Black people have a wide array of colorful terms that come in and go

10 Mistakes White People Make When Talking About Race

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5. Using Outdated Terms When Describing Different Races

Oriental, Colored, and Indian went out of style

fact, they're considered offensive. So, too, is lumping every
Spanish-speaking person into a general category like "Mexican" or any
Arab-looking person as "Persian" (it's a specific country, people).
Feeling the need to identify is a nervous reaction we have when faced
with issues of race. Black, white, Asian and Latino/a are generally
accepted, but when in doubt, how about you just call someone by their
actual name. Who says we have to classify ourselves all the time
anyway?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/heather-wood/10-mistakes-white-people-_...

10 Mistakes White People Make When Talking About Race

Posted October 16, 2007 | 04:00 PM (EST)
Read More: discussing race, race, Racial Attitudes, Racial Comments,
racial identity, racial politics, Breaking Living Now News

Over on SirensMag.com, we're in the midst of a race-themed issue.
Heavy/scary, I know. But I can't tell you how much the act of
discourse about this all-important topic has opened our eyes - and
those of our readers. But not all discourse is good discourse (see
idiotic political blabbermouths of late). It's easy to botch an
important discussion about race with fear, ignorance, or just plain
silliness. Uninformed--or even overly politically correct--white
people are the major offenders, sure, but anyone without adequate
information can be guilty of sounding like a racist or an idiot (wait,
that's redundant). With the help of some favorite (and vocal)
celebrities and writers, here are 10 things not to do when trying to
have an intellectual discussion about race--which, to be clear, you
should do. But first learn from these mistakes:
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1. Thinking It's Not OK to Talk About It

Race is such a touchy topic because it is often associated with all of
the negative history and oppression of minorities in this country.
Blacks, Latinos, Asians, and Native Americans share a history of
physical and social abuse at the hand of the white majority. Yes, that
leads to anger and distrust, feelings so strong that they've survived
for centuries. But the only way to bridge the gap and move forward as
a more unified society is to talk about it: all of it.

We are supposed to be engaged in a cultural conversation about race -
a dialogue largely taking place on television and at the movies. We've
traded unquestioned racism for a twisted multicultural correctness.
Everything is celebrated, nothing can be discussed. We seem to want to
live in an imaginary world without racism, where we celebrate
differences but never base our beliefs on them."

- Sallie Tisdale, author of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Harvest Moon
and Lot's Wife, Stepping Westward and Talk Dirty to Me

2. Using Culture-Specific Slang to Relate to Other Races

K-Fed, you ain't. And you just shouldn't try to be--ever.

Black people have a wide array of colorful terms that come in and go
out of style and can be used in a myriad of different ways. White
people, it will be extremely tempting to try and incorporate these
terms into your everyday language. Don't. When you guys start using
our words, that's when we know it's time to stop using them.

- Nick Adams, author Making Friends With Black People

3. Assuming Biracial People Identify More with One Side Than the Other
The majority race in America today isn't white, black, or even Latino.
It's biracial. And this will only increase with each successive
generation. We're a society that loves to check off boxes, but the
greater challenge is to stop seeing people as shades and start knowing
them for who they are.

As the child of a black man and white woman, born in the melting pot
of Hawaii, with a sister who is half-Indonesian, but who is usually
mistaken for Mexican, and a brother-in-law and niece of Chinese
descent, with some relatives who resemble Margaret Thatcher and others
who could pass for Bernie Mac, I never had the option of restricting
my loyalties on the basis of race or measuring my worth on the basis
of tribe.

- Barack Obama, Kenyan/White American, Illinois Senator, presidential
candidate

4. Thinking Race Is Only an Issue for Minorities

The tendency is to think of "race" as something that only
black/brown/Asian/Hispanic people have - whereas "white" is the
default setting ( i.e., we say "American" to mean white, but "Black
American," "Asian-American," etc. to identify other Americans of
different colors). Everyone has a race. This is a nation of
immigrants, from England, Ireland, France, Germany, Poland, Africa,
Asia, and beyond.

To be white is to have a race and a racial perspective as well, and
that needs much greater acknowledgment in our culture. Discussions of
race will always be limited until white Americans can have an honest,
open discussion about what it means to be white in America - the good
and the bad.

- Molly Faulkner-Bond, biracial Harvard grad who explored issues of
interracial friendship in the current Sirens issue

5. Using Outdated Terms When Describing Different Races

Oriental, Colored, and Indian went out of style a long time ago; in
fact, they're considered offensive. So, too, is lumping every
Spanish-speaking person into a general category like "Mexican" or any
Arab-looking person as "Persian" (it's a specific country, people).
Feeling the need to identify is a nervous reaction we have when faced
with issues of race. Black, white, Asian and Latino/a are generally
accepted, but when in doubt, how about you just call someone by their
actual name. Who says we have to classify ourselves all the time
anyway?

I had to deal with my prejudices. I had to learn to ignore the
taunting labels of other blacks who had everything figured out,
including how I should act according to the color of my skin. I am
human first, and that's where my efforts have gone.

-- Donna Leonard Conger, author of Don't Call Me African-American

6. Believing Stereotypes

Yes, black Americans dominate most sports, more Asians are accepted
into MIT than any other race, and Latinos have been known to tear up a
dance floor. Though some race-specific stereotypes seem like positive
assumptions, imagine yourself on the other end, with high expectations
placed on your shoulders simply because of a scrutinized minority.
White people don't have the pressure to be the best in math or sports;
they just have to be good enough. Everyone else should get the same
slack.

One could say (I don't) that stereotypes are benevolent: All Asians
are smart and hard-working. All Asian men are geeky engineers with
high-flood-water pants and calculators on their belts. All Asian women
are either passive, submissive chrysanthemums or seductive,
manipulative hotties. I suppose it's true that these aren't hugely
destructive stereotypes, but they are stereotypes nonetheless, and
they can have hurtful consequences. I think to get rid of these
stereotypes, Asian Americans are going to have to be more vocal and
political. The same goes for other races.

-- Don Lee, author of Yellow: Stories

7. Thinking Affirmative Action Has Anything to Do With Someone's
Success

One of the most controversial issues of the past 20 years is
affirmative action, a term widely over-used and often misunderstood.
It was supposed to explain educational and hiring policies put in
place to encourage more diversity on college campuses and in the
public sector. The naysayers made it sound like minorities were given
hand-outs, which has resulted in an assumption, even years after most
of those progressive policies have been killed, that a successful
minority must have been given an easy ride. How about you ask Oprah if
she was given an easy ride when networks constantly told her she
looked and sounded too "ethnic" early in her career? Do you think the
late CBS anchor Ed Bradley was given a break when he accidentally
became the first African-American White House correspondent, a result
of his network sending him to cover what they thought would be a Jimmy
Carter loss? And of these two "View" hosts, who do you think earned
their coveted role more: Lisa Ling, a trained journalist, or Elizabeth
Hasselbeck, a "Survivor" contestant?

A white boy that makes C's in college can make it to the White House.

-- Chris Rock

8. Assuming One Man's Success =3D An Entire Race's Progress

It's commonplace to celebrate the breakthrough successes of
minorities, the firsts, the bests. These people deserve our accolades,
certainly, but the success of a few doesn't mean an oppressed minority
is triumphant. We still have a long way to go. The day we stop
clapping for the minority in a "good for you, kid" condescending
manner is the day we've made real progress.

I never thought I was going to be a success. I was the
longest-produced comedy at Warner Bros. and I don't feel special. When
you have to work harder just to break even, it's hard to feel special.
I got cancelled so they could put Cavemen on the air. It doesn't make
sense.

-- George Lopez, whose The George Lopez Show was the longest-running,
most profitable all-Latino show in the history of network television

9. Thinking Cultural Exclusion Is Racism

White people are in a difficult situation in this struggle to talk
about and understand race. On the one hand, they are reprimanded for
being the majority that alienates all other races. But are minority
races guilty of the same exclusion by keeping to themselves? Or is
such elective segregation the only way to preserve community and a
strong racial identity?

I don't even like the term 'self-segregate.' Kids group together on
common lines of interest and experience. If Hispanic kids want to sit
together and speak in their mother tongue, that shouldn't bother
anyone, but they should have the same opportunity to meet other kids.
My decision to sit with people who I share things in common with is
not the same as legalized imposition of segregation.

-- Beverly Daniel Tatum, Ph. D, author of Why Are All the Black Kids
Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? and Can We Talk About Race?: And
Other Conversations in an Era of School Resegregation

10. Declaring You Are "Colorblind"

There is no such thing as colorblind (in fact, it's a long-running
Stephen Colbert gag for just that reason). It is not a racist stance
to see color, but a fact of life. Ignoring it promotes ignorance.

You cannot live in this country and not see color. We all need to step
out of the naivet=E9 box and stop pretending it really doesn't exist. We
need to understand that ...

read more =BB

10 Mistakes White People Make When Talking
About Race