Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 56 replies, 57 voices, and was last updated 20 years, 4 months ago by
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I don’t think it’s offensive. The guy knows he’s black and if he’s offended by the fact that you called him black then he’s got the problem, not you. I almost always preface my reference to someone with their race – even black folks.
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Name : Monika, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Christian, Age : 27, City : Houston, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : Computer Programmer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Well, I’d never call anyone ‘the black guy’, primarily because you really shouldn’t refer to Asians as ‘the yellow guy’. I’ve seen fist fights and knives pulled over that. The bottom line is, if it just so slightly doesn’t sound right to you, don’t say it.
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Name : Emperor, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Asian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 16, City : Orange, State : CT, Country : United States, Occupation : Electronic Musician, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class,Several of my black friends have medntioned the fact that blacks have a ‘pecking order’ based on color, which may be different from one region to another. They seem embarrased to talk about it -why?
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Name : Ann, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 60, City : Marietta, State : GA, Country : United States, Occupation : Retired, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I believe it is case senstive and yes, race is an obvious feature to consider when narrowing a crowd to one person. I think what bothers me is the phrase ‘big black guy’. I hear this from non-blacks all the time and when they say it in their storys, the fact that the person is black is not even relevant. I think this is incomprehensible but I hear it all the time. It’s almost like they add ‘black’ to the description as to mean ‘imposing’ or fearful. All in all it’s offensive. Now if you are referring to a person among people that you are trying to point out and this person is the only black person, I don’t see the harm in that.
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Name : Desmond, Gender : M, City : Alexandria, State : VA, Country : United States,I once tried describing a black coworker to another black coworker by saying ‘you know the guy with dark curly hair, brown eyes, dark complexion…’ She looked at me like I was crazy and said ‘you mean the black guy.’ I said yeah; she said that I was just silly and that it’s fine to say ‘the black guy.’ So, like the other responders, I don’t think it’s a problem.
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Name : William24297, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Episcopalian, Age : 35, City : Durham, State : NC, Country : United States, Occupation : Dentist, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I don’t typically think it’s offensive to point out someone by ethnicity (if you are identifying someone in a crowd or a group). But I always wonder why people include a person’s ethnicity when it adds nothing to the story. E.g. ‘we were waiting in line and this black guy came up to us and asked us for directions…’ what’s the difference between a ‘guy’ and a ‘black guy’ in this context?
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Name : Carole-Lavreux, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Catholic, Age : 25, City : New York, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Professional, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,I have lived in the United States, Canada and parts of Europe. Contrary, to what one may think, I do not think that in every country race is necessarily the first thing that pops into one head. Moving to the U.S. at age 25, I was shocked and amazed at America’s concentration on skin color as a general descriptive characteristic of people, above everything else. After moving to the U.S. and then back home, I began noticing many of my friends’ skin colors much more conciously than I did before and began asking them specifics about their ethnicity, realizing that many of my arab and italian friends might be considered black or latino if they lived in certain parts of America. I personally think that denoting people by race only draws more attention to it, making it a greater divider. In fact, I would argue that most racism in America today stems from racial obsession. I know it may sound silly but think about it: If you started to identify people by their noses, don’t you think people would become more ‘nose-concious’ and then, discriminate or group people by their noses. I generally support not addressing people by their race. I think it simply creates more tension.
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Name : S. E, Gender : M, Race : black, white, Japanese, Age : 29, City : Toronto, Ontario, State : NA, Country : Canada, Occupation : Graduate Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class,I would say the general rule is that you would use race only in situations where identifying someone would be in the best interest of a particular situation. But when race is irrelevant, don’t use it. An example might be someone who commits a crime that is reported on TV news. If the news program asks its viewers to lookout for the suspect, then use race. If you are just reporting the crime, does using race really improve the topic? Probably not since it’s irrelevant.
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Name : Wayne, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Age : 33, City : Hacienda Heights, State : CA, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,In my part of NYC, everybody does it. Everybody refers to people by their ethnicity, sometimes to the exclusion of their name or any other attributes. Sometimes they even get the ethnicity wrong.
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Name : Tali24827, City : NYC, State : NY, Country : United States,The United States has a fairly recent history of institutionalized racial seperation. Therefore, Americans have a tendency to say things like black and white, instead of using terms unrelated to race. Living in the city of Chicago, this mind set especially holds true. Chicago is more segregated than Johannesburg, South Africa!
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Name : Seymour, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Age : 21, City : Chicago, State : IL, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,It’s not offensive at all, but I’ve noticed that white people are reluctant to identify others by race (any race … not just black) in my presence. An example… White Person: ‘You know that guy who works at the record store? The tall guy?’ Me: ‘You mean the one with the red hair?’ White Person: ‘No his hair is dark and kinda short.’ Me: You mean the guy who dropped the boxes?’ White Person: ‘No … the one who always wears the red belt.’ Me: ‘You mean the black guy?’ White Person: ‘Yeah, him.’ Oh please! As if he didn’t notice the guy was black until I brought it up? It’s so silly. Anybody who takes offense is just being too sensitive.
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Name : Nik, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Atheist, Age : 24, City : San Francisco, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,I think this is far more complicated than many people will admit. I’m black and will concede that it’s probably OK to identify someone by his race if it’s done in a non-prejudicial manner. But I can tell you, even in California, most likely the most ethnically diverse state in the US, it is much less often white people who are identified by their race – and they comprise LESS than 50% of the population here! Is this direct racism? I don’t think so. But, in our (US) culture, I think whiteness is the template against which the other ‘races’ are judged or measured. Why? Because despite our growing ethnic diversity, our society is still mostly white. So, when we see a black, Asian, or Arab individual, his or ‘blackness’ or ‘Asian-ness’ or ‘Arab-ness’ is likely the first and most defining characteristic. Conversely, a white person is characterized first as blond, or fat, or ugly, or pretty, or smart or whatever. His or her whiteness is assumed or given unless proven otherwise. Do I like this? No. For much of my life, it has made me feel ‘exoticized’ and not in a good way. But, it’s probably unavoidable. When I look in the mirror, my blackness is incidental not defining. Am I ‘sensitive’ to this? Maybe. But I’m hardly the only one in this situation who feels this way. However, I have to admit, this is not the biggest deal in the world even as it is truly annoying to me. When the proportion of races is more equal or when the ethnic and racial diversity increases even more, whites will be increasingly defined by their own whiteness, too.
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Name : Berto, Gender : M, Religion : Secular Humanist, Age : 34, City : Central Valley, State : CA, Country : United States, Social class : Middle class,
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