On Sun, 21 Jun 2020, John Hasler wrote:
deloptes writes:
Some 40-50y ago you did not like the word Neger, so it was replaced
with Black. You did nothing all those 50y to change the perception of
black. Now you have problem with the word Black
Wrong. "Nigger" (a corruption of negro) was only used by whites and
always had derogatory connotations.
your memory is quite different from mine - the folks I grew up with
used the word and weren't white.
"Black" originated with blacks and has no derogatory connotations
again, very different from my memory of my parents' generation. the
NAACP is an organization of 'colored' people. the valorization of
'black' came in the '60's the way 'queer' became positive.
(except as used by racist whites who would say "nigger" if they
could get away with it).
in 'Huckleberry Finn' the run-away slave's name is 'Nigger Jim'.
Conrad wrote the novel, 'The Nigger of the Narcissus' but right,
certainly the word was not used with delicate feeling for the
sensibilities of black people (apparently since the 1st third of the
Nineteenth Century in the US).
It is what blacks I know call themselves. "African-american", on the
other hand, is a euphemism manufactured by liberal whites.
or by Jessie Jackson: "A movement led by the Rev. Jesse Jackson to
call blacks African-Americans has met with both rousing approval and
deep-seated skepticism in a debate that is coming to symbolize the
role and history of blacks in this country."
<https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/31/us/african-american-favored-by-many-of-america-s-blacks.html>
fjd
--
Felmon Davis
Verbum sat sapienti
