I'm 28 and certainly when i was around 14/15, you weren't supposed to say black. Now black is supposedly the only thing you can say?
No, you're supposed to say person of color or person not of color. When you are in the USA anyhow. In the UK you can say black person but you mustn't say a black because that's racist. Any moment now this will all be wrong as well.
Doesn't some of the offence from the word coloured stem from its widespread usage during slavery era and later the bygone time when people of colour were largely subjugated by slave wages in the domestic service industry?
I don't personally find his comments offensive, but I would if he'd started a sentence with the phrase "I have queer friends..."
We were told we should say black. When my Mum was young she was told black was insulting and she should say colored. Now, it's all wrong and we should say person of color. You get more sense dealing with very small kids. When describing to my Mum what her friend Anna, who is very dark indeed, was like, my 4 year old said she's got a purple teddy.
What's most revealing about all this is that so called Benedict fans are much more bothered by this than other people. On one web site it was posted that she wasn't sure she liked him any more. Evidently the appology was good but it wasn't enough. She said she would be watching him very carefully from now on. I couldn't figure out what she was watching for. In case he said colored again maybe? The general impression being that if you say colored once by mistake you are a closet racist. My Mum would be surprised. When I introduced her to my OH her only comment later was he's gorgeous.
Sorry for the lack of a u my spell check keeps removing it.
My friend Anna keeps going on about them so I thought, why keep this to myself. Sorry it bothers you. I find it absolutely fascinating. You can always ignore my posts if they bother you so much you have to specially mention them and say nothing about the subject of the thread at all.
My friend Anna keeps going on about them so I thought, why keep this to myself. Sorry it bothers you. I find it absolutely fascinating. You can always ignore my posts if they bother you so much you have to specially mention them and say nothing about the subject of the thread at all.
If you're bothered about replies to your posts then maybe you shouldn't post.
Its a very old fashioned and outdated term usually used by those of pensionable age but its all about context and I don't see that he was being racist at all, maybe just guilty of not thinking before he spoke
To attack him for a term, as opposed to what he was actually saying, I think is very disingenuous and is indicative of the age we live in where people are looking for sound bites as opposed to substance.
I see that David Oyelowo has come to his defence.
Now there's a man talking sense.
Completely agree. Surely people have to be mature enough to look at what someone says and the context rather than jump on the faux outrage bandwagon. Very sensible response from David
In old money, a white guy. But that's now racist and offensive.
Everyone should be made to go to a paint shop, stick their head in that mixing & matching machine thingy and find out which shade in the Dulux catalogue they're closest to. Then that officially becomes your ethnicity.
I'd put Dale Winton down as Moroccan Flame whilst Tim Westwood's definitely Vintage Chandelier.
A verse from the lyrics to Living in the City by Stevie Wonder (A BLACK MAN)
Her brother's smart, he's got more sense than many
His patience's long but soon he won't have any
To find a job is like a haystack needle
'Cause where he lives they don't use colored people
Living just enough, just enough for the city
Ok it's an old song but he was happy to sing that song with Coloured in it.
Its a very old fashioned and outdated term usually used by those of pensionable age but its all about context and I don't see that he was being racist at all, maybe just guilty of not thinking before he spoke
it was a term used when I was younger. I'm not pensionable age just yet
A verse from the lyrics to Living in the City by Stevie Wonder (A BLACK MAN)...
Ok it's an old song but he was happy to sing that song with Coloured in it.
It's from 1973, only half as old as The Sun Has Got His Hat On, which most people accept needs to be censored before broadcasting.
The problem is that the politically correct term to describe people who are not of Caucasian origin changes every ten years, leaving the last term you were beaten into using as highly offensive as the last one you were made to stop using.
Should Living in the City be banned, given the mass hysteria over Cumberbatch? It's the same word being used, with the added irony of both incidents having the word used in reference to people who are not of Caucasian origin finding it difficult to find work. Or is someone going to be racist and say it's all right for Stevie Wonder to say it 'because he is black'?
it was a term used when I was younger. I'm not pensionable age just yet
I'm 44 and it's never been a term considered acceptable in my lifetime. Coming from a mixed race area, maybe we learned quicker than most what we could and couldn't say
Why do we need to use it to describe someone anyway. Why should it be "that black/coloured/person of colour guy? Can't it be , in this day and age, "that guy". I do not care about colour. I don't understand the fuss some people make.
It's from 1973, only half as old as The Sun Has Got His Hat On, which most people accept needs to be censored before broadcasting.
The problem is that the politically correct term to describe people who are not of Caucasian origin changes every ten years, leaving the last term you were beaten into using as highly offensive as the last one you were made to stop using.
True, in the past "coloured" and "negro" were the "polite" terms (MLK used them) you were supposed to use. What does surprise me is that "black" didn't become offensive and replaced by afro-Caribbean in this country, if anything the latter term has strangely become seldom used.
To be honest I've never liked the term "Caucasian", who do I complain to?:-S
Why do we need to use it to describe someone anyway. Why should it be "that black/coloured/person of colour guy? Can't it be , in this day and age, "that guy". I do not care about colour. I don't understand the fuss some people make.
Because the whole point of his initial comments were about a section of the acting community that don't get enough roles or exposure.
If you can't be specific then how would you know which section he was talking about?
Because the whole point of his initial comments were about a section of the acting community that don't get enough roles or exposure.
If you can't be specific then how would you know which section he was talking about?
Maybe it should be about talent. Ok certain parts call for certain actors but it's like the whole Lenny Henry debate. It's about how good you are not what colour you are.
Maybe not arguing the point well but ffs it's 2015. We should know better.
I get the impression that most of the posters on this thread have very little experience of the vile and insidious alienation that racially motivated language both originates and perpetuates, and how its effect is only ever achieved from a dominant to a minority culture.
As such it is a political issue, and an intensely human one.
One may object to the use of the N or P words, for example from those of the Black and Asian minorities, but these are instances of the reappropriation of the words of oppression used by the dominant culture to render them venomless.
Further, Oyelowo does NOT speak for all of the black minority, and be assured, many still find the use of coloured either naif at best or just plain ignorant.
One unfortunately has the impression reading this thread of a people who have never really considered any of the consequences ,nor questioned any of the origins of ,language and attitudes they consider to be normal, ordinary, commonsense or day to day.
Comments
Yes.get it down in black and white - (am I allowed to say that?).
No, you're supposed to say person of color or person not of color. When you are in the USA anyhow. In the UK you can say black person but you mustn't say a black because that's racist. Any moment now this will all be wrong as well.
What about afro-Caribbean?
I don't personally find his comments offensive, but I would if he'd started a sentence with the phrase "I have queer friends..."
My friend Anna keeps going on about them so I thought, why keep this to myself. Sorry it bothers you. I find it absolutely fascinating. You can always ignore my posts if they bother you so much you have to specially mention them and say nothing about the subject of the thread at all.
Person not of colour is an absolutely ridiculous phrase.
Now there's a man talking sense.
Completely agree. Surely people have to be mature enough to look at what someone says and the context rather than jump on the faux outrage bandwagon. Very sensible response from David
We are now verging on the ridiculous.
In old money, a white guy. But that's now racist and offensive.
Everyone should be made to go to a paint shop, stick their head in that mixing & matching machine thingy and find out which shade in the Dulux catalogue they're closest to. Then that officially becomes your ethnicity.
I'd put Dale Winton down as Moroccan Flame whilst Tim Westwood's definitely Vintage Chandelier.
Her brother's smart, he's got more sense than many
His patience's long but soon he won't have any
To find a job is like a haystack needle
'Cause where he lives they don't use colored people
Living just enough, just enough for the city
Ok it's an old song but he was happy to sing that song with Coloured in it.
it was a term used when I was younger. I'm not pensionable age just yet
It's from 1973, only half as old as The Sun Has Got His Hat On, which most people accept needs to be censored before broadcasting.
The problem is that the politically correct term to describe people who are not of Caucasian origin changes every ten years, leaving the last term you were beaten into using as highly offensive as the last one you were made to stop using.
Should Living in the City be banned, given the mass hysteria over Cumberbatch? It's the same word being used, with the added irony of both incidents having the word used in reference to people who are not of Caucasian origin finding it difficult to find work. Or is someone going to be racist and say it's all right for Stevie Wonder to say it 'because he is black'?
I'm 44 and it's never been a term considered acceptable in my lifetime. Coming from a mixed race area, maybe we learned quicker than most what we could and couldn't say
True, in the past "coloured" and "negro" were the "polite" terms (MLK used them) you were supposed to use. What does surprise me is that "black" didn't become offensive and replaced by afro-Caribbean in this country, if anything the latter term has strangely become seldom used.
To be honest I've never liked the term "Caucasian", who do I complain to?:-S
If you can't be specific then how would you know which section he was talking about?
Maybe it should be about talent. Ok certain parts call for certain actors but it's like the whole Lenny Henry debate. It's about how good you are not what colour you are.
Maybe not arguing the point well but ffs it's 2015. We should know better.
The NAACP use the word in their own name, so it can't be that offensive.
As such it is a political issue, and an intensely human one.
One may object to the use of the N or P words, for example from those of the Black and Asian minorities, but these are instances of the reappropriation of the words of oppression used by the dominant culture to render them venomless.
Further, Oyelowo does NOT speak for all of the black minority, and be assured, many still find the use of coloured either naif at best or just plain ignorant.
One unfortunately has the impression reading this thread of a people who have never really considered any of the consequences ,nor questioned any of the origins of ,language and attitudes they consider to be normal, ordinary, commonsense or day to day.
Ignorance vainly seeking its own rationale......
Lots a luck with that.......