"Negro" in the historical context.

[BabyPiNK_FL]

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

[33girl]

Originally Posted by BabyPiNK_FL

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.

[annabella]

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.

[BabyPiNK_FL]

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!

[Lasonja]

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.

[Ch2tf]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

Not the only one.

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.

[BabyPiNK_FL]

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.

[Prettyface08]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

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.

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

[naraht]

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

Are you asking because of the census?

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).

[DaemonSeid]

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...

[naraht]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

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.

[ree-Xi]

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

[DrPhil]

*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).

Originally Posted by naraht

I've always found the use of "Black" to refer to people of Sub-saharan African descent in the United States to be sort of odd since this includes people whose skin color reflects more than it absorbs. For that matter, my skin isn't "White" unless your only choices are the 8 colors that come in the kindergarden crayola set.

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.)

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by Jill1228

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 DH was floored

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?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by BabyPiNK_FL

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!

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.