"Negro" in the news

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW, it's the term, "Negro dialect," offensive and I'm astonished
that it's still in use, especially by someone who, I assume, didn't
grow up in a trailer park, thereby missing out on a standard,
urban-public-school education.

As for "light-skinned," I consider that to be merely misused WRT the
Prez, though that may be merely a matter of opinion, with which other
black people may disagree. IMO, the Prez is "light-brown-skinned."
IME, "light-skinned" is the same as "light, bright, and damned-near
white," to the extent that the person may have to identify himself in
some manner to the bruz and cuz as a fellow-member of the tribe. E.g,.
at UC Davis, a school whose percentage of black students is lower than
that of Harvard, I didn't recognize a fellow-student as black till he
walked up to me and said, " 'Ey, man! Whas's happ'nin'?", BE, whether
combined with "black voice" or not, being a perfect shibboleth. On
another occasion, a black foreigner, neither able to speak BE nor
having "black voice," was forced to explain how it was that felt that
he had the right to say, "I'm block" and to offer his unasked-for
opinion on matters of race to a group of black students.

-Wilson

On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 5:58 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
> Subject:      "Negro" in the news
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_14156729?source=rss
>
> Responding to an emotional outcry, the U.S. Census Bureau on Friday announced it would explore eliminating the term "Negro" from future surveys.
>
> But the revelation this week that the Jim Crow Era word remains part of a question about race in the 2010 census has sparked a passionate debate...
>
> Le said the decision to keep the term "Negro" on the form was due principally to the fact some older African-Americans still identify themselves by that term. In fact, in the 2000 census, more than 50,000 people chose to write down explicitly that they identified themselves as "Negro" in a section where the census allows people to provide additional information...
>
> -----
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100109/ap_on_el_se/us_obama_reid
>
> ...
>
> Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described in private then-Sen. Barack Obama as "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Obama is the nation's first African-American president.
>
> "I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments," Reid said in a statement released after the excerpts were first reported on the Web site of The Atlantic...
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
-Wilson
–––
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"––a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
–Mark Twain

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org