"Negro" in the historical context.
 

How do people feel about the use of the term Negro as part of a description of an event which occured at a time when Negro was the preferred non-offensive term (prior to 1960(?)).

For example in a history of golf in Los Angeles.

In 1932, Snooty Golf Club changed its by-laws and admitted its first Negro member, however it wasn't until 1935 that it admitted its first Jew.

Not a big deal to me :shrugs:

I still use the word every now and then and do not mind it.

Was the history written in 1950 or 2005?

I have no problem with the world. Honestly it is the context that makes all the difference. Never understood the big deal of it honestly. It is just the word for Black in Spanish. I still use it from time to time since it is the only non offensive way to refer specifically to Black people. The world Moreno which is usually used literally just means a dark haired person.

Not just dark-haired. 'Moreno' and the contrary term 'guero' both can be used to mean a dark-skinned/light-skinned person.

I was taught that it meant dark haired. Though it was probably corrupted I guess for lack of a better term to mean skin tone. I honestly don't know.

Also I would be considered a Moreno in both sense though I would never be called Black.

Not the only one.

That's how I learned it, too.

I doubt it was 'corrupted'...I think it just has different connotations, whether we were taught them or not.

A person is usually referred to as 'moreno' (at least with Mexicans, idk about others) when they are darker skinned, but not of African-American heritage.

I don't care about the term Negro in any context except for hateful ones. And if somebody is trying to be hateful, there's usually words worse than Negro to use.

I've been known to say and answer to "colored" when it's used lovingly.

Assume 1950, in a book that was re-issued on 2005.

Funny you brought this up. I was at the post office wanting to take a look at the new stamps coming out this year. The clerk (who is Latina) showed me the page that had the stamps. I was pretty excited to see one being issued of the Negro Leagues Baseball.

I said, "I love the Negro leagues one". She said, "I was going to ask my supervisor why they had it listed as Negro leagues. I didn't think it was correct, and I didn't want to offend if someone asked about the stamp".

I broke it down, gave her a brief history of the league and told her it was cool. So if the book was written in 1950s or 60s, no biggie.

In fact, I had to get a certified copy of my birth certificate from the state of Florida and yes, my race is listed as Negro on there. Yeah, I was amused :rolleyes: DH was floored :D

Are you asking because of the census?

It's a shame that a lot of people don't even know about the Negro Leagues. I saw a kid wearing a jacket with patches from the various teams and i asked him if he even knew what the Negro Leagues were. He said no.

If it's a regular book (as opposed to a textbook) I think that the original wording should stand. If nothing else, it will sound kind of odd for the rest of the book to be in 1950ese and then inserting verbiage from the last half of the 20th century in there. In other words, trying to be "up to date" or "politically correct" will compromise the overall effectiveness of the piece if it's the only thing that's updated.

Don't get me started on Judy Blume pulling this isht in the latest printings of her books. :mad:

Judy Blume books said Negro? I wonder why I never noticed this...which ones?

ha ha, no, I didn't mean that. I meant they were "updated." They put a disclaimer at the beginning of Forever and redid Are You There God It's Me Margaret so Margaret wasn't wearing a pad with a belt anymore. I just thought it was stupid - those books are about feelings, not about technical crap like that. Plus it disturbs the flow (no pun intended) if they don't update the clothes, slang etc etc along with it. It's kind of like colorizing movies - sounds good in theory, but in practice is so glaringly distracting that it detracts from your enjoyment of the movie/book/whatever.

I had no idea they updated Judy Blume's books. I remember them being banned at some point.... I wonder if they hadn't updated them, would they be banned again, for completely different reasons?

sidenote: I apparently had the unupdated version of "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret," when I was younger. It remains the only time I've ever encountered a description of a pad with belt. Still confuses me.

Yeah, the whole pad with a belt thing was a shock to me entirely. I wish I could still find one though so I could see what it looked like.
LOL @ Judy Blume Negro theories!

When it's used in a historical context then, I don't have a problem with it, but if someone were to refer to me or somebody else "black" today as one, now we've got a problem.

Co-sign!

I learned moreno/a as dark skinned. Most spanish speaking (and Brazilian for that matter) always call me morena. You would think that was my damn nickname, it pisses me off most of the time.

In SFL I'm usually "la negrita" (hate it cos it's diminuitive), but I have been morena on a occasion. It's usually reserved for "dark tan" people, but not always.

You can't be serious. I honestly refuse to believe you're being serious.

I had noticed that they are adding "Negro" back to the census (http://www.time.com/time/nation/arti...955923,00.html), but that wasn't it. I'm looking at it more as the proper way to try to reference information on the first chapter of Alpha Phi Omega at an HBCU (A term which wasn't commonly used until the early 1980s!) and whether or not those brothers were the first of african descent. (to use a term that I'm definitely not using in the reference).

sigh....next thing....it will be 'colored'.

Let's add 'Oriental' while we are at it.

so 56000 had a hand in this out of how many million?

Really...

My neighbor still uses 'colored', but he is 84. He is definitely *not* racist. After his second wife died about 5 years ago, he dated one of the in home care-givers for his wife for about two years. She didn't mind before referred to as colored, but she is in her 60s.

Belted pads were used until the early/mid 80s. My older (bio) sisters used them briefly.

*Blame the lack of better threads for my participation in this thread*

I also read the original "Are You There God...." I love that book. Tyra Banks was talking about the belt in the book yesterday. I didn't know what that was about when I was little. LOL

I see my colored homie, Senusret! Yes, many of these words were used in a historical and perhaps nonoffensive context as a way to identify certain people. Uncoincidentally, there has been little debate and change regarding how whites are identified and labeled. No, this isn't just because "colored folks" are so paranoid and complain a lot. It's because whiteness was wrongly viewed as "race neutral" to the point that only nonwhites were considered with a race and ethnic identity, and there was only debate as to what "they" should be called because "we" (white folks) are so above all of this race stuff that it doesn't matter to us.

I also hope smart people know the difference between Black people jokingly saying "Negro" (and other words with historical context); versus the historical context that lead to such words being considered offensive (not by all, but by enough for it to count within a societal context; and most of these words themselves aren't offensive--the context, usage, and tone are offensive).

Seriously, naraht? This has been said for generations and said in the mainstream for decades (a la Peggy McIntosh's white privilege appearances on Oprah where she discussed that the racial designations aren't about skin complexion--and things like whose "nude stockings" are nude).

Back to what's REALLY going on.

Racial and ethnic designations are about racial and ethnic identifiably that includes but is not limited to skin complexion. In most settings, I am just a light skinnedededed Black woman; in some settings people have wondered if I am Mexican; in still other (stupid) settings, my "Blackness" has been challenged because idiots confuse racial, ethnic, and cultural identity with having to look and speak a certain way. That's about the social construction of race and ethnicity. Not just about my skin complexion. That's how it is in EVERY society because NO ONE is born with a racial, ethnic, and or cultural identity.

I get that people want to pretend to be "different" and pretend that they are oblivious to, and challenging of, race and the history behind words like "Negro" in certain societies (not just AmeriKKKa). But, you have to first acknowledge the reality that we've created and also acknowledge that you're an active participant in it 99% of the time--the other 1% is devoted to trying to be "different."

(It's the same as I am with gender issues--I combat gendered stereotypes and gendered socialization but acknowledge the socially constructed "reality" and don't devote all of my concious and subconscious time to combatting gender norms.)

You're young! I've seen Florida birth certificates from the mid to late 40s that say "Colored," and have a box to check if the kid is a bastard. Can you believe?

belt little more graphic

I tried these at the very beginning of my "womanhood" and they were a total pain in the ass.

Back to the topic....naraht, if this is an article you're writing now, I would personally use African-American.

DS - I remember an episode of the Jeffersons where Lionel got on an older man's case for saying "Negro" instead of "Afro-American." The older man said in the last 30 years he'd gone from n-word, to colored, to Negro, so he needed a little time to get to Afro-American. So I do kind of understand it.

Is he not racist because he's friendly and fucks the in home Black care-giver?

*chuckle*

"Some of my best friends are Black."
"Some of my best servants are Black."

Given his prostate issues, I *seriously* doubt it. And the relationship did not really start until his wife died. My neighbor broke it off because he didn't want to be a burden to her as he got older. (He figures his next wife is going to bury *him*).

Also, He was a mechanic during his career and considers the person who first taught him in that field (who he talks about fondly) was a Colored man who rented from them.

[QUOTE=33girl;1908732]belt little more graphic

I tried these at the very beginning of my "womanhood" and they were a total pain in the ass.

QUOTE]
hijack-
I don't think these would work very well with low-rise jeans!

So?

What does any of this have to do with whether or not he's a "racist?"

You should've just said he's a product of his environment and avoided the racist/racism issue.

"That isn't my thong, it's my pad belt!! Sexy! Argh!"

The first part of this sentence seems to me to come dangerously close to the argument that it is OK for black people to say nigger, but not for white people to do so.


Seriously. Unfortunately, IMO, the term "European-American" has more or less been hijacked by groups that are either Neo-nazi (or close). My kids have ancestry from at least 7 different European Nations with no single nation representing more than a quarter. (Led to some fun issues with the elementary school when they wanted something all the kids to bring something in from the family culture).


Do you disagree with putting race on Birth Certificates then?

Until you can show that in the year 2010 that either a majority of this country or the Policies of the federal government align with those of the KKK, I would appreciate that the term "AmeriKKKa" no longer be used.

Until you can show that in the year 2010 that either a majority of this country or the Policies of the federal government align against those of the Negro designation, I would appreciate that the term "Negro" no longer be used.



....just saying.

I am always surprised to hear of places where race IS in the birth certificates. In Indiana, I know they haven't been on birth certficates from the 1970s onward (I'm not sure of before that, since I haven't seen a certificate from prior to 1971).

Then again, Indiana also did away with the "mother's maiden name" part sometime between 1973 and 2002- now it just reads father's full name, mother's full name.

Hey, I can appreciate that, but I think I'd rather go with "the Glenn Beck" designation.

I had to come in on this thread as well. Last I checked my race wasn't on my birth certificate either. Maybe I need to check it again.

Edit. Maybe because I have the short form. Never had a need to find the long form...if any.