I’ve definitely seen “blacks” used most frequently in academia and press headlines, but I hadn’t noticed any black individuals employ the phrase before. I asked a few of my friends who had corrected my use of the term in the past, and they reiterated that they found it mildly offensive and “otherizing”, while they had no problem being called “black” or “African American”.

Maybe it’s a regional/generational thing? Whenever it’s come up in my circle, it’s been in a group of young-ish Southerners. It certainly makes a complicated and fraught issue even more complicated.