It is not racist to describe someone using their color as an adjective - any more than it is sexist to use their gender to describe someone!
jim bernstein Fulton ---------- >From: Shawne FitzGerald <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: Re: [Mpls] Gang, Drugs, Patrols, Ebonics, List Management, Racism >Date: Fri, Aug 8, 2003, 11:21 PM > > Most of the time I am a lurker on this list. Often though, I've wanted to > point out to all sides that the discussion > here only reflects the institutional racism that we live with in the US. > > Our US definitions of race, besides confusing ethnicity and ancestral > geography, are fallacy. Look to science, look > to biology. There is really only one race: human. > > I understand how ludicrous our racist system is for I have given birth to > two children who are not considered my > race. Nor are they considered their father's race. Sometimes they are > "Other," on the street they are "mixed," > sometimes they are "part" and in my son's case, his official "race" was > changed a couple of times by the federal > government before he was 20 years old! > > Yet, "race" as we call it in the US, is a genetic characteristic. A child > must certainly inherit race from a > birthmother . . . and a birthfather. It's the only way we get "race." Of > course, my children inherited their "race" > from their parents and logically, that would make their parents the same > race as their children. Only in the US, > with its illogical racism, this is not so! > > Go figure. > > Ethnicity is another matter entirely. I have French/Irish-American cousins > while I am mostly Irish. My cousins and > I were never considered a separate race (but both the voyageurs and the > Irish were called a 'different' race in the > 18th century). My son is Irish/African/Panamanian - he can't help but to > reflect a bit of these cultures but > mostly, he is an American from the Midwest. My daughter is > Irish/African/Finnish. And our extended family is so > blended there are too many ethnicities and religions and political > affiliations to list! We are proud of all the > rich cultures in our family. > > First and foremost, my children are themselves - unique individuals . . . > as we all are. > > ***I challenge everyone on this list to spend one week trying to purge our > institutional racism from your lives.*** > > You no longer get to identify yourself as black, white, native american, > asian, hispanic, mixed, whatever. Not even > on forms. And ponder who you are if you can't use this label to describe yourself. > > Ethnicity is welcome! Regionalism is welcome! Localism is welcome! And > please get the point - each individual is > unique. > > I challenge you to purge our racist language from your speech patterns - > you can't say "a black guy" or "a white > guy," etc. Find other words, real words to describe the person you are describing. > > For one week, don't ask others to use the racist categories that we, in the > US, take all for granted. I imagine this > will be impossible for the public officials and employees, elected > officials, profit and non-profit government > contractors, and journalists on the list. Your jobs seem to require > reinforcing our institutional racism. And some > of you have the power to coerce others of us to go along with that. > > And finally, during this week, consider the measures we might used, not > based on fallacious institutional racism, but > based in reality, with assurances of dignity and privacy, to measure > injustice, discrimination and disparity. > > Comments are welcome - but I urge you to take my challenge for just one > week before doing so. > > I sincerely believe that we will not be able to deal with our urban > problems and our societal problems until we get > past our institutional racism. Take my challenge and let us know how you make out. > > Best regards, > Shawne FitzGerald > Powderhorn > > > > Eduardo Parra wrote: > >> Anyone who has been subjected to >> racists comments, directly or indirectly are no less offended whether the >> comments are "sustained", episodic, occasional, etc. When it hurts, it hurts >> and when offended, one doesn't check to see oneself to determine "well, that >> was offensive, perhaps I should wait until it happens again to see if I'm >> still offended". Polite explanations explaining your inability to monitor >> postings on this listserv while understandable, in no way make life easier >> for those who are targets of racism. > > TEMPORARY REMINDER: > 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. > 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change > the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) > > ________________________________ > > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
