President Obama Signs Legislation to Remove 'Oriental' and 'Negro' From Federal Code

[Eugene]

Source: ABC News

President Obama Signs Legislation to Remove 'Oriental' and 'Negro' From Federal Code

By BENJAMIN SIEGEL
May 20, 2016, 7:07 PM ET

President Obama signed into law today a measure to replace references to minorities considered offensive -- such as "oriental" and "negro" from federal law.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Grace Meng, D-New York, is an effort to "modernize terms relating to minorities," replaces a slew of terms in a public health law written in the late 1970's with terms are considered more politically correct today.

“The term ‘Oriental’ has no place in federal law and at long last this insulting and outdated term will be gone for good,” Meng said in a statement. “No longer will any law of the United States refer to Asian Americans in such an offensive way, and I applaud and thank President Obama for signing my bill to get rid of this antiquated term."

The measure was one of seven that Obama signed into law today.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-signs-legislation-remove-oriental-negro-federal/story?id=39267499

[underpants]

1. Glad we're in the 21st Century

[TexasProgresive]

2. Probably shouldn't lump all peoples from

Last edited Sat May 21, 2016, 05:35 PM - Edit history (1)

The continent is Asia. Better to use their country of origin.

[Hortensis]

4. Yes, kind of a large continent...

Even the edges are huge and a good part of the way around the planet apart.

[Xyzse]

5. Wait, Oriental is an offensive term?

I did not know this.
I was proud to consider myself Oriental.

It means coming from the East.
Kinda like how Occidental means coming from the West.
Heck, I thought "Oriental" and "Occidental" sounded kinda sexy.

Sorry, I absolutely did not know.

[Ilsa]

7. It's been a head-scratcher for me for the last

Twenty years or so. I didn't know it was offensive and I can only guess it's because the Orient is not really a specific place. I've been trying to remember "Asian".

An elderly family member still says "Oriental" and "Stewardess". She jumped all over me for telling her that they are called flight attendants, claiming it was a new term. I explained that they changed the job title about 35 years ago. Then she really blew up!

[Xyzse]

8. Oh... Odd.

Sometimes, I just don't know what is offensive any more.

I always thought the word "Orient" brings about a sense of mystery and the exotic.
Never had any one go after me for that one before. Well, I am oriental after all, so...

[Ilsa]

11. I understand. And I wouldn't

be the least bit offended by being called Occidental. For me, these words have no connotation other than ancestral place of origin. But I'm getting with the program.

[Xyzse]

12. Besides, I find the word Occidental terribly sexy as well.

Don't know why.

The sound of it I guess.
I think, if I am not mistaken it is Vanessa Mae's favourite word as well.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Have you ever heard a European-descended American

refer to themselves as "Occidental"?

It was apparently used in Europe but rarely did Americans widely adopt it, using other terms like "Caucasian" instead.

IMHO, the racial/ethnic terms should describe groups using a common context. You see similar with the shift from "colored" to "negro" to "Afro-American" to "African-American".

[Xyzse]

10. Guess not...

But, I always thought it kinda sexy.

I still have never seen any one take offense with the word Oriental.
At least, none of the Asians I know, and I am one. In some ways, I actually like being called Oriental more than Asian.
None that I have met have expressed a negative feeling towards that word.

Just saying, this is new to me.

[libodem]

6. Very cool

[Stellar]

13. K&R nt

[kskiska]

14. Someone had better tell the United Negro College Fund,

the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and Martin Luther King, who used "Negro" freely in speeches.