Latest on "negro"

[Baker, John]

Costello's remark seems a bit bizarre to me.  Bundy is not a racist because he used an old-fashioned (but not inherently invidious) term to refer to people of sub-Saharan African descent.  He is a racist because he thinks they should be picking cotton rather than, as he puts it, on "government subsidy" (although he demands a much larger government subsidy for himself).


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 10:05 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Latest on "negro"

Yahoo! News doesn't capitalize the word in its headline:

"Jon Stewart takes a victory lap around Cliven Bundy's 'negro studies'
debacle<http://hsrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=A2KLtUc5aVpTZEEBWhibvZx4;_ylu=X3oDMTNtM3ZpajVwBGJwb3MDMQRjY29kZQNnYQRjcG9zAzQEY3QDMQRnA2MyZGJmZjc5LWM2YWUtM2FhMy1iOGYwLTJkNjE0N2Q2NGJhYQRpbnRsA3VzBHBrZ3QDMwRwb3MDMQRzZWMDdGQtc3RybQRzbGsDdGl0bGUEdGVzdAMyOTc-/RV=1/RE=1399643706/RH=aHNyZC55YWhvby5jb20-/RO=2/RU=aHR0cDovL3RoZXdlZWsuY29tL2FydGljbGUvaW5kZXgvMjYwNTEzL3NwZWVkcmVhZHMtam9uLXN0ZXdhcnQtdGFrZXMtYS12aWN0b3J5LWxhcC1hcm91bmQtY2xpdmVuLWJ1bmR5cy1uZWdyby1zdHVkaWVzLWRlYmFjbGU-/RS=%5EADAiCWytwLUFCBVirKlAroEtbIGOmg->
"

On CNN, child-free Carol Costello notes that Bundy's "use of the word
'Negro'"  was by itself "mind-blowing" and "reprehensible."

(Bundy said today he thought that people of all colors should be able to
sit anywhere on the bus they wanted.)

JL

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