Language is very sensitive. Much of it has become racially coded and I try to be very conscious of it. I rarely use words now, in regards to the African experience, like tribe and hut and chief and jungle. Europeans tend to use these terms particularly when it comes of people of color and especially Africans. They seem to be demeaning and a lot of us use the same terms without thinking and as though they are African words. But the most sensitive word of all, for me being a member of the African Disapora, is slave. Dont use that word around me. You can say enslaved people or captive or prisoner of war or something like that. But dont call me a slave. And dont call me a descendant of slaves. Dont add additional insult to what has already been a horrific historical experience. We deserve better than that. We deserve more compassion than that. Just dont do it.
Posted on: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 20:05:44 +0000
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