Is this a kind of racism?

[KOMega]

The term black should be used as a descriptor, no different than "the guy with the long hair, he has a red shirt, the girl with green eyes, etc"

It's different if the person meant to place malice behind the word and used it as an insult.

For example, if someone was trying to describe me to another person they can freely describe me as "that asian guy" and they can freely use more descriptors.

strangly enough, a friend of mine says that from where he came from (somewhere in Guyana I think)they frown upon the word "black" but accept the word "******". He said he got in some trouble due to the confusion when he came up here.
So these things are only racist if you attach weight to it.

Race is a thing. It exists. We are not going to be able to sidestep it with new comfort words forever.
We have to just treat it as a descriptor with no malice behind it. That is all.

Still, even if you try to be nice someone somewhere is going to get offended a little.

Spoiler: Except the Dutch.

 

[Lilani]

What I mean is that if we don't think that being black is a bad thing, why is the majority of words for "black" considered rude and mean?

Because the majority of words used to refer to being "black" have in the past been used in rude and mean ways. What was the word used to refer to them when they were slaves? "******." What was the word used to refer to people who still didn't like them post-slavery? "Negro." What was the word that marked the separate facilities they were supposed to use like bathrooms and drinking fountains? "Colored." All of these terms have that historical baggage, and for that reason are understandably hurtful.

 

[Legion]

Two points that come to mind for me:

It seems to be primarily a US thing. "Black" is the correct term in the UK, it is not "African-English" or any other word. It is just black. It used to be "coloured" but that was considered to be fairly rude (although more impolite than outright racist).

I think a part of it is the seeming necessity of referring to somebody by their colour. You very rarely hear about somebodies ethnicity unless they are not white, and I think that is where a lot of the sensitivity comes from. It may seem as though race is only worth mentioning to point out that a person is not white.

 

[RoonMian]

If you want to know what a certain ethnic group wants to be called as a group just go ahead and ask them. It's one of the most basic personal rights of any ethnic group to be able to choose their designation themselves instead of just being assigned a term by the powerful majority like what happened when white people started calling black people "negro" and worse.

If you think it's stupid like I personally do with the term "Afro-American" or in my specific case "Afro-German" for black people because a pretty large chunk of Africans isn't black and you think you should voice that opinion then do so. But expect the appropriate pushback and criticism due to you being white, part of the powerful majority, and sticking your nose into something that's not really your business. Over here black people want to be called black or the more general people of colour and so I do.

Racism is an easy trap to fall into. You're already in when you're white and you forget that being white is not the tabula rasa and everything else is deviating from the norm. There are no different races in the human species so the same shriveled, dark place inside the human brain that gives birth to hatred against people whose skin has another colour is the same that grows the hatred against people whose religion is different or whose convictions or opinions or gender are. As long as you don't go there I think you're all right.

 

[HardkorSB]

What I mean is that if we don't think that being black is a bad thing, why is the majority of words for "black" considered rude and mean? It seems like "black" is going the way of "fat" and "retarded" -- something that people shouldn't be ashamed of being but you're still not allowed to say that someone is any of those things unles you choose your words carefully.

tl;dr: Is the way we're we're declaring most synonyms for "black" to be rude implying that it's a bad thing to be black?

(I'm white, in case you were wondering.)

The thing is, it's not just the case when talking about people.
In various media (books/movies/paintings), fr example, the color black is often used to symbolize evil but it goes into everyday life as well.
I guess it's a cultural thing or a subconscious association (or a bit of both). On the other hand, white is used to symbolize good, peace, innocence etc.
Maybe it has something to do with daytime and nighttime. Generally, you feel safer during the daytime. Nighttime is dark (black) and something or someone might be waiting for you in the shadows (basically, it's a result of a primal fear of the dark that led to associating dark colors with danger and evil but that's just my conclusion).

I read that this symbolism of colors was a tool in justifying black slaves to the dumb masses.

Also, this accusing everyone of racism is just dumb to begin with.
Recently, I was accused of being racist because I pointed out that black people have slight differences in their genetic code (as opposed to white people) because they have evolved in a different climate and the reason why their skin is darker is to better protect them against the effects of sunlight.

 

[Zyntoxic]

I think, and this is just a theory, that the reason every new word in time becomes racist is that people have a tendency of calling and describing people by "race" if their skin is of any other colour than white, the usual "white is not a race" sort of issue.

then comes the question do you really have to refer to someones ethnicity or aren't their other things that stands out with a person other than skincolour? you know, things that might actually describe the individual person you are talking about.
"They guy with the blue jacket" or "The black guy with the blue jacket" is their ethnicity really so remarkable it needs to be refered to?
and if you are perfectly honest with yourself, would you really refer to ethnicity if the guy with the blue jacket would have been white?

Just a thought...

 

[Norithics]

I grew up on a farm, where neighbors were sparse. Our closest neighbors were a black couple in their 50s who lived in a nice house and were possibly the sweetest people I've ever met in my life to date. But the thing is, until I moved out of that little po-dunk town, I didn't know they were black.

To explain a little bit, I didn't know that their skin tone had any bearing on anything. I didn't know that they were 'black' and I was 'white,' because as a child, it never even occurred to me. All I knew was that I wanted to walk down to the neighbors' place on weekends, because they were incredibly nice. The Mister would show me all kinds of neat little gadgety things that he'd collected (which I was fascinated by), and the Missus would cook the most delicious food I've ever tasted (I still get cravings for her corn on the cob, skin-in mashed potatoes, and perfectly cooked pork chops) while telling me all about her grandchildren. I loved those people to death, and if you'd have told me at that young age that there was anything in the world separating us, I'd have called you dumb.

Then I grew up and realized how absolutely crazy the world was. I've actually gotten into some trouble with this kind of thing- not because I have bad preconceptions about anybody, but because I never had any! So this whole topic, though I understand it intellectually, is just nuts to me.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

It's a battle on at least three fronts, really.

One, you have the actual struggle and complications in the lives of US citizens of African descent, whose ancestors might have been brought here without consent or having any say about it in the first place. Slavery in the US is part of US history - alas, it's not that much of a subject of outrage, discussion and rididule in Africa or the Middle East, where the custom of keeping slaves and building entire nations on it dates back far more than in the relatively young US of A.

Two, you have plenty of effort from folks that want to transform society - they've been at it for at least fifty years. Part of reshaping a society involves smashing it to bits and then restructuring it with the more mellow pieces of molten LEGO that can still be sellotaped together and look somewhat cheery and colourful in the process.

Three is pretty much warfare on the language of the host country of choice. It's a territorial battle of minds, really. Many minds are being raped in the process; it's part of the deal and pretty much inevitable.

Do I condone slavery? Hell no. But, alas, in history, for example ancient Egypt, slavery was very much a part of the deal. Beer, bread, five day week - the life of a slave during large stretches of the history of Ancient Egypt wasn't all bad. Same goes for the Roman Empire. These days, our views are myopic and our grasp on history is generally feeble.

If people would put some more effort into actually improving the situation, we'd be living in the future already. Instead, it's all about riling up all sorts of folks, fighting against the imaginary man, windmills and concepts. We're pretty much running in circles. Am I tempted to go Paula Deen on yo ass and call you cracker, nigga or any such thing? No, certainly not. But I call my black mates n***a and b***h just as they refer to me in other colourful words in the little amount of time we can freely share. It's a small amount of time of the day. It's a fraction of time of the week. It's very little time before members of our merry group start dying away, and we've already lost some of us half way, be it to HIV/AIDS, cancer or random accidents. Language was never part of what truly bothered us - before complete strangers started telling us how to speak and what to name things. I hope it's a fad. I hope it will pass. If not, this battle for proper language will, eventually, piss of the majority of people that are, inevitably, getting somewhat tired of playing along. Everyday language is about the exchange of information, about describing and portraying reality. I'd like to keep any and all cultural warfare out of it, if possible.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

On the topic of using the word ?black? to refer to the lone person of African or Caribbean origin in the group?*sigh* This is mainly for krazykidd, but applies to everyone. People are different. People will always have distinguishing characteristics. There?s no escaping from that. In a group of friends, you?ll have the ginger guy, the Irish guy, the guy with the glasses, the fat guy, the blonde girl, the spotty girl, and the black guy. It?s simplistic shorthand that us humans have invented to make it easier to point out who that guy is in the class photo is.

Yeah, I hate it when people remind me that I?m black too. I honestly hate being black. I hate being stereotyped. I hate it when my friend jokily asks me if I?m ?into big, black, booty-bitches?. I hated it back in primary school when we were watching a film in History class about Martin Luther King, and the kids around me would nervously glance at me to see how I was reacting. But there?s nothing I nor anyone else can do about it, so I just shut up and don?t make a big deal out of it. Because if I make a big deal out of it, then I?m admitting that being black affects me more than it should. And it shouldn?t. We?re all part of the same human race, but even white people like to separate people into tribes. Us vs. them. Normal vs. weird. Rich vs. poor. Straight vs. gay. Cis vs. trans. Theist vs. Atheist. Good vs. evil. English vs. Scottish. I could go on forever.