Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz. referred to Black people as "colored people" Thursday in floor debate over his proposed amendment to an annual defense policy bill, prompting a stern rebuke from the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Lawmakers were debating a series of GOP-backed amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act, which the House aims to pass by the end of the week.
There is such a thing as being oversensitive.
There’s also such a thing as systemic racism that is very easy to ignore of you’re not affected.
Changing the acceptable terminology every decade is never going desegregate a neighborhood, or shrink demographic wealth disparities, or improve health outcomes, etc. I think it’s mostly a distraction so people can feel like they’re doing something.
Silver bullet fallacy: because something won’t, on its own, turn the world into a paradise, it has no value and shouldn’t be done.
No.
Why are we no longer referring to people as “idiots” and “retards” and “cripples?”
Is that also just a distraction so that people can feel like they’re doing something? Are you, personally, just sticking with the old terminology?
I use whatever terminology is current, because, like I said, it basically makes no difference. Why upset people for no reason?
Pick a lane.
WHY INDEED, YOU MORON.
To racism? Nah, there’s no room for bigotry in polite society. Using racist language is disrespectful and belies a deeper prejudice, and stamping it out requires dilligence and persistence.
If anything, Americans are insensitive to racism. “Racially insensitive” is a good way to describe people who don’t use epithets but just happen to have 90% white friends, and “don’t understand why people are angry”. Just look for people who use words like “inner city” and “urban youth”.
I really don’t think that having friends who are predominantly your own race makes you a racist or racially insensitive.
No, but it can be a red flag if you live in a diverse area but don’t have a diverse set of friends.
That’s my secret - I don’t have any friends.
Yeah, it happens, but that doesn’t apply here. Someone referring to ‘colored people’ in this day and age is just someone who is avoiding the N word while sending the same message.
Except the NAACP who kept their name for historical purposes and that is fine because of context.
As a non-American, my confusion with this issue is that “coloured people” and “people of colour” are functionally identical phrases in the English language. Using coloured as an adjective vs a noun with “of” gets you to the exact same spot.
I appreciate that there is historical context, but I can’t help but feel that the difference between offence and no offence essentially boils down to grammatical semantics. In my mind, barring slurs or perjoratives, the intention behind the phrase is really what matters.
It’s kind of a dialect type thing where certain phrases or wording gives more information than just what’s been stated. Whether the speaker actually means those things is different than what the listener hears and understands based on their cultural experience.
In this particular case the usual implication is, “I’m trying to be polite but if I could I would use the N word instead.”.
It tends to be true because it’s an older term.
I do agree that it can be confusing, even for Americans.
No, I don’t think you do.
I was hopeful that we would have fewer low effort comments like this on Lemmy since I moved from Reddit.
It’s an offensive, racist phrase with a history of usage by racists. Black people will punch you if you call them that. What else is there to consider? It’s a slur. Don’t use it. End of story.
Racists used ‘colored people’ as part of their terminology during slavery and while continuing to discriminate after the Civil War. Hearing the same dehumanizing specific word order is the important part, not the grammar.
Yes, I agree it’s a loaded term. Perhaps my disconnect is more how: (a) the loaded term and the acceptable term (in 2023, at least) are functionally identical, with only marginal grammatical separation; and (b) there is such a wide tabboo gap between those margins.
Grammar is not relevant. Racists used the term ‘colored people’ during segregation, and they still use it in place of even worse slurs like the N word, which is why it has a negative connotation that is not shared by people of color.
As an example of how racism is still an ongoing issue, a legislator using the term while opposing diversity measures prompted this whole thread.
I would argue that grammar is the most relevant bit; it’s the only thing separating the acceptable phrase from the unacceptable phrase, which are otherwise identical.
Maybe since the topic is specifically race relations and racial sensitivity in the context of the USA, this isn’t an argument for a “non-American” to make?
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I dare you to walk up to a Black person in modern America and call them ‘coloured’. See how it goes for you.
To be fair, I would bet that not all black people are cool with being called a “person of colour” either.
The vast majority would not care about “person of color”.
Have any of you ever actually met a Black person? What kind of sheltered white hell is this?
Mate, you’re the one who’s arguing that all black people have the same opinion on this issue and purporting to speak on their collective behalf.
Just the vast majority, but yes. Why are you so against this?
I would argue the people in this thread flipping out about being asked to refer to minorites in a way that doesn’t have a ton of historical baggage and has been empirically shown to promote better empathy responses are the over-sensitive ones, lol.
Like, it’s all right to get corrected now and then. The difference between acting bigoted and being okay is literary just a simple “I didn’t realize that was wrong, I’ll try and not do that in the future. Thanks for checking me on it”.
I grew up in a conservative suburb in the South and got saddled with a lot of unfortunate ideas. I make mistakes, use questionable terms, and misgender people by accident somewhere regularly.
I’ve literally never had a problem if I apologize and affirm it was ignorance on my part, or a mistake I know I make and am working on, but that I am trying to be better. Just be open to change and don’t be a dipshit about it and it’s not an issue.
If you think it’s an issue it’s likely that you’re being a dipshit about it and making things harder for yourself than they need to be.
Either read the article or go away.