"Everyone's a little bit racist......

[singledad]

I can never keep up here, I think "Black" is a perfectly descriptive word, but seem people seem to prefer "african american" well, you'd be african american if you emigrated, and not all "black" people here are necesarily "african" So, I don't quite get the sensitivity to the term "black" here (in the US)

I don't get the sensitivity towards black either. When using the word, you are usually trying to refer to that particular race, so why not just call it what it is? To me, that is totally artificial PC for the sake of being PC. If you are really opposed to using skin colour as a distinguising trait, why not just use the Anthropological term - Negroid. Let's not deny the existence of most of North Africa, as well as millions of white and Asian people scattered all over Africa, who have never known any other home, and who is as African as you are American.

I took journalism a decade ago, but here is my understanding. "Black" was the colloquial term, but because it drew attention to skin color at a time when that was a sensitive issue and we were trying to move away from it, the PC term became "African-Americans." Obviously that only applied to blacks living in America, so when we are talking about racism on a global scale, the term "African-American" makes no sense. A black person in Africa or Britain or Australia wouldn't be called an African-American, ever. But as it turns out, that is an outdated term and the proper term now (at least for journalists) is just "black." Just like the term for Caucasian ethnicity is "white." As for other races, "Asian" is the proper term, rather than "oriental" or "yellow." The original peoples of America are "Native Americans," not Indians (though the terms "American Indians" and the newer "Amerindians" in some textbooks is okay when needed for clarification).

I always find it ironic when people are trying to move away from a way of thinking (e.g. thinking of people i.t.o. skin colour) and then find other words to refer to it. Really, let's be realistic - does anyone NOT immediately see a black person in their mind's eye when seeing the words "African American"? Did substituting a different word REALLY contribute anything towards changing peoples attitudes towards black people?

That is why I become impatient with words that are PC for the sake of being PC. It rarely accomplishes anything. I don't see how substituting one term for another can add anything towars fighting racism. If you want to signify that they aren't different from other American, then drop the "African" bit, and just call them American... Or people, for that matter.

It reminds me of the issue around the name for the people who are the true natives of Southern Africa - the so-called Khoisan, or Bushmen. They were happily called Bushmen for centuries, until someone (who isn't one of them) decided that it is derogatory. So they took the words they used to refered to each other (Khoi and San), pasted it together, and started calling them that. Blissfully unaware that they are two totally distinct groups, and that "San" is actually a derogatory term used by the Khoi people. The people we are supposed to be calling "San", actually prefer being called Bushmen, but someone else decided on their behalf that it isn't PC Truly rediculous.

And perhaps slightly off topic. But perhaps not off topic, since I think it is an excellent example of people who try to mask racism with artificial PC terms, while completely forgetting that having true respect for the race in question would mean treating them like intelligent human beings and asking them what they want...

Edited to add - Crap. I guess I'm now involved after all...

 

[TabascoNatalie]

The dynamic between whites and blacks in America, and I suppose in the UK as well, is we stole these people from their homeland, brought them here, enslaved, and then even when freed we kept them in abject poverty for generations

Well, i'd like to contradict that. While the British behaved quite badly in the colonies, the minority populations here in UK are not former slaves. They are immigrants who were invited to come here after WW2, and this migration continues up to now. Of course, there was animosity and hatred, and very nasty discrimination on behalf of whites, there came lots of initiatives to promote integration. Many of those immigrants adapted and prospered quite well. Even though many still live in poverty, but being "poor" in UK is VERY different from being poor in Pakistan. The biggest problem is, that integration doesn't work quite well. It is not that they came to Britain, they brought Pakistan, India, Africa, Jamaica into Britain. Even though they get proper British education, free healthcare, housing, benefits, they still want to keep to the same practices they had at home, e.g. Forced marriages, child kidnapping, honour killings, domestic violence, what in here is simply unacceptable. So the limits of Tolerance are constantly being tested.
And there are so many do-goodders who say -- oh, don't demand them to speak English - its disrespectful, don't wear a footbal shirt - its racist, don't wear a cross -- you'll offend a muslim, don't have an Xmas pageant at school - its not inclusive, don't let your kids have short hair.... oh well.

The only question -- where will this all end? We already have home-grown terrorism

 

[parentastic]

Historically, yes, but present day present society (i mean, UK) there is no such thing as "white privilege". :no:

For those of us who are geeks like me, this article really explains it well. Perhaps it will change your mind about while privileges, even in UK?

An small extract from this article:

<I>Imagine life here in the US — or indeed, pretty much anywhere in the Western world — is a massive role playing game, like World of Warcraft except appallingly mundane, where most quests involve the acquisition of money, cell phones and donuts, although not always at the same time. Let’s call it The Real World. You have installed The Real World on your computer and are about to start playing, but first you go to the settings tab to bind your keys, fiddle with your defaults, and choose the difficulty setting for the game.

Got it? Okay: In the role playing game known as The Real World, “Straight White Male” is the lowest difficulty setting there is. This means that the default behaviors for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise. The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get.
Now, once you’ve selected the “Straight White Male” difficulty setting, you <I>still</I> have to create a character, and how many points you get to start — and how they are apportioned — will make a difference. </I>

 

[IADad]

Well, i'd like to contradict that. While the British behaved quite badly in the colonies, the minority populations here in UK are not former slaves. They are immigrants who were invited to come here after WW2, and this migration continues up to now. Of course, there was animosity and hatred, and very nasty discrimination on behalf of whites, there came lots of initiatives to promote integration. Many of those immigrants adapted and prospered quite well. Even though many still live in poverty, but being "poor" in UK is VERY different from being poor in Pakistan. The biggest problem is, that integration doesn't work quite well. It is not that they came to Britain, they brought Pakistan, India, Africa, Jamaica into Britain. Even though they get proper British education, free healthcare, housing, benefits, they still want to keep to the same practices they had at home, e.g. Forced marriages, child kidnapping, honour killings, domestic violence, what in here is simply unacceptable. So the limits of Tolerance are constantly being tested.
And there are so many do-goodders who say -- oh, don't demand them to speak English - its disrespectful, don't wear a footbal shirt - its racist, don't wear a cross -- you'll offend a muslim, don't have an Xmas pageant at school - its not inclusive, don't let your kids have short hair.... oh well.

The only question -- where will this all end? We already have home-grown terrorism

fair enough, wasn't trying to point fingers at the UK, just thinking I was including the whole heritage -

It won't end - human conflict is innate - How much we can control or minimize it seems to be more the question. Education seems to be the key.