U Maryland: Birthday Cake Pic on Instagram
 

As if GCers needed a reminder -- be careful about what you post on Instagram (or Facebook or other social media sites

A “birthday cake” for a U of Maryland woman who turned 21 displays wording that the story (below) terms “racist.” In the story she’s identified as a member of Delta Gamma. A picture accompanies the story. A statement from Delta Gamma is in the story.

http://gawker.com/sorority-girl-cele...hre-1670470468

Edited to add: the Daily Mail has the story, too. Nothing like making news internationally.

No. That's not the lesson here. The lesson is "don't use racist language."

DBB FTW.

I don't get why this got linked to Greek Life, her cake had nothing to do with DG.

Delta Gamma certainly felt the connection.....

Doesn't that lesson apply to Three 6 Mafia who wrote the song?

No.

No. People from marginalized groups have always been able to use language like this in their own art and within their own communities.

If a white person has a problem with what people of color say to each other in our own circles, they really ought to question why they want to use a racial slur so badly in the first place.

:) We shall now be accused of making a "colorblind" thread into a racial thread.

I just don't get how the line fits in with all the rest of it. It's like they INTENTIONALLY put something stupid on the cake. All the other stuff would make sense on a 21st birthday cake for a girl in an expensive watch and petite gold chain to have, but how is fellatio with a man of color a right of passage? Did I miss the memo that said I was supposed to do that when I turned 21? Is it because I became legal to drink at 19, but not supposed to do that until 21?

I'm cracking up.

Ah, this topic again. The word that you couldn't get away from if you wanted to. You hear it screamed in malls, in school, on tv, in movies, in music, in multiple FB and other social media posts a day. A generation has literally grown up hearing the word in non racist ways but people still act like a 20 year olds nigga is the same as a 70 year olds nigger. Regardless of how you feel about it stuff like this will continue to happen, especially among younger people who probably may not really know better.


ETA- in short, who really cares about the cake with the rap lyric on it? Don't we have more pressing issues to deal with?

Maybe because they hear the word regularly. That regular usage makes it part of their vocabulary. If people want the word to die so badly, stop using it. To a 21 year old, that word is probably more of a song lyric than a racial slur.

Dear Confused White People and Confused Other People Not of the Immediate African Diaspora:

I don't give a damn what you think but since you all insist.... I am surrounded by white people, Asians, American Indians-Native Americans, and Hispanics who use certain words and phrases within ear shot of me. That doesn't make me anxious to use those words and phrases. I do not have a "must be able to do everything" superiority (or inferiority) complex. As said on the 1980s talk shows and still very applicable in 2014, instead of wondering why you can't say it, ask yourself why you WANT and NEED to say it.

Sincerely,
The Coalition of "When in Doubt, Don't"

ETA: The rap lyric on a cake is extremely typical and uninteresting which is why I didn't respond to this thread. However, this thread topic is just like other thread topics that have anything to do with race. The ignorance of some GCers is hidden in the topic. Same shit, different toilet.

Respectfully Sen, perhaps the problem here is that the Internet, TV, movies and music are NOT part of your "own circle" or "within their own community."

People of any color using such offensive language IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN does give SOME people the excuse that it is OK for them to use it. If the language is offensive, maybe don't put it out there so flippantly in public.

No. Almost everyday, I have white people in professional and personal interactions call themselves and other whites certain words and phrases. They think that I will find it funny because I am Black. I don't laugh and I tell them not to do that around me.

But, based on the "don't do it in the public domain" logic, I should not only laugh but adopt those words and phrases in my repertoire. That'll teach them...right? It's fun to adopt certain words and phrases just for shits and giggles...right?

Nah, the truth is, humans are smart enough to handle things in the public domain that are still not to be adopted. The humans who are not smart enough to grasp that have other things to tackle instead of fighting to be able to use certain words and phrases.

But, keep telling people, and especially white people, that they can use certain words just because they hear it frequently. Keep telling people, especially white people, that it is the fault of the people who put these words in the public domain. I have seen people, including white people, get their asses whooped for stepping over boundaries and trying to reenact rap songs, rap videos, and stereotypes with people of another race and ethnicity. I don't condone the ass whoopings but I definitely understood and found it extremely deserved.

Cool....

Dr Phil, I think you are missing the point. No one is saying that using the word is ok, but when you have non black kids being raised on the word and not necessarily knowing or understanding the past of that word, instances like this will arise. I'm also curious to know what words and phrases white people refer to other white people as in your presence.

I am not missing the point. If you know that non-Blacks using the word isn't okay, the rest is moot.

Don't preach to Black people about using the word. Preach to non-Black people about using the word. School the confused white people.

Y'all want to say slurs soooooooooo bad! LOL. Wack.

Not only the use of a racial term, even quoted, but the vulgar concept ... (might be PART of why so little progress is being made against stereotypes)

Why do women want to demean themselves so?

It is wack. I want to know who these white people are who think it's OK to use it because "they hear it in the media." They must be the kids of the white people are who are using it inappropriately and in a racist way. Because I have to tell you that if I ever hear my child use it in any context, I will knock her into next week.

Indeed. Anything else is just deflection.

http://tightrope.cc/catalog/images/c...igger-tank.jpg

^^ From a website for angry white people

http://s2.quickmeme.com/img/7c/7c726...24747415de.jpg

I'm pretty sure Dr Phil, Senusret, etc. haven't been using it in public. So I'm not sure why other people doing so is being imputed to them. The people using it and the people saying it's inappropriate aren't the same people.

Sometimes it is the same people. I will use the word in certain environments if I choose. Confused, deflecting white people are no deterrent.

I certainly will never do what some white people do around me which is use words like "honky" and "cracker" to attempt to amuse or relate to the Black person. I have no interest in amusing or relating to white people in that manner.

I don't think this girl was a "confused white person". I really think it's a generational thing. The word brings different connotations to a 17yr old and 55yr old. I actually have met true racists in my time, and they are pretty discrete about their viewpoints. Her posting her cake on IG leads me to believe that this girl really didn't think that cake was offensive, which doesn't surprise me much because of her age. She grew up with the N word being all over the place due to hip hop culture, not from it being all over the place due to racism (as other people have lived through).

She is either confused, a dumbass, or both.

This is beginning to remind me of that thread about racially insensitive cartoons.

I think you can make an innocent-confusion argument if the person is from another country and speaks English as a second language.

Someone raised in America? No. No, you can't.

Even if it didn't have the N word, she's a dumbass for posting it. A cake that says suck a dick? What the hell? The fact that it includes racist language just makes it exponentially worse.

Isn't your argument that black people want to use it so badly? I haven't said one thing advocating anyone's use of that word, but you are defending its use. I guess I am just a confused white person, as DrPhil so kindly put it.

The problem is that it has an impact, regardless of her intent.

"Confused white people" is extremely kind, considering.

Your restraint is admirable, but unnecessary.

It's just the same as the "SigEps" at Ole Miss (or where ever they were) putting a noose around the black statue. Sure, the chapter itself didn't do it, but the chapter has a social responsibility to squash racism, hate speech, homophobia, etc. and remove that shit from its ranks.

And haven't we all been given the age-old lesson, "you're always wearing your letters" ????

ETA: That doesn't make it any better... Sure, white people have heard it in supposedly "non-racist" ways (nope), but we blacks get to hear it in racist, degrading ways from the mouths of non-blacks countless times in our lives. SO, until that's done, can't no white people say, write, or think about the n-word.

I am sure that James Meredith would be so honored by your respectfulness.

The Sig Ep chapter threw out the members that pulled that vile stunt immediately. Their charter was pulled & the chapter closed for other reasons. The incident with the noose brought closer scrutiny to the activities that they were already on probation for.

"The SigEp chapter threw out the members that pulled the vile stunt immediately." That is my point. The fact that they lost their charter over other issues was not. The fact that it was specifically a statue of James Meredith was not my point.

I'm certain you knew what point I was trying to make, but you got caught up in making sure I understood why one of my chapters was shut down. Don't worry. I am an active and involved Sigma Phi Epsilon. I know.

And it could have been a statue of James Meredith, Malcolm X, or even Cletus Brown who lives on Fenkell & Linwood. Again, the point was, chapter members did something racist. Even if they weren't "being SigEps" when they did it, the chapter should absolutely be concerned. As should the DG chapter be concerned about this cake.

Don't derail the thread trying to police me.

We could cut her (and her friends that made this cake and took the picture) some slack if she was 8 years old and didn't understand the difference. She is not 8. She is, however, egregiously stupid.

If a man had the equivalent regarding female anatomy on his cake, would you cluck and say "why do men want to demean themselves so?"

It's part of a song and no doubt a silly inside joke. To them it's like - if I would have had the cat from the Paula Abdul video on my cake. It doesn't mean I want to have sex with a cartoon cat.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xTqcj1u4zv8/mqdefault.jpg

Sweet Jesus..... :eek:

Typo, obviously. :rolleyes: AGAIN:

Well, yes, I would. We need to hold these YOUNG ADULTS to the expectations that vulgar references to anatomy or sexual acts aren't "cool", they're disgusting, despite "celebrities" who demonstrate otherwise.