Prickly purists: Hysteria and silliness over terms that describe race

Benedict Cumberbatch, that excellent British actor, said on PBS the other day that black performers are not given a fair chance in British films. He referred to them as "coloured actors." Someone tweeted, "Benedict Cumberbatch used the term ‘coloured' to describe black actors. What year are we in?" After being told that the term "coloured" was…