Yep.
Pretty much. Gordon's got a few years on me, but I'm geezer enough to feel mostly the same way, I guess...
'Negro' is now considered by some to be an ethnic or racial slur. Not by me. I see it as archaic, but I see nothing wrong with it, though I don't use it much anymore.Context and intent matter here, just as they do when black folk I know use the word sarcastically, with an exaggerated first syllable, or institutionally, as in the United Negro College Fund. More than a few older black folk use it formally and proudly, remembering a day when to be called a Negro was a victory in a hard fight against the denigration of real hate language, just as many of their parents saw "colored" as a step forward, and their children demanded to be called black.
Besides, if Barry's over it, we can all get over it.
Labels: Harry Reid, Language, Political Correctness, President Obama, Racism
posted by Shaun at
8:35 PM
3 Comments:
Truly, the noise about what Harry Reid said is a tempest in a teapot. The sad thing is it is true.
Evidence of that is when Jesse Jackson was picked up, by a microphone he didn't know was on, saying how he wanted to cut off then candidate Obama's testicles because he "talks down to black people."
It's like Chris Rock once said; there are two ways to talk: one, if you want to get the job, and two, if you don't. Same thing applies to a bank loan (such as they're being given, these days) or the job of President of the United States.
But that is something that may be changing - but slowly.
There is quite a discussion on nuances of this in the comments at Lindsay Beyerstein's place. I can't stand Reid, but I do see this probably as more generational and locational (small town Navada Morman) than racist. It is, however, quite stupid of him, especially since he has been in politics so long. I don't think Harry Reid is very bright, period.
But then, there is the United Negro College Fund....That has made me wince for thirty years, now! Jeezo.
Don't wince. Understand that Negro is a perfectly respectable word that, when it commonly used, carried a respectful inference.
No one who prefers another term should be called a Negro in defiance of their wishes. That could be construed as racist. It would unquestionably be rude. Nothing at all like that going on here, though.
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