Bias Language

I happen to be your run-ofthe-mill, young, white, male. Belonging to the large majority, and the one group that is rarely the victim of bias or stereotypes. However, that does not protect me from making blunders myself. The example that comes to mind, is when I made a mistake in refering to my wife-to-be's future occupation.
When my wife and I were dating, she was preparing to enter massage therapy school. When I would tell my friends about her, it was a common question for them to ask me what she "did." I would respond that she was going to be a massage therapist. Usually they would tell me how lucky I was going to be to be married to a masseuse. We would laugh and I would brag, and it became kind of a running joke. One day she was with me when this exchange was taking place. This also happened to be the day that when asked what she was going to be, I replied "A masseuse!" I was quickly, and sternly corrected. She was going to be a massage therapist, not a masseuse. Only later when she explained the incorrect implications implied with the word masseuse, did I realize the huge mistake I had been making. I was even more embarrassed seeing as how the person I was refering to was going to be my wife!
My wife quickly forgave me, but made sure I was clear that I was to always refer to her as a massage therapist and nothing else, as well as making sure my friends did the same. I knew that I had been ignorant about the connotations of the different tittles, but it did teach me that I needed to be more aware of how I used my words. It also taught me that if using the wrong word, or the one associated with stereotypes and bias, you could not only offend someone, you could be saying way more than you meant.
A real world example of bias language that I found was when New Orleans mayor, Ray Nagin, following Katrina, asked that the African-American community rebuild a "chocolate New Orleans." Many African-Americans were offended, and his attempt to explain himself was weak. However, it did not cost him the election for a following term.
I think that this speech is offensive, I know that many African-American's refer to themselves as "chocolate" but it is obsurd to assume that all of them would agree with the term. Also it was unprofessional to use that slang term when adressing the public; it could only serve to imply to the white community that "chocolate" was an acceptable way to refer to their African-American counterparts.
All of us make mistakes, and we all need to learn correct terms and tittles, but wouldn't it be even better if we didn't need distinctive terms in the first place? If everyone was just human, instead of a color or an orientation, or even a gender?