Is the word "Negro" racist?
By ParaTed2k
@ParaTed2k (22940)
Sheboygan, Wisconsin
December 18, 2006 1:23pm CST
Is the word "Negro" racist? Ask the "United Negro College Fund.
Is the word "Black" racist? Ask the "Congressional Black Caucus".
Is the word "Colored" racist? Ask the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Why is it that we're expected to keep up with what a handful of people insist is the "correct" way, and if we don't choose to play their silly little word games, we are somehow, "racist"?
1 person likes this
5 responses
@catchre (396)
• Philippines
23 Dec 06
If black people don't like to be called negro, then there must be something offensive about it. if a blonde white girl is called barbie, then it must have been said to deliberately offend her, right? We know what offends other people/races so let's just respect their wish not to be called or labelled as such regardless if it's just a word game or not.
1 person likes this
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
24 Dec 06
That's ok in theory, and would work if we didn't care about race at all. However, we have made race a very important issue. If we are going to grant benefits based on it, we have to decide who is eligible for those benefits and who isn't.
So you see, until we truly do become a "colorblind" society, we need the labels.
@thewatchlist (653)
• United States
20 Dec 06
I do agree that it is a silly little word game. It's sort of like coming up with other words to replace cuss words. I almost pissed my pants one day because this guy in the parking lot started screaming "Gosh Darn Crap" and other silly good guy replacements for the words he meant. It's not the words, it's the context (and tone) that are offensive. Well, but in this case it was just comical.
Words are just words. I agree that it is a bit silly to make any of them taboo.
Like with the whole Michael Richards tirade, there has been some push to pretty much ban a word from use. The idea of that is ignorant though because even if magically everyone did stop using the word, a new word or phrase would step into it's place.
The issue is not words. The issue is hate and ignorance. It's the context of the words. Moron, imbecile, and idiot all used to be medical descriptions. Then, because people started using the words to compare someone to a mentally handicapped person by saying "You're a moron", they became bad words. The medical community changed them out. They replaced them with mildly, moderately, seveverly retarded. That seems to have gone well so far, because no one has ever used the word retarded in a derogatory way? Oh wait, nevermind.
1 person likes this
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
20 Dec 06
Yeah, the whole Michael Kramer thing was nothing but press inspired stupidity. Yeah, he used some racial slurs, but he didn't fire the first shot in that situation.
The press excused the people in the audience as "hecklers". Hecklers have always been part of a comedy club, and comedians are expected to be able to handle them. But these guys weren't hecklers, they were just abnoxious fools. They threw out the first racial slurs, then cried like babies when Michael Kramer dished back to them what they started.
Both sides were just plain wrong in that situation.
@ParaTed2k (22940)
• Sheboygan, Wisconsin
18 Dec 06
Good point, except that handful of "leaders" are the ones insisting we are racist if we don't keep up with their silly little word games.
1 person likes this
