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.
One outs the color first and has been used by racists for centuries. The other comes from the community and puts the fact that they are a person first.
Without the history of slavery and continued oppression it wouldn’t matter, which is why ‘white people’ is not derogatory on its own.
Thank you for this very concise yet perfectly descriptive explanation, I was a bit confused as a non American about the difference.
It goes along with the vast majority of white people In America just not believing how bad the racism was and still is. Like when I was younger in a 90+% white city I had a hard time wrapping my head around racism still being a thing decades after the Civil rights movement. As I got older and saw just how ingrained racism is in society and how willfully ignorant most people are about things they have not experienced.
I live in Denmark, in the 70’s I thought racism was a thing of the past, and would disappear with the older generations. But oh boy, I never imagined how backwards uninformed people can be.
We had very few problems with racism back then, and as a nation we took pride in for instance never having had slaves, and helping the Jewish population during WW2. So I actually thought we had a culture that was against racism. Unfortunately racism has increased I’d say almost exponentially with emigrants and refugees coming here.
Regarding USA, when I saw for instance Star Trek TOS, I thought that was perfectly normal, I had no idea until 20 years later, that it was extremely progressive for its time! We should strive to be more like Star Trek.