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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!mcnc!rti-sel!SCINEWS!todd
From: todd@SCINEWS.UUCP (Todd Jones)
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: \"Implicitly racist language\"
Message-ID: <112@SCINEWS.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Jun-85 15:15:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: SCINEWS.112
Posted: Wed Jun  5 15:15:26 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Jun-85 20:12:56 EDT
References: <2039@decwrl.UUCP> <mnetor.569> <360@unc.UUCP>
Organization: SCI Systems, Research Triangle Park, NC
Lines: 40

> In article <2039@decwrl.UUCP> arndt@lymph.DEC writes:
> >
> >Lucius Chiaraviglio refers to 'implicitly racist language which always 
> >associates black with evil and white with good.'
> >
> >Better to get rid of associating 'black' or 'white' with race!  How about
> >'round eyes' and 'dog face' to use the old American Indian term for the
> >black troopers.  That way black can still be used for evil as it was in
> >ancient civilizations long before it came to mean anything to do with race
> >in some people's minds.
> 

It should be noted, however, that many cultures (including our own)
use black as a symbol for positive things. Black at funerals is
used to symbolize devotion. Black is used in some oriental cultures
as the symbol of purity and cleanliness. It is true that the bad
guys wore black hats and rode black horses and that blacks in 
America (and elsewhere) have had just about every cultural tool
used in their oppression, but be careful about global statements
about the inevitable association of black with evil.

> Excellent point!  Black will always be a synonym for complete darkness;
> Any preschooler knows that darkness is scary.
> 
> Furthermore, there are no real white people in this world
> (except perhaps certain red-heads and they don't count if they have freckles),
> and no black people, either, though some are very dark brown.
> 
> I, personally, am a very tasteful beige.
> 
> 	Frank Silbermann




        -Todd Jones  "Honest, some of my best friends are __________."
							  fill in your
							  favorite
							  minority
							  group here.