17 January 2010

"Negro", "Black", or "African-American"?


This blog of mine generally focuses on issues relating to Australia and Indonesia. However, the whole point was that the blog was to be a place that I could write about anything that piqued my interest or that I wanted, or felt the need, to pass comment on.

Politically correctness and racism are issues that pique my interest. They do so because I sometimes feel that the drive towards politically correctness is a hindrance to full, frank, and open debate about issues. In this case, the issue is race. Race is an issue that is highly emotionally charged, and is one where there are quite divergent opinions amongst those who are subject to the terms that politically correctness generates for us.

This brings me to the substance of this post. I read an interesting article today over at Slate today. The article was discussing when the word "Negro" became taboo. The taboo came soon after the book Black Power: The Politics of Liberation was published in 1968 (cover of the 1992 version is above).

The purpose of the Slate article seemed to be exploring the drive to political correctness in making the term "Black" taboo in preference to the use of the term African-American. I would encourage those with an interest in this sort of subject matter to read the article.

The parts of the story that I found most interesting related to how organizations deal with the changing dynamics, and the drive, to replace certain words with new words while simultaneously stigmatizing the previous term. Also interesting to me was that the move towards the term "African-American" does not have universal support as a majority of people are seemingly non-plused one way or the other with respect to African-American or Black.

With regards to organizations, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has not changed its name but uses the word 'colored' in very limited contexts. The United Negro College Fund tends to go by the initials, UNCF, rather than the full name. Seemingly, this is an exercise in re-branding a familiar and ongoing concern that helps a lot of young people achieve their goals. Indeed, a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Bringing this back home for me got me to thinking about how we refer to Aboriginal Australians. There was a time where the were referred to as Blacks. There was also a time where the preferred term was Aboriginal, and seemingly of late there has been a move towards the term "Indigenous Australians". I am sure organizations in the Australian context would encounter similar considerations in relation to names. For example, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) before it was dissolved.

I do not know about anyone else, but I find this sort of 'stuff' interesting.

4 comments:

Brett said...

It's a fascinating topic. Thank god we never really had this problem in New Zealand. I fear the only solution is to abandon the labels altogether and come up with another way to define people. No easy task.

Rob Baiton said...

Brett...

Indeed it is.

Perhaps not in NZ with respect to the words of choice. But, I gather it has not always been smooth sailing in terms of 'race' relations in the land of the long white cloud, has it?

I guess what I find most interesting is our need as human beings to define things, people included, into manageable little brackets. I sometimes find this interesting because we often get so caught up in the "getting it right" or "getting it politically correct" that we lose sight of the real issues and the real work that needs to be done.

The eternal optimist in me wonders why we can't just be. Be people, if we must, but dispense with all the other labels. I often wonder how Will is going to deal with the inevitable labels that he will undoubtedly encounter throughout his life.

If nothing else, we certainly live in interesting times!

LavanyaLea said...

wasn't there a guy who made comment about Nelson Mandela being the first "African American" president..... people can get so caught up in political correctness!

APGifts said...

.

Contrary to common assumption -- the terms "Black" and
"African-American" DO NOT MEAN THE SAME THING !!!!!!

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afropunk.ning.com/forum/topics/why-are-we-called-african?commentId=2059274:Comment:322672

afropunk.ning.com/forum/topics/why-are-we-called-african?commentId=2059274:Comment:322890

THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN (AA) ETHNIC GROUP

afropunk.ning.com/forum/topics/why-are-we-called-african?commentId=2059274:Comment:322890

community.afropunk.com/forum/topics/why-are-we-called-african?commentId=2059274:Comment:334007

www.afropunk.com/forum/topics/why-are-we-called-african?commentId=2059274:Comment:322225

answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Al5eeK2CFwcv4rD5U5qzvEfty6IX?qid=20070527201834AAIhzhM&show=7#profile-info-CiC2JY9Maa

answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiebDu.tSshJzQ0wS5fMp7jty6IX?qid=20070623205206AANUzPN&show=7#profile-info-q1hdwifgaa

afropunk.ning.com/forum/topics/why-are-we-called-african?commentId=2059274:Comment:322672

THE MIXED-RACE LINEAGE OF ‘MANY’OF
THE PEOPLE OF THE AA ETHNIC GROUP

groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1034

groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/3331

www.jstor.org/pss/1290008?cookieSet=1

THE HISTORY OF THE VERY RACIST /
PRO-EUGENICIST ‘ONE-DROP RULE’

boards.mulatto.org/post/show_single_post?pid=35284580&postcount=4

groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1399

answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjwuxYj8agKY7yGgqaJ7i.Xty6IX?qid=20070704121228AA7ZMsA&show=7#profile-info-ezQwEaJLaa

RELATED LINKS ON THE TOPICS NOTED ABOVE:

groups.yahoo.com/group/Generation-Mixed/message/1400

www.mgmix.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=410:why-do-blacks-want-dominicans-and-puerto-ricans-to-be-black-&catid=66:commentary#comment-1282

www.ourfilmspace.com/forum/topics/2045657:Topic:42413?commentId=2045657:Comment:246405

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