When I think of the word colored, I think of the small box of Crayola crayons with the pointy sticks peeking out of the box at me. As a child, I enjoyed drawing images, using as many of the colored sticks as possible. Even though the boxes included only such basic shades as black, white and brown, I loved using them to share images from my world.
Now that I am an adult, I look back on that small box of Crayola crayons and smile. While I still enjoy using them, now I have the JUMBO box of crayons with every color imaginable. I even have colors that actually match the various shades of brown that make up human skin color. In 2011, I am proud to live in a society where our children know that the word colored is for crayons.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
It's HARD to believe...
Hello 2011. I am a 44-year old African-American teacher and I find it unreal that people are still referring to ANYONE as "colored". I am taking an on-line diversity course and one of the course participants intends to study "colored students from a lower-socioeconomic status". REALLY. Even worse than that offense, the facilitator's comment was...."Good Choice"!
WOW!
When I checked the U.S. Census last year, there was no ethnic category entitled "colored". Ummm....the more things change, the more things stay the same...KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE (respect) PRIZE PEOPLE. (The above posting was written while I was still a little pissed off.)
After a good night's sleep, I added...
The term colored is offensive to many non-White people. It is an out-dated derogatory term for people of color. Colored is the term that was posted on the outside of restaurants and other public facilities in the segregated Jim Crow south (U.S.) . Use of the term is a futile attempt to relegate people of color to an artificially subservient role in society. While the term "colored" may be offensive to many African-Americans, I have come to realize that it is MORE reflective of the people who choose to use and condone the use of such an offensive word to describe members of a diverse population of PEOPLE. It means that they are retarded in their understanding of cultural changes that have occurred in America, over the last 40+ years. Use of the term "colored" shows that many more courses in diversity/tolerance/inclusiveness are STILL a much needed commodity in 21st century America.
WOW!
When I checked the U.S. Census last year, there was no ethnic category entitled "colored". Ummm....the more things change, the more things stay the same...KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE (respect) PRIZE PEOPLE. (The above posting was written while I was still a little pissed off.)
After a good night's sleep, I added...
The term colored is offensive to many non-White people. It is an out-dated derogatory term for people of color. Colored is the term that was posted on the outside of restaurants and other public facilities in the segregated Jim Crow south (U.S.) . Use of the term is a futile attempt to relegate people of color to an artificially subservient role in society. While the term "colored" may be offensive to many African-Americans, I have come to realize that it is MORE reflective of the people who choose to use and condone the use of such an offensive word to describe members of a diverse population of PEOPLE. It means that they are retarded in their understanding of cultural changes that have occurred in America, over the last 40+ years. Use of the term "colored" shows that many more courses in diversity/tolerance/inclusiveness are STILL a much needed commodity in 21st century America.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)