[78-L] One person's opinions...?!^

[Tom]

Why is it that some people have a problem referring to people of color the way they would like to be referred to?
 
The word "negro" was the correct word choice for decades, until the end of the civil rights era in the 1960's. So that word -- the word "negro" -- had been correct for, oh I dunno, 350 years or so. At about that time, most African Americans wanted to be called "black" instead. That lasted for a few decades. Now most African Americans prefer to be referred to as, well, African Americans.
 
Listen to how role models within that community refer to themselves -- people like President Obama and Oprah Winfrey, for instance, refer to themselves as African American.
 
We're talking once-in-a-generation changes in word choice here.
 
So why is that so problematic for some people to understand?
 


--- On Fri, 1/23/09, Alexandre Benoit <pathe90rpm at yahoo.fr> wrote:

From: Alexandre Benoit <pathe90rpm at yahoo.fr>
Subject: Re: [78-L] One person's opinions...?!^
To: 78-L at 78online.com
Date: Friday, January 23, 2009, 8:20 PM

We people living in Donald Rumsfeld's 'Old Europe' are willing to
learn. 
You can't say 'Afro-American' anymore today?
So, 'African-American' is currently correct?  
 
For how long? How long did such epithets usually stay in use until they were
deemed offensive? 
As far as I noticed from beyond the ocean, ALL these words were seen
as derogative after 
a couple of decades. 
What's coming next as THE politically correct wording? 
Any trends noticeable yet? 
You Americans, ask yourselves why the perception of these words tends to always

change after 30 or 40 years:   because you have a problem in your society. 
 
It's different in Europe. 
I have an adopted black daughter (sic!) - that's what she calls herself. 
We never had a problem with this in our family, or with friends, neighbors,
whoever. 
What do you Americans want us to say?    African-French?  
African-European? 
 
No, we say 'noir' in French, just like the Germans say
'schwarz' - withourt ever taking it 
as derogatory. We don't even think that the Spanish word for this color is
offensive 
(the n-word). Nor the English 'black'. 
 
Those here offended remind me of that Rohrschach joke that most everybody
knows: 
'But it's you, doctor, who shows me all those obscenities'. 
 
Alex 
who does not feel the slightest offended by Mr. Zwarg
 


      
_______________________________________________
78-L mailing list
78-L at klickitat.78online.com
http://klickitat.78online.com/mailman/listinfo/78-l