I'm a little late to this, but I feel the same, but different. Skin colour is actually an incredibly accurate descriptor. The problem is that there is a whole bunch of baggage that goes along with using skin colour that way.
My wife used to live in Trinidad and Tobago for a number of years. It's a very culturally diverse country. Lot's of skin colours, lots of races and since it was owned by so many different countries over the years it has a very diverse history. She often talked about how shamelessly people used race and skin colour to describe people. And how there was never a negative connotation to doing it. If you had a Chinese friend named John he was "chineee (chai-knee) John." A black friend named Rick you were "black Rick" and if you were white, you were a "whitee (why-tea)." [You need to say all that with a Trini accent by the way.] Perhaps Gelly can comment on that. I don't know if that's age specific or regional to certain areas of Trinidad, but it always seemed so refreshing to see people that didn't ignore race, but embraced the differences without making a racist thing. On Sat, Jul 24, 2010 at 9:36 AM, trish simon <[email protected]> wrote: > > Why are we calling the president Black? I thought he was just the > President? I do not recall other presidents being referenced by color or > race. Hmm...more evidence that racism has "surfaced", or increased, since > the new president has been in the ""White" House. > > Beeblebrox's daughter has the right idea: > > "My daughters refer to their friends as "..the one with blond hair, the > one with brown skin, the one with tan skin, the one with black hair, > the one with the green eyes"...as if skin color were nothing more or > less different that hair color or eye color. They're not Black, > Asian, Mexican or any of those labels our society uses. > > I wish I could be more like that." > > Me too... > > > > On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 9:12 AM, Sam <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Did you hear when she said this? > > > > I haven't seen such a mean-spirited people as I've seen lately over > > this issue of health care. [Mumurs of agreement.] Some of the racism > > we thought was buried [someone in the audience says, "It surfaced!"] > > Didn't it surface? Now, we endured eight years of the Bushes and we > > didn't do the stuff these Republicans are doing because you have a > > black president. [Applause] > > > > Yeah, she's a uniter. > > > > > > On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 8:58 AM, Jerry Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > I have to admit. I read her remarks (admittedly taken out of context > both > > > from a content and timeliness standpoint), and I thought "this woman > > should > > > be fired. today. nothing can justify this statement or attitude. > > Especially > > > not in a government employee. Escpecially not in one setting policy". > > > > > > On Monday night, I did not think _anything_ could mitigate her > > statements. > > > > > > Of course, I was wrong. And I was purposefully and skillfully > manipulated > > > into that wrongness by professionals. > > > > > > So, I have learned an invaluable lesson that I _thought_ I already > knew. > > > Don't take any story at face value. Don't rush to judgment. Nothing I > > learn > > > today is necessarily more correct than what I learn next week. > > > > > > There are whole swaths of our society whose single profession is to > > > manipulate us into doing what they want and feeling how they want. > > > Advertising. Politics. Branding. Romance novels. Breaking news stories. > > > Blues albums. Movies. > > > > > > I can't blame them too much if they get good at it. > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology-Michael-Dinowitz/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:323786 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
