22-12-2013, 07:49 PM
31
Re: Is It Me ?
Originally Posted by Uncle Joe
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At one point, the Political Correctness mob tried to stop people asking for 'black' coffee - how mad is that???
23-12-2013, 05:17 PM
33
Re: Is It Me ?
Originally Posted by Julie1962
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The use of the word coloured is an odd one for me, I know we should be incensed by it but when my youngest nephew came home from school told of for using the term about himself I was more angry with the school than him. To him it made perfect sense his Dad was black, his mum was white and he was somewhere on the spectrum between so called himself coloured. So it's more complicated to me than many terms.
23-12-2013, 05:25 PM
34
Re: Is It Me ?
Originally Posted by Jenheiffer
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I think the 'acceptable' word for that situation is now 'mixed-race'
24-12-2013, 12:18 AM
35
Re: Is It Me ?
I have a friend Peter ,born in Jamaica to Jamaican parents. A while back, a group of us had a get together and we decided just for fun to bring to our next men's pub night pics of us as children. Fred said can we bring Coloured or Black & White pics. There was a short silence before Peter hooted with laughter. Everyone followed suite.It didnt occur to anyone at the time that Peter would stand out anyway from his palefaced chums.
24-12-2013, 11:02 AM
38
Re: Is It Me ?
Lovely story but like many things it illustrates what can be said between friends is very different to what can be said else where. Quite a funny conversation yesterday between a Hindu, a Muslim and me a Christian of the Quaker persuasion, but we couldn't possibly repeat that in a more public arena ! We all take the proverbial out of each other and our beliefs but that's because we are friends and understand each other.
27-12-2013, 09:04 PM
39
Re: Is It Me ?
Originally Posted by Julie1962
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The trouble is I think to some people words mean more than just the word, they carry meanings that can be hurtful.
Absolutely. Here.. with our sordid history of slavery... the word "N----r.. is much more powerful than the slang word for Whites.. like "Crackers". It's the meaning behind that name and the time in history it stems from that is demeaning
In the pre-civil rights era in the US the acceptable and polite term was Negro. But that again fell out of fashion and became unpopular and distasteful. The term Black was the preferred terminology in the 1970's and 80's.
NOW... "Black" is considered crass and the proper term is African American.... which is kind of odd since not all Blacks have ancestry reaching back to Africa. We have many Blacks that are indiginous Indians from South America and the Islands. People of Color.. has been gaining a foothold of late. It seems to make more sense too.
28-12-2013, 04:56 AM
40
Re: Is It Me ?
Slavery is centuries old and shared worldwide. Racial titles change with the times. What was the trend 10 years ago will not be the trend ten years from now. As far as the US government is concerned, there are Hispanics, non-Hispanics, African-Americans, and Asians. On applications for schools, social programs, or jobs, people can choose from a larger menu of titles, which includes Caucasian, but technically--for the government, Native Americans, Irish, Scottish, Italian, Brits, Alaskans, etc. are non-Hispanics (white) and Native-Hawaiians are considered Asian. It is easier for them (the government) to make assessments for programs if they do not have to think too much. It also has to do with the fact that Hispanics are becoming the majority so grouping all non-Hispanics together to make a larger group make those groovy people on Capital Hill feel better. It is easier than closing the borders or making immigration do their job. Of course, giving the illegals citizenship that would force them to pay for health care where as illegals they get it for free, might actually get more of them to willingly go home. I like to think of it as a gimmick that the legal beagles came up with instead of a positive side-effect of an ill-gotten plan.|
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