[quote]DS 007 wrote:
Again, turn it around. What if I chose to compliment an employee saying, “You doing this deal yourself or are you assigning it to the black guy over there?”
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Are we arguing that this is acceptable verses being unacceptable? I would always say that this is not appropriate speech just because people could infer a meaning which may or may not be there; however, I was trying to point out the distinction between a “racist” verses a “prejudiced” comment. Calling a person “black” or “white” in my mind will never be considered racist.
This also raises a question as to whether certain speech can be considered racist. To me, behavior is what can be classified as racist or not–not speech; i.e., if it affects how we behave toward certain individuals or in certain situations that we would not otherwise behave. Our thoughts and speech would be classified as prejudiced whereas the behavior that results from our thoughts and speech would be classified as racist. To be a racist you have to practice racism.
I will make one exception to this rule; that being anytime language is used with the direct intent to harm the psyche of its intended target or targets based on the perception that the target’s race is inferior. This speech must denigrate the entire race not just one individual of the race. So again, being called a “white shitbag” is not racist. There is no doubt to me that this speech was pejorative but I will never agree that it was racist.
It can if the word White comes in front of it and the person saying it clearly has the power, as in this case. So in this situation it clearly was a racist comment.
This is not a racist comment. In order for it to be considered racist the person using the slur has to show some hatred for white people and or believe his race to be superior over any other race. It may have been a prejudiced comment but certainly not a racist comment.
I find it hard to believe in a room full of black men a black man used the term “white boy” to a white man in a racist context; especially since this phrase is often used by blacks to make some perceived judgment as to the level of knowledge a white person can have in regards to stereotypical black topics. Is it really considered racism if a black person calls me a “white boy” because I try to wax philosophic about “soul food” with him (this actually happened to me)? Again, it may be a prejudiced phrase but it isn’t racist. [/quote]
So to be consistent we should say that in a situation where it is a room full of whites and a few blacks and one white guy says “Black Boy”, this is not racist either.
[quote]Lorisco wrote:
So to be consistent we should say that in a situation where it is a room full of whites and a few blacks and one white guy says “Black Boy”, this is not racist either.
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The phrase, “black boy” is not racist but I would be careful about using the word, “boy” as it carries the same connotations as the word nigger to a black man when coming from a white man.
As I stated earlier there is a difference between racsism and prejudism. Racisim is a doctrin that one’s own race is superior to anyother; so a statement cannot inherently be considered racist–EVER. The person is the racist not the phrase. So if the person saying, “Black boy” was indeed a racist then it was nothing more than a remark said by a racist. If on the other hand the person was not a racist then they are either pretty ignorant or just mean–depending on how it was said, etc.
How many threads have there been, about the Vice President telling a Senator to “Go fuck yourself” on the floor of the Senate, while the Senate was in session?
I would think that’s a lot more interesting topic for discussion than a scuffle at a local demonstration.
What a relief. I was afraid we were going to have to change the title of the Richard Wright novel to “African-American Young Person of Non-Female Gender.”