rolling "Is This Racist?" thread

Not sure how long the comeback has been in effect, but hi-top fades were noticeably more common this year in Twin Cities secondary schools.

Windbag blows wind.

is the word "denigrate" racist

http://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/28/magazine/on-language-dark-words-of-disapproval.html

The etymology of the word denigrate was promptly called to my attention by a media colleague, who wondered whether the Mayor was unwittingly using a term that illustrates how racism is buried in the language.

Niger is Latin for ''black''; denigrationem is Late Latin for ''a blackening.'' The de- does not mean ''the opposite or reverse of,'' as de- so often does; in this case, as in denude and declaim, it means ''completely''; thus, denigrate is rooted in ''to blacken completely.'' The term was picked up as a verb in Old French meaning ''to blacken'' and transferred to English in the 16th century in the sense of ''darken a good name,'' or ''defame.''

Historically, black and dark have signified ''bad'' (Satan was called the Prince of Darkness long before the self-styled meanie, Robert Novak, was born), and white and light have meant ''good'' (none but the brave deserve the fair, meaning ''light-colored'').

whoa

white/black, right/left go way back

was talking about the phrase "that's awful white of you" which along with "jew you down on the price" i heard somewhat regularly as a kid and have blessedly NOT heard this decade

Both of those are things I never, ever heard until years after I read about their existence (if I even have to this day??). People, man. They're terrible.

the guy i bought my first car from, with my dad negotiating, promised us he wasn't gonna jew us on this
we, as jews, kept our mouths shut and got the car cheap.
a grand for a 78 chevy nova. black with silver finish. loved that car. that always spoiled my memory of the moment tho'

When I took my driver's license exam for the second time (after failing a week earlier and feeling humiliated about it), the old guy giving me the test said "thank God, a white person who speaks English - I'm going to pass you just for that." So the victory of passing felt pretty shitty.

Passing complexion

lol

wtf

http://www.crewof42.com/news/paul-ryan-inner-city-comments-had-nothing-to-do-whatsoever-with-race/

paul ryan may eat portion of my genitals

that reads like a highly undesirable headline

Is this racist?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5Sn43DUSBBA/UynRRhn0TuI/AAAAAAABJkM/_AZqrTgm4EA/s3200/a.jpg

I am not qualified to really judge, but I am going to say: no

I hold some certification, my instincts say no.

you've got to be shitting me

― HI DERE, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:52 (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I doubt anyone can find a better piece of football memorablia.

― Scik Mouthy, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:52 (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a Luke Chadwick one would've been better.

― blueski, Thursday, 22 March 2007 15:57 (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Girl from HS I'm friends with is married to a Chinese guy and keeps referring to her fetus as the egg roll and they announced it's a boy by writing that on a Chinese takeaway box. He's obv in on it but every single time she does this, and she does it a lot, I'm like oh, girl.

yuuuuuk that is not right

is he actually ok with it in a "ok yeah this is funny" kind of way or a "ehhh I'm not really down with this but it's my wife and I love her so I'll let it slide" kinda way? gotta imagine that would start to wear on him quickly.

that is disgusting!

Haha that makes me think of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TI_p_Eit5PM

1:23

lol

http://i.onionstatic.com/avclub/5040/24/16x9/565.jpg

What is that

Nick Cannon. m0rdy in troll attempt shockah

Nick Cannon, who has never heard of Eddie Murphy or Dave Chappelle or the Wayans Bros., in "whiteface," which he thinks he invented.

Dave Chappelle in whiteface is still one of the creepiest and funniest things I've seen on basic cable.

Is it racist for a European white man to call another European white man a "fucking refugee"?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26909889

Obviously it has all the "fuck off back to your own country" hallmarks of a xenophobic cunt but I'm not sure it qualifies as racist if you say it to someone the same colour as you?

(Griffiths also has previous form in actually telling a non-white fellow Scot to fuck off back to his own country so fuck him tbh)

hutus & tutsis look pretty similar. it's obviously based on some assumed difference/otherness, race isn't an idea that withstands much interrogation, but what else are you going to call it? will it make a difference other than to shield ppl of painful accusations of racism?

I certainly wouldn't claim what he said was functionally less than racism just because I supported his team.

I have no particular interest in parsing his assholitude. If it's not as bad as racism (?), it's certainly a step in the direction of denying someone their basic humanity.

"...telling a non-white fellow Scot to fuck off back to his own country so fuck him tbh..." Given that Scot is Latin for Irish, maybe he should do just that, himself, and leave Caledonia to the Picts.

^ never far from a paddybash, this lad

I grew up in terrible parts of Scotland - like Leigh Griffiths, I suppose, though my face survived - where everyone was kind of racist, including me, because they knew nothing of the world. It's likely Griffiths didn't even think about the words he was singing, he seems so stupid. I remember, though, that at school "refugee" was an insult based more on poverty than race: you are a refugee and you wear shit clothes; you are scruffy and your parents don't work. Poor people hunting the even poorer. I think Griffiths should be fired for sure, but if he is he will never really understand why, and he will get a different job.

I certainly wouldn't claim what he said was functionally less than racism just because I supported his team.

I don't recall claiming that at all. I think it's odd that every report is saying that a white Scotsman calling a white Czech a refugee is racist and thought it worth discussing.

I also pointed out his previous obvious racism and didn't support him in any way whatsoever.

There are people who support his team who refer to anti-Irish singing as racist and I think that's questionable too, despite a Scottish judge defining it as such.

When you get a 10-20k a week wage, that is the point you leave all this sectarian bigotry behind forever - if you have a brain. I bet even some of LG's friends from the vid secretly think he is a fucking idiot.

It's more of a 'if it looks like a duck' thing. Defining racism only in terms of constructed 'races' is to be caught in a chicken/egg problem. I think it makes more sense to look at racism as an ideological process which seeks to 'other' groups of people. Really, I don't care - it was clearly a terrible thing to say. I mean, I'm a working class Scot as well, and to claim that such divides are sectarian, when two atheists can hate each other based on surnames or hair colour or accents seems perverse to me. I don't know if it's 'racism' per se, but that seems to be to focus on narrow definitions rather than how beliefs actually function in the way that they divide and devalue sections of humanity. 'Refugee', like 'Immigrant', is a pre-racialised term - when someone says 'immigrant' they rarely mean American or Australian students or workers etc. - it's reserved for certain groups, and currently eastern European workers fall into that category.

(A similar issue is the islamophobic insistence than Muslims are not a race - when they know fine well that if they asked children to draw a picture of a Muslim they would draw a 'brown' person, and assume people's religious affiliation from their ethnic appearance)

(Also, to claim that 'Slavic' people are uncomplicatedly 'white' is to ignor some Very Important parts of 20th century history)

(Anyway, Onimo, I should apologise - I wasn't meaning to imply that your sports affiliation was clouding your judgement. I'm just drunkenly carrying on a drunken argument from the pub earlier, by proxy. I fear I didn't make myself understood then, as now. Anyway, four posts in a row, NAGL...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxpkEehUd88

The thread title popped into my head when I checked the "about" page on the ad agency's site and noticed every person shown is young and white which makes this feel a bit off to me.

4th rate sub-Putney Swope bullshit

makes me miss Putney Swope somehow

Are Skippyjon Jones books racist? I have read two and it didn't cross my mind that it was racist.

we stopped reading them for that reason

I re-read one tonight and still didn't find it offensive. Is the pov different because I am Latina? There were Spanish words used properly in the correct context, the rest seemed like word play.

Here's the first result for "Skippyjon Jones racist"

I am kinda bummed by the slam on my employer, TUSD, at the end – I work pretty hard to be an anti-racist teacher and I know a lot of others do, too. It's a district with over 3,500 employees, and I know we get nothing but bad press in the national media, but to think ALL of those employees are anti-Mexican/Mexican-American bigots is inaccurate!