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Arizona Republican refers to Black Americans as 'colored people' in House floor debate
(www.nbcnews.com)
this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
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Are we really going to act like "people of color" and "colored people" are wildly different terms that could never be confused? He listed "black people" separately so I'd have to guess he meant to say people of color and mixed up the terms
Not saying he's not racist for other reasons, but this is gotcha journalism
Linguistically, very little difference. Contextually, when we bring in history? Huge difference.
Just wait 10-20 years. It seems what's acceptable to say changes all the time.
20 years ago "queer" was offensive.
Of course. Society is constantly changing, as is the composition and education of society. And as a result, language changes. This is the same philosophy I take with someone's preferred pronouns -- it costs me nothing to use the right words. So long as unintentional mistakes are overlooked, and I've never seen someone get angry about unintentionally misgendering, I'm totally fine with it.
It comes down to this. If someone is uncomfortable with something you've done, and it's something as simple as word choice, why not accommodate them? Why not let them be comfortable at no cost to you? The exact same principle goes for what's acceptable and what isn't.
It really isn't that much work for someone to say "gay person" or "LGBTQ people" instead of queer. Changing your terminology every 20 years isn't rocket science. Look at it this way, if Eminem can censor himself and apologize for saying f*g, I think the rest of us can make the effort too.
(Eminem's thoughts are actually really interesting here. He points out he doesn't mean it as a slur at all, and that while he was growing up it was a general insult in rap, not constantly used as a slur. All the same, he's still used it less and less over the years. )
Honestly the problem is actually getting a chance. I'm not American and English is not my first language either.
I had people get very angry with media from my home country for characters in a movie wearing black coloured makeup and was called racist for trying to tell them that blackface is not a thing in our culture and you can't judge foreign media based on your own cultural norms.
I'm dyslexic and make a word salad almost all the time, without even being aware of it most of the time. Would people honestly give me a chance if I accidentally mix up the order of people and colored? It seems like they wouldn't, given my interactions.
Yes, that is the nature of language. We don't speak like Shakespeare anymore either, imagine that. Queer people was offensive 20 years ago because it was mostly used as a slur then by bigots. It's not as offensive now because queer people reclaimed it and it is mostly used by them to refer to themselves. They have generally expressed that they are more comfortable with it because of that. "Coloured people" is still used mostly by racists, while "people of colour" is commonly used by non-white people to refer to themselves. In each example an important factor is how the group being referred to feels about a particular term. Most black people have made it pretty clear that they don't like being called "coloured people", especially not by white conservatives, but they generally don't mind the term "people of colour". So if you have to use one or the other, the one that you know they don't like is probably not the safe bet.
Non native speaker here. I assume colored people was a term for slaves then?
It was the “correct” term for POC towards the end of slavery and through the Jim Crowe era. Bathrooms, Pool, Water Fountains, etc. were often labeled “Whites” and “Coloreds”. Segregation is a major part of history most of this country tries to forget, and absolutely doesn’t broadcast.
Thanks!
I'd absolutely agree, but I don't think that was his intention. As a politician, he should know better. This seems like another senator tried to score some political points on accidentally using the wrong term though, instead of actually arguing policy
You don't think that was his intention, huh? Based on what?
"As a politician he should know better" - now, more than ever, "politician" doesn't speak to any basic standard met or level of qualification. A person who isn't a racist doesn't use that phrase today casually because they understand the negative connotation.
Based on him listing "black people" separately, and when called out asking to change it to people of color
Oh sure, yeah. I could believe that. His reaction now to the story should confirm it.
In a vacuum, those are similar terms.
In the real world, one is a term used in Apartheid South Africa and in Jim Crow America that has huge racist and white supremacists connotations, while the other one is the preferred term used by the community to refer to themselves.
Yes we are. They are very different. One is racist, the other is not. And it's been that way for decades. There is no excuse.