I'm 25; born in 1984 so I'll be 26 in June.
I'm African-American.
I'm Female.
I have an advanced degree. Or 2.
When I caught the stinky wind that the 2010...let me say that again...2010 census still had the word 'Negro' on it, I was a bit taken aback. We just turned our clocks the other day for daylight savings, but did I miss the memo to swap out my calendar for a 1960's one as well?
For a young, Black woman, I take this word as an offensive term, which was used from slavery to the 1960's in order to give superiority to another race. Language is so powerful. The way we phrase things, the jargon we use, carries with it so much strength. And correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Peter Parker's uncle tell us that 'with great power comes great responsibility?' Sorry, I digress...I just love 'Spiderman.'
I believe it is the responsibility of the government to use phrases and words that reflect its current time and the progression that our country has made. I understand that there are people still alive that grew up in the tumultuous time that this word was used, but they were also alive when we gained equal rights. With equality comes respect, and I don't think this word exemplifies that in the slightest; its origination was for the entirely opposite purpose. I wonder if people that identify with the term would feel differently if someone of another race referred to them as such or if it's more of an in group term only to be used with others that they consider like them? Let's take it to another level. If a news anchor referred to our president as a 'Negro' instead of 'African-American' or 'Black' would this be considered offensive?
So call me naive if you want since I am a young African-American that was so lucky to not be apart of this struggle of Civil Rights, so therefore I might not completely understand the use of the word except for what I read about and my first-hand accounts with older African-Americans (like both of my living Grandmothers that grew up in the South at this time). However, I highly doubt that an African-American would refuse to select a box on the census that just had "Black" and "African-American" next to it as these are the terms we use now.
Times...they are changin.
Our language should reflect this.
I'm kind of curious as to how this wasn't caught by editors. There had to have been countless meetings about what to write there. I've worked government jobs, I know how it goes. Some committee actually voted that this was a good idea. The irony of this all is that the man that is at the head of the Census Bureau, Robert Groves, got in trouble during the first Bush administration for arguing that minorities had been historically under-counted (which was, and is true).
ReplyDeleteI understand that the term is offensive, hell I'm white and I'm offended by it. But, the department is headed by a man that took a real stand on a real civil rights issue and was nominated by the first and only African-American President. I'm actually sort of fascinated by this case because maybe the slip-up was just a slip-up and maybe the motivations aren't as racist as it would be fair to assume they were even ten years ago. Does the election of Obama signal the end of a post-racial America, or at least a move towards it? I'm curious to see how Obama reacts to this question, I'm sure he was aware of the issue before the census. Imagine a press-conference where Obama is defending the use of the word 'negro' on the census. Fascinating stuff.