Imus and Nappy-headed-ho's

[TheMercenary]

When is Sharpton, Shabaz, and Jackson going to step up and apologize for the comments they made about the Duke players. Fucking double standard racist idiots. Typical.... Oh wait, I forgot, negros can't be racist, my bad. We can let Nazi mofo's protest in black areas of the country but we want to nail a radio host to a cross, who I really can't stand, for the same protected speech. Ha!

Let the flames be lit!

[DanaC]

I really think the word negro should have fallen out of fashion by now merc.

You are right. Nobody should be racist. But.....the power differential between black and white is vast and historical factors don't just disappear because we buried two generations.

When a black man calls a white man by a racist epithet or makes racist comments......what does that really mean to the white man? What power has that comment over him?

When a white man does the same to a black man he is doing so from a position of actual, current and historical power. It wasn't so long ago that black men were being lynched in America at a rate of 3 a week.

Why do you continually defend the right of white people to be racist. Is there something you aren't telling us? Do you have a hood tucked under your bed?

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I really think the word negro should have fallen out of fashion by now merc.

You are right. Nobody should be racist. But.....the power differential between black and white is vast and historical factors don't just disappear because we buried two generations.

When a black man calls a white man by a racist epithet or makes racist comments......what does that really mean to the white man? What power has that comment over him?

When a white man does the same to a black man he is doing so from a position of actual, current and historical power. It wasn't so long ago that black men were being lynched in America at a rate of 3 a week.

Why do you continually defend the right of white people to be racist. Is there something you aren't telling us? Do you have a hood tucked under your bed?

I use Negro, because I do not support the self appointed term of "African-American".

We have developed a double standard in this country. Black rappers and so called leaders of blacks in American society can use any terms they care which are clearly racist and no one says a thing, PC response at it finest hour. But a dumb assed radio host says something stupid and everyone wants to hang him from the proverbial tree. The guy tried to atone for his fopaw, Jackson and Sharpton have both made highly racist remarks about Jews and Whites in this country and no one says a word. Rappers use "nigga" all the time, and that is ok? I do not support or condone what Imus said. Fine. But to carry on as if no negro's have made similar comments, some equally racist, and no one has the balls to call them out about it. This is a double standard.

No white hoods.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

I use Negro, because I do not support the self appointed term of "African-American".
...

If you and an African American were standing next to each other, what can I call you that would differentiate the two of you?

[Hime]

pourbill, just out of curiosity, how old are you? I am probably in the same age group as the Rutgers girls (I'm 21 and would still be in college if I hadn't graduated early). To people our age, tattoos aren't really seen as a marker of roughness or "bad-girl" status, they're just another kind of decoration. I have absolutely known young women with tattoos who are hard-working, ambitious and civic-minded, as well as some who are not.

Obviously athletes on the playing field are not going to look well-groomed, polished or conventionally "feminine." They are there to get sweaty and kick butt! Plenty of college athletes have gone on to "respectable" careers despite not looking professional when they are actually playing.

I doubt that anyone who saw W. cheerleading for Yale looked at him and thought "By George, that man's going to be President of the United States one day!"

edit: And even if they were rough or unsportsmanlike (I can't confirm or deny that myself, anybody?), that doesn't really justify "hos." The term "ho" refers to a promiscuous woman. Now, for all I know some of them might be promiscuous (they are in college) but it's still an inappropriate and gross sexual remark.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by Spexxvet

If you and an African American were standing next to each other, what can I call you that would differentiate the two of you?

Not my problem and not important to me.

[Shawnee123]

OK, let's try a different tack:

You are mugged. The police need a description. Now, I know you won't say your assailant was a nappy-headed ho, but what would you tell an African-American officer if your assailant was also African-American.

Officer, he was a big strappin' negro like you.
OR:
Um, he was tall, and dark ...with dark hair and dark eyes (so they think you're referring to Geraldo Rivera).
OR:
He was a non-white (then prepare yourself for beating)

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

Not my problem and not important to me.

Ok, you cracker offay honkey.

[DanaC]

Okay that was probably unfair. My apologies.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Okay that was probably unfair. My apologies.

No need to apologize. You are a good conversationalist and I respect your views, even when we don't agree on numerous subjects.

[DanaC]

I just googled the story. I thought you were referring to some people as nappyheaded ho's. I am not familiar with the people or events.

Again, my apologies.

[DanaC]

Negro was a term used by whites to describe africans. It denigrated them because it reduced them to the colour of their skin. It defined them in terms of their difference to all other races.

African Americans have every right to define themselves as they see fit. The vast majority of them are of African descent and are Americans. Why would you care how they define themselves? Why defend your right to use a term they find upsetting,abusive and derogatory? Does it harm you to respect their wishes in this? Why is our (white european and american) appointed term for them more appropriate than their own appointed term? They didn't call themselves negros until we told them thats what they were.

[TheMercenary]

You are either African or American. Not both IMHO. I am an American of Irish/Scottish/Canadian descent. I am not an Irish-Scottish-Canadian-American. 90% of blacks in America are so racially mixed that there is no way to say who is who. People can define themselves as they see fit, it does not mean I have to agree or go along with it.

[DanaC]

Then call them black Americans, or just call them Americans. Negro is an insulting term for you to use. The fact that they do not feel offended when a fellow black person uses that term ( though i suspect many are unhappy with that usage too) is based purely on the fact that it comes from an attempt by this generation and the last to declaw a word which had been used for several hundred years by their oppressors. Whether you agree with that or not, you must be aware that any time you use it around black people you are likely to cause offence. Are you happy to cause offence unnecessarily?

This is a subset of the American community which is still dealing with the scars of hundreds of years of abuse. Even the ones who are not descended from slaves will still feel that heritage, because it carried through across the whole of the white world. It also carried thyrough into Africa during the colonial and post colonial era. If they are still healing, and struggling to define themselves in the face of that heritage, who are we to deny them that right? To what purpose? In what way does it harm you ?

I have heard Irish people in England refer to themselves as paddies. Were I, as an English woman, to use that term with them that would offend them.

[TheMercenary]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Then call them black Americans, or just call them Americans. Negro is an insulting term for you to use. The fact that they do not feel offended when a fellow black person uses that term ( though i suspect many are unhappy with that usage too) is based purely on the fact that it comes from an attempt by this generation and the last to declaw a word which had been used for several hundred years by their oppressors. Whether you agree with that or not, you must be aware that any time you use it around black people you are likely to cause offence. Are you happy to cause offence unnecessarily?

This is a subset of the American community which is still dealing with the scars of hundreds of years of abuse. Even the ones who are not descended from slaves will still feel that heritage, because it carried through across the whole of the white world. It also carried thyrough into Africa during the colonial and post colonial era. If they are still healing, and struggling to define themselves in the face of that heritage, who are we to deny them that right? To what purpose? In what way does it harm you ?

I have heard Irish people in England refer to themselves as paddies. Were I, as an English woman, to use that term with them that would offend them.

Well at least you recognize your own history of double-standards and the colonization of Africa. Your own history of oppression of the blacks in Africa goes back a long way as well, not to mention a myriad of 100 other countries. I don't take every chance to beat up England for the treatment they gave to my ancestors in Scotland or Ireland every time England or an Englishman stumbles in some speech. I do not deny the right of any people to call themselves what ever they wish, I reserve the right not to agree and call them what ever I want. It harms me not. It harms them not. Sticks and stones and all that…