You ever give up and refer to people by their race?

[WillyBrandt]

For instance, you might be trying to say something about Carl. Blank stare. So you say, oh, he has a degree in nuclear engineering. Again, no clue. So you say, he works across from Homer near sector 7-G. Again, nothing. Then, he's buddies with Lenny.

Then you give up, and say "The black guy!" (they get it immediately then!) and you feel like a double idiot for not being simple to start with, and winding up saying "The black guy!" anyway.

[AndyP]

1. well black really isn't race

it's just skin color. I know it sounds non-pc but I do it. I don't see it as any different than saying "he's got black hair" or something like that.

[WillyBrandt]

2. Well, I'm using race as a catch-all.

The Jewish guy, or the Muslim girl also work...

[NightTrain]

3. Frequently

Doesn't make you a racist, y'know!

[WillyBrandt]

5. I know--I get PC chill sometimes tho

[NightTrain]

6. Understandable

n/t

[KissMyAsscroft]

4. Yes...it doesn't make you a racist.

It means that you have eyesight.

[Lisa0825]

7. Exactly!!!

I work in an environment in which we have people of numerous races and ethnicities using our facilities everyday. When I need to talk to a coworker about assisting someone, it is much easier to point a person out in a crowded room by including race or ethnicity as one of a few descriptive terms. As long as it is used respectfully, and not as a derogatory term, I don't see the problem. If there are three women at a table, and one is Hispanic, one Black, and one Chinese, and two of the three are wearing red, why should I have to struggle to come up with another way to distinguish, when "Hispanic" makes the point clear?

[LDS Jock]

8. I do the same thing with white too

"You know Bob, the tall white guy by the window?" Its just easier to use a one word description than a bunch of others to be pc.

[I_like_chicken]

9. I don't think theres anything wrong with that

its representive of our self-identity, so refering to somebody as the "black guy" or the "white guy" or the "asian guy" is just representing their self-identity. I'm mixed(asian/white), so I'm the "mixed guy". It only problematic if that implies some derogotory sterotype of that race, which is something that can only be implied by the person you're talking to, and not you.

And obviously its wrong to use a deregotory slang word to refer to someone's race, since that also implies sterotypes.

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. There is nothing wrong with that. I think we all get tied up a little bit

too much in the PCness of it all. Here's a fake situation:


Did you hear what Jane did?

Whose Jane?

You know the girl 4 cubes down from Jose Jimenez?

No? I have no idea who she is...

The one who looks as if she hasn't been out in the sun since birth...

Oh yeah, okay...you were saying?

Goes both ways. It's descriptive, not derogatory. :hi:

[Sapphocrat]

11. Of course - what's the big deal?

True story from my tech-support days:

Lady calls to report that the network printer in her department isn't working, and asks if I can send over the guy who worked on it last time, because he fixed it so fast the last time it went down.

Me: "Sure. What's his name?"

Lady doesn't know.

Me: "Was it Ben?"

Lady: "I don't know."

Me: "Hispanic guy?"

Lady: "No, he wasn't Hispanic."

Me: "Then it wasn't Ben. How about Tom? White guy, red hair, goatee?"

Lady: "No, that doesn't sound like him."

Me: "Was he black?"

Lady chokes, stumbles all over herself, finally spits out, "Yes! Yes, he was -- er, um... yes, he was!"

Me (trying not to bust a gut): "That's John. He's the only black guy who works on printers."

Lady: "Then I guess I want John."

Me: "Okay, no problem. Just one thing..."

Lady: "Yes?"

Me: "It's really okay -- John knows he's black. We told him, a long time ago."

Lady's embarrassment can be felt through phone.

(John, as you might guess, loved the story when I told him.)

Upshot: If I'm the only white person in a group on non-white people (or the only woman in a group of men), why avoid the most obvious distinction about me when referring to me?

Avoiding the obvious makes it sound like there's something wrong with a person's skin color (or gender, or height, or baldness, or beard, or freckles, or any other physical characteristic that distinguishes him/her from someone else).

Would it upset you if Carl referred to you as "Willy -- you know, the white guy"?

[Lisa0825]

13. LOL!

Upshot: If I'm the only white person in a group on non-white people (or the only woman in a group of men), why avoid the most obvious distinction about me when referring to me?

I can relate! I am white, and my sis-in-law is black. Most of her friends are black, though not all. But I'd say 3/4 of the time if I have a "girls night" with her, I'm the only white chick. I wouldn't be offended if I found out her friend said, "what was the white girl's name?" LOL

[JohnLocke]

12. Yes, often.

Doesn't make me a racist.