish word for "black" is "negro" (masculine) and "negra" feminine:
