Lockport, NY police don't understand why some people might find "Negro " offensive.

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Timeaisis

Member
Now I'm confused.

What about United Negro College Fund and MLK using the word in his speeches?

I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just legitimately curious? Did it switch to being offensive somewhere along the line?
 

Camp Lo

Banned
Now I'm confused.

What about United Negro College Fund and MLK using the word in his speeches?

I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just legitimately curious? Did it switch to being offensive somewhere along the line?
This was answered I believe on both accounts on the first page.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
Now I'm confused.

What about United Negro College Fund and MLK using the word in his speeches?

I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just legitimately curious? Did it switch to being offensive somewhere along the line?

Why y'all acting like the world just now gettin messed up? What about slavery? The hall of cost? Pick up a book
 

Enzom21

Member
While I certainly understand your viewpoint, it's hard for some to believe that when supporting organizations and higher education facilities use that exact vernacular. Also, what is your personal preference? I note you use black, what about African American? What about "brother"?

All of those terms have garnered offense from members/communities. The fact of the matter is that race describes who we are aesthetically but doesn't change who we are....human beings.

Who cares what vernacular supporting organizations and higher education facilities use? Black people for the most part do not want to be called negro. It is an outdated and offensive term. As far as "Black" and "African American" that is personal preference that black people decide and no one else and are you shitting me with "brother"?

Now I'm confused.

What about United Negro College Fund and MLK using the word in his speeches?

I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just legitimately curious? Did it switch to being offensive somewhere along the line?
Black people also called themselves "colored" and some older black people still call themselves negro. That's why it was still on the Census last year.
Negro is not to far off from nigra which is of course a variation of nigger. It has been offensive for sometime now.
 
I love when racist shitbirds get called out, dude will never return to the thread though.



It is most certainly offensive. I don't want to be called negro and I am pretty sure no other black person wants to be called negro either. Call a black person a negro and you will find out how offensive it is. The bolded is why probably why you don't find it offensive.
Wasn't a problem for me and many friends through junior high and high school. Someone with decent manners would probably prefer to stay on a first name basis with most people, though. Latino here that basically grew up with 99% minorities surrounding him in NYC and a majority of them were black.

Standards and times change. Words go along with them and I try to keep that in mind. Everyone should do the same, I guess.
 

Timeaisis

Member
Why y'all acting like the world just now gettin messed up? What about slavery? The hall of cost? Pick up a book


I'm not asking why it's now messed up. I've never used the word and never will, except just then. I'm just asking when it became offensive. I haven't heard it enough to even know if it was before now, so I've avoided it, as it seemed like a dated word anyway.

My question, I guess, is when did it go from a dated term to being offensive?
 

Wthermans

Banned
Who cares what vernacular supporting organizations and higher education facilities use? Black people for the most part do not want to be called negro. It is an outdated and offensive term. As far as "Black" and "African American" that is personal preference that black people decide and no one else and are you shitting me with "brother"?
The words you use have meaning. Hence why the vernacular matters. You have stated the opinion that negro is not preferred. But then you say black to African American is subjective. So if there is not a good word to use that does not offend, what does one use?
 
Now I'm confused.

What about United Negro College Fund and MLK using the word in his speeches?

I'm not trying to be offensive, I'm just legitimately curious? Did it switch to being offensive somewhere along the line?

There's a reason that they now refer to themselves primarily by "UNCF", they're stuck with full-name because people know where to donate, but they've mostly rebranded.

And MLK has been dead since 1986. Language changes.

I'm not asking why it's now messed up. I've never used the word and never will, except just then. I'm just asking when it became offensive. I haven't heard it enough to even know if it was before now, so I've avoided it, as it seemed like a dated word anyway.

My question, I guess, is when did it go from a dated term to being offensive?

A quick google:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_.../01/when_did_the_word_negro_become_taboo.html
It started its decline in 1966 and was totally uncouth by the mid-1980s. The turning point came when Stokely Carmichael coined the phrase black power at a 1966 rally in Mississippi. Until then, Negro was how most black Americans described themselves. But in Carmichael's speeches and in his landmark 1967 book, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America, he persuasively argued that the term implied black inferiority. Among black activists, Negro soon became shorthand for a member of the establishment. Prominent black publications like Ebony switched from Negro to black at the end of the decade, and the masses soon followed. According to a 1968 Newsweek poll, more than two-thirds of black Americans still preferred Negro, but black had become the majority preference by 1974. Both the Associated Press and the New York Times abandoned Negro in the 1970s, and by the mid-1980s, even the most hidebound institutions, like the U.S. Supreme Court, had largely stopped using Negro.

The words you use have meaning. Hence why the vernacular matters. You have stated the opinion that negro is not preferred. But then you say black to African American is subjective. So if there is not a good word to use that does not offend, what does one use?

If you're super-worried, use African-American.
 

Enzom21

Member
The words you use have meaning. Hence why the vernacular matters. You have stated the opinion that negro is not preferred. But then you say black to African American is subjective. So if there is not a good word to use that does not offend, what does one use?

You don't use negro, stop being obtuse.
 
The words you use have meaning. Hence why the vernacular matters. You have stated the opinion that negro is not preferred. But then you say black to African American is subjective. So if there is not a good word to use that does not offend, what does one use?

Use "black" or "african american." always follow up with "person" or "people," don't just say "blacks," or "a black."

No problem, it's my pleasure

If you're curious why these are your best bets, type your questions into google instead of shaking down random individuals, ordering them to answer your question, like you do here:

Answer the question.
 

beril

Member
I don't like being called Negro or colored because I find both of the words racist and so do many other black people.

When whites call us colored or Negro its just them using code for the n-word.

Wait, is coloured considered offensive now? I always thought that was like the most PC word of all, though not as widely used.
 

Platy

Member
...there is a PICTURE right next to the description ... why is it even necessary to say the skin color ? =P
 

Enzom21

Member
Answer the question.

I answered your ridiculous question. Use black or African American and don't use negro.
Do you actually care about whether or not you offend people or are you one of those people who is annoyed that they can't call black people whatever they want?
 
The words you use have meaning. Hence why the vernacular matters. You have stated the opinion that negro is not preferred. But then you say black to African American is subjective. So if there is not a good word to use that does not offend, what does one use?
"boy" for males and "negra" for females. Maybe add a little southern twang so we know you mean well.
 
Wait, is coloured considered offensive now? I always thought that was like the most PC word of all, though not as widely used.

Seriously.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6132672.stm

"It's wrong," says Toyin Agbetu of Ligali, an African-British human rights organisation. "Because it strips me of my identity and reduces me to the most superficial physical identifier, as opposed to my African ethnicity."

The term was common parlance in the 1960s, but its origins are the problem, says Mr Agbetu. It comes from the ideology of racism, that white people are white, and everyone else is somehow other coloured. It fails to recognise that everyone has an ethnicity and is an inadequate "one-size-fits all" description.

Nor was it a term chosen by those it refers to, but instead imposed by the wider - and white - society.

Those who still use the term tend to be from older generations, he says, but adds that if they knew the history of the word, perhaps they would think again.
 
Wait, is coloured considered offensive now? I always thought that was like the most PC word of all, though not as widely used.
dude

It's pretty offensive and even more outdated. Never heard that word uttered by someone seriously outside of the internet.
 

JDSN

Banned
I answered your ridiculous question. Use black or African American and don't use negro.
Do you actually care about whether or not you offend people or are you one of those people who is annoyed that they can't call black people whatever they want?

He thinks "brother" is a race-specific term, the answer to the question seems clear.
 

Mesousa

Banned
That is simply unacceptable, but how the enemy of the revolution chooses to classify their enemies should be of no bother to us. Just more proof that brothers know who their enemies are. Revolutionary education moment.
 

Toxi

Banned
While I certainly understand your viewpoint, it's hard for some to believe that when supporting organizations and higher education facilities use that exact vernacular. Also, what is your personal preference? I note you use black, what about African American? What about "brother"?
Holy shit this thread is gold.
 

Wthermans

Banned
Use "black" or "african american." always follow up with "person" or "people," don't just say "blacks," or "a black."

No problem, it's my pleasure

If you're curious why these are your best bets, type your questions into google instead of shaking down random individuals, ordering them to answer your question, like you do here:
Thank you for your kind answer, I like getting first hand, real time responses rather than search queries. Also, I am only ordering an individual that is name calling. Turnabout is fair play.

I answered your ridiculous question. Use black or African American and don't use negro.
Do you actually care about whether or not you offend people or are you one of those people who is annoyed that they can't call black people whatever they want?

I want to describe people in the most non-offensive methods. I have to describe guests every day and want to be as up to date as possible with racial descriptions.
Whoa. Ordering posters when a quick read through the thread would've answered your question? Fabulous.

Please see above. I only order those that avoid the subject in favor of name calling.

"boy" for males and "negra" for females. Maybe add a little southern twang so we know you mean well.
You did nothing to further the discussion.
 

Enzom21

Member
Thank you for your kind answer, I like getting first hand, real time responses rather than search queries. Also, I am only ordering an individual that is name calling. Turnabout is fair play.



I want to describe people in the most non-offensive methods. I have to describe guests every day and want to be as up to date as possible with racial descriptions.


Please see above. I only order those that avoid the subject in favor of name calling.


You did nothing to further the discussion.

You're full of shit. If you actually cared about not wanting to offend people, you wouldn't have included "brother" in your race description.
 

Sanjuro

Member
Nope. Negro is offensive. And the article says officers use it. Can't blame computers for that. And it was offensive in 1994. And they describe hair and eye color as black but make a hell of a leap to use an offensive word from the 60's for complexion. That makes even less sense.

Or are you joking?

I'm not joking. Historically, the word is not offensive or used in the same context.

Like the video says, there is stigma and association in modern day. That is why the word is regularly seen as taboo.
 

Wthermans

Banned
You're full of shit. If you actually cared about not wanting to offend people, you wouldn't have included "brother" in your race description.
You can certainly believe that, but was an example that I have heard others refer to their acquaintances. I do apologize if you found offense. I simply want to know the most nonsubjective term to describe this race.
 

beril

Member
Are you posting from 1950? Colored was PC only because the alternative was nigger.

Well I've never been to the US, or the UK or another English speaking country for that matter for that matter so it's not that easy to keep up with all language trends. Whenever I've heard the word it has seemed to be in a non offensive situation; but yea that may all have been in movies from the 50s, I don't know. Its corresponding word is sometimes used in Swedish, and while it sounds somewhat awkward it's not considered offensive.
 

Enzom21

Member
You can certainly believe that, but was a very kind example that I have heard others refer to their acquaintances. I do apologize if you found offense. I simply want to know the most nonsubjective term to describe this race.

I am sure you have heard black people refer to one another as "nigga" do you wonder if you should call us that as well?
 
When I say brother, I don't mean, like, an actual brother, but I mean it like the way black people use it. Which is more meaningful, I think.
 

Wthermans

Banned
I am sure you have heard black people refer to one another as "nigga" do you wonder if you should call us that as well?

I used to wonder that. Especially after being told by the race's individuals that it's fine to say as long as you aren't being hateful.

That's the whole problem and crux of this issue.
 
IIRC it is socially acceptable but only if you attach the word "uppity" before it.

I used to wonder that. Especially after being told by the race's individuals that it's fine to say as long as you aren't being hateful.

That's the whole problem and crux of this issue.

Wow you mean every Black person in the US told you it was ok? You must sure be popular. Or is it ok to just take a few of their opinions and treat it as applicable for every individual of that race?
 

Enzom21

Member
I used to wonder that. Especially after being told by the race's individuals that it's fine to say as long as you aren't being hateful.

That's the whole problem and crux of this issue.
Surprise surprise. Think it's unfair that you can't call us nigga free of consequence huh?

Black or African American and that is it, nothing else is acceptable.
 
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