Race Card Backfire

[blas]

I know of some white people who refer to themselves as "Cracker" or "White boy". I'm not sure if it's retaliation, or just to prove that anyone can do it.

I will openly admit I have called myself a Kraut and a Daego before.....it was at work, while some coworkers were speculating all those silly rumors about my supposed plastic surgery and that I must be Swedish or something......I've also called myself "Injun" because I heard another Native calling herself that.

[gunsage]

What ?????? I am Black, I would never consider calling myself the N-word which basically is what he just did. Does he have such a low opinion of himself?

"Weh-ll, ah s'pose it only depends on the TYPE ah black person y'are."



Good comeback, though, to the OP. And yes, I love Boondocks.

[LifeCarnie]

It is disempowerment. If a minority uses a derogatory term about itself, it becomes less hurtful when the word is used against them by the rest of society.

Tribe Called Quest would disagree with that thought. According to their song "Sucka Nigga" they feel it's actually a negative influence for people to use derogatory terms to describe each other, even when they are the same race.

[chainedbarista]

i'm english/swedish/german/french/irish/welsh/dutch/scottish with a touch of african in me; what would i be called, then?




oh yeah, a MUTT.

[TryNotToBeThatOne]

I'm with chainedbarista, I have so many nationalities/ethnicities that I know about that to use a thorough listing of derogatory terms would take far too long. I'll just stick with mongrel, thanks.

[LifeCarnie]

oh yeah, a MUTT.

Hey me too!!

Only I'm French/Irish/Native American.

[greensinestro]

I deal with this issue almost all the time in my line of work. It always seems like a convenient defense to use whenever an SC doesn't get their way on something. It's not just black people, it's many of the minorities these days.

I remember a woman who called me up, and after being so downright polite to her (listening to her nasty ranting and raving), my supervisor, who was also black, gave this woman a $100 credit due to the customer's claim that I did not like black people. Now, my supervisor did not actually believe it, but because this customer was threatening to call the NAACP and UNICEF, she was provided this credit. It didn't matter that this lady had a history of not paying her bills on time, had a history of having her service suspended each month for non-payment. It was a matter of my supervisor didn't want the company involved in some racial dispute.

It happens everywhere, and it probably won't go way anytime soon.

[Andara Bledin]

Another mutt, here. I refer to myself as a 'melting pot American' a lot.

^-.-^

[pyxee]

One of these days I really aught to trace my family tree. I have no idea what all I am aside from a bout 1/16th Cherokee.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I'm English, tho there are some Polish strains from my father's side; my father's family is also Jewish, which sometimes whenever I hear about reparations for slavery makes me wonder if I should turn around and sue the German nation...

Disclaimer: This is a joke. Please don't start a huge argument; there's Fratching for that. :wink:

Anyways, I hate the term N-----; I find it rude and offensive; like calling someone a k--- or p---. It's just hate speech and shouldn't be used by anyone, in my honest opinion.

[Alpha Strike]

I deal with this issue almost all the time in my line of work. It always seems like a convenient defense to use whenever an SC doesn't get their way on something. It's not just black people, it's many of the minorities these days.

I remember a woman who called me up, and after being so downright polite to her (listening to her nasty ranting and raving), my supervisor, who was also black, gave this woman a $100 credit due to the customer's claim that I did not like black people. Now, my supervisor did not actually believe it, but because this customer was threatening to call the NAACP and UNICEF, she was provided this credit. It didn't matter that this lady had a history of not paying her bills on time, had a history of having her service suspended each month for non-payment. It was a matter of my supervisor didn't want the company involved in some racial dispute.

It happens everywhere, and it probably won't go way anytime soon.

Ugh. Probably the absolute worst response I can think of to a customer using the race card when race has absolutely nothing to do with the situation at hand.

It a) reinforces the SC's belief that he/she is RIGHT - that racism is involved (or else why would someone reward them for playing the race card) and b) rewards the SC for bad behavior. Your company is now teaching this SC that they're not really responsible for their own bills; instead, all they have to do is call and complain, and throw the race card.

[marasbaras]

I really hate people who play the race card. Just another form of entitlement whorism.

"I'm black and my people have suffered so YOU OWE ME."

Whoever suggested "we don't tolerate that kind of language in our store" was right on the money. That's the PERFECT response to the lazy bastard. The guy just wanted to dump his magazines (that he didn't PURCHASE) anywhere he wanted like some kind of loser. Expect the store to clean up his mess for FREE. Then, gets all snippy when called on it.

Kick his douche ass out.

[Sharsarannon]

Here's how I play it:
Customer: "You won't (kiss my butt) because I'm Minority/majority/whogivesacrap!!"
Me: "No actually, I won't because you're RUDE."

[KnitShoni]

It also has to do with the familiar vs the unfamiliar.

Have you ever (rhretorical) talked to someone about an asshole in your family only to have them verbally agree and start to talk bad about them? How many people wouldn't feel at least minorly offended about how THEY could talk about your family like that?!

As wrong as it is (you bad mouthed them first), we instinctively side with our group (be it team, family, race, company, etc). How many times have we seen a mother take up for a criminal child, when they know it's wrong?

You may say I am reaching, but that is really the only corollary that works. There is a reason why blacks can say it and whites can't (right or wrong).

I think I could better see the correlation if, in the example, I were calling that family member an asshole or something else and claiming it was a term of endearment. This is what a lot of Black people claim.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Nobody should say it.

And you might argue the standard argument about why it's okay for blacks and not for whites, but really, at the end of the day, all blacks who use it are doing is giving ignorant, stupid, racist people an argument as to why it's okay for whites to say it.

Blacks can say it all they want, for any reason they want. However, they need to acknowledge that when they do so, they give themselves a particularly weak position from which to claim offense when they hear the word come from a non-black mouth.

Bottom line? Decent people don't use that word. Decent white people don't. Decent black people don't. It's an indecent word, and even on a good day all it does is undermine respect.