Ethnically Speaking by Larry Meeks

Dear Larry: I want to share with you my thoughts on using the word "Negro."

Negro is defined as a person who is black and of African ancestry. It's like referring to a white person as a Caucasian. So far, I never have heard any whites get offended over the term "Caucasian." We used to describe people of Asian ancestry as yellow or Oriental; now both terms are considered derogatory.

However, over the years, I have noticed that many blacks and other minorities get offended by words and terms that were not offensive in the first place.

One example was the time when H. Ross Perot, as a presidential candidate, was a guest speaker at an NAACP convention and members in the audience got indignant toward Perot for saying "you people."

I have been in attendance at a lot of gatherings, and I have heard speakers use the term "you people." No one has gotten upset. I have heard minorities say "you people" to audiences with no negative reactions. Then, out of the blue, a white person will say "you people" to a group of minorities, and it is condemned.

You mentioned in a previous column a black councilman who went on a tirade against his white colleague who used the word "niggardly" in reference to a budget. The black councilman mistook "niggardly" as a racial slur.

I have read other reports about people who have used "niggardly" in their discussions, and they have wound up being reprimanded.

Like the councilman you mentioned, the others did not offer any apologies.

Let me tell you about one better: In Dallas, a black commissioner and a black judge scolded another commissioner, who happens to be white, for using the term "black hole." He used the term when discussing why parking tickets were disappearing.

The black commissioner went so far as to say that if someone is the "black sheep" of the family, that person has to be bad. So, according to this commissioner, any term that begins with "black" is offensive and racist.

This is all so confusing because none of these people has any problem with Black Entertainment Television, the United Negro College Fund or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

My question is this: Why all this oversensitivity? — Pat

Dear Pat: The only way this nonsense can be made sensible is for sane people to speak up and challenge/educate others. Our society has browbeaten people to the point that whenever a minority or a disadvantaged person complains, too few dare to speak up. As long as people continue to be intimidated, this will continue unabated.

Minorities will not change their behavior because they are now in a power position. Power positions never are ceded willingly. People in them must be challenged and made to deal with any errors of their ways.

To find out more about Larry G. Meeks and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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