Theos-Talk Archives (April 1996 Message tl00270)

Bart:
>        My uncle used to live in an Indian section of London, and people called
>it "the nigger area". In Victorian England, it was a commonly used term,
>certainly racist, but not always derisive (for example, those who had a
>"white man's burden" form of racism used it, as well). And note that
>"white man's burden" racism also existed in a number of prominent
>Theosophists, including Alice Bailey and Clara Codd.
>
>        Bart Lidofsky

My stepfather said that his dad used to call bad-mannered African-Americans
"nigger", while the nice ones he does not.  I used to get mad at him when
he uses the word "nigger" and that was his explanation.  Lame explanation,
I think, especially for a man married to an Asian woman.

Right now the word "black" is bringing in mixed response.  It's still too
commonly used for everybody to be offended by it.  However, if I was
African-American, I would be looking at my skin and wonder why I'm being
called "black" when that is not actually the color of my skin tone.  It's
like somebody calling me yellow.  Now, I know my colors, and I'm not
yellow.  If they're going to call me by the color of my skin, they should
be more accurate, and that's going to involve several descriptive color
words.  I'm perfectly sure that "white" people are not white.  They would
all look ghastly.

At any rate, sometimes it's the malice behind the word that matters most.
I used to be made fun off by being called, "Chinese, Chinese."  I'm not
Chinese but even if I was Chinese, I would have been offended.

Thoa