Jesse Jackson wants to ban "N-word"

[Wilson Gray]

I remember that kid. Do you also recall his older, black buddy, the
apple cap-wearing Clyde? One day, well, one strip, Thor comes across
Clyde in, of all places, the library. Caught off guard, Thor
ejaculates, "Clyde! What are *you* doing here!" Clyde replies, "I'm
looking up my roots." To which Thor replies, "Trying to find out who
your father was, huh?"

-Wilson

On 12/2/06, Dave Wilton <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Jesse Jackson wants to ban "N-word"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I recall seeing "Afro-American" in a Doonesbury strip from the early 70s
> (one featuring the short-lived character Thor, a black elementary student
> who was tutored by Doonesbury). The humor in the punch line depended on the
> word seemingly being "hip" among whites, but passe and dated among blacks.
> (Thor doesn't show for class. Mike finds him playing baseball. When asked,
> Thor says he couldn't go to class because it was "Afro-American Cultural
> Appreciation Day." While Doonesbury wonders if he is being conned, another
> player asks Thor about the holiday and he replies it was the best he could
> come up with on the fly.)
>
> And there is a parallelism in that Africa, Italy, and Japan are all places.
> There is also a stronger parallel with "Asian American" and the much rarer
> "European American."
>
> Also, since it is impossible for most African Americans to pinpoint the
> exact place where their ancestors came from (and if they could, the modern
> country that is there did not exist back then), use of country names
> wouldn't really work in this case.
>
> --Dave Wilton
>   dave at wilton.net
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Wilson Gray
> Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 8:43 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Jesse Jackson wants to ban "N-word"
>
> "Afro-American" was once popularized in the mid-'60's?! Who knew? If
> it was, well, I'll be John Brown, as my mother would so.
>
> And, needless to say, there's no parallelism between
> "African-Americans" and "Italian-Americans" or "Japanese-Americans,"
> given that Africa is a continent and Italy and Japan are merely
> countries.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On 12/1/06, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Jesse Jackson wants to ban "N-word"
> >
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ---
> >
> > On 12/1/06, Margaret Lee <mlee303 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > FWIW, this is an excerpt from a paper I wrote on the subject a few years
> ago:
> > >
> > > The shift from Black to African American occurred in 1988 when Dr.
> Ramona
> > > Edelin, President of the National Urban Coalition, proposed that the
> next year's
> > > meeting be called, not the Black Summit, but the African American
> Summit.
> > > The purpose of this change was to reassess the condition of blacks in
> America
> > > while "linking Africans in North America with those on the Continent of
> Africa and
> > > throughout the Diaspora "(Smitherman, in Mufwene et al., 1998, 213).
> >
> > Edelin was also involved in the Dec. 19, 1988 press conference of
> > black leaders where "African-American" first got serious media
> > exposure, but Jesse Jackson got most of the attention:
> >
> > -----
> > New York Times, Dec. 21, 1988, p. A16
> > Jackson and Others Say 'Blacks' Is Passe
> > CHICAGO, Dec. 20 (AP) -- A group of prominent blacks, including the
> > Rev. Jesse Jackson, says members of their race prefer to be called
> > African-Americans.
> > ''Just as we were called colored, but were not that, and then Negro,
> > but not that, to be called black is just as baseless,'' Mr. Jackson
> > said at a news conference Monday after the group met to discuss
> > national goals.
> > ''To be called African-Americans has cultural integrity,'' he said.
> > ''It puts us in our proper historical context. Every ethnic group in
> > this country has a reference to some land base, some historical
> > cultural base. African-Americans have hit that level of cultural
> > maturity.''
> > Mr. Jackson was joined by Richard Hatcher, the former Mayor of Gary,
> > Ind., Ramona Edelin, the National Urban Coalition's president, Gloria
> > Toote, a former Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development,
> > and others.
> > -----
> >
> > And back in the mid-'60s when "Afro-American" was popularized, there
> > were already some suggesting "African-American" as an alternative:
> >
> > -----
> > New York Times, Dec. 11, 1966, p. 45
> > Substitute Word for "Negro" Argued
> > "There's no letter 'o' in Africa; we should just be called
> > African-Americans, just as others are called Italian-Americans or
> > Japanese-Americans," said Mr. Michaux [sc. Lewis H. Michaux, owner of
> > the National Memorial African Bookstore in Harlem].
> > -----
> >
> >
> > --Ben Zimmer
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
> --
> 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.
> -----
> -Sam Clemens
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


--
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.
-----
-Sam Clemens

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