In her defense she not only didn't know what she was saying, but also was asked "When we refer to someone as yellow..??" Some people do refer to Chinese people as yellow, which is horribly racist but she's heard it before. So she was answering what she thought was correct based on what she's heard from others, probably never been explained that it might be offensive.
My dad once told me in his day they called African Americans Negros, it was just what you called them. So if I had been alive and that question had come to me with Negro instead of Yellow, I would've answered exactly what I heard.
My wife often calls herself yellow. Here in Japan they refer to themselves and other Asians as 'yellow'. Its not racist to them, it just 'is'. They call Caucasians, literally, 'white person' 白人 , and every black person is 'black person' 黒人, never African American, or African Japanese. I find it grates on me sometimes, until I realize there are no feelings of racism, its just the language!
I'm pretty sure that girl doesn't understand that calling someone 'yellow' could be a seen as racism.
It can or can't be racist depending on context... But lots of shit is considered racist in North America or other Western countries with lots of immigrants where everyone is suppoooosed to be made to feel undifferentiated for any racial/ethnic/cultural difference they may present. However, Rubadub is right. In China, Japan, Korea etc. the people will refer to themselves as "yellow people" when discussing skin color.
Oh boy, hearing what is considered racist in some countries illustrates nicely how I would be up for a serious ass-whopping if I ever acted normally in one of those places.
the little girl's answer most likely wouldn't be offensive to asians "in asia"
i have often heard chinese people refer to themselves as "yellow people" here in china -- as an interesting aside, calling a single chinese individual "yellow" in chinese can have a negative connotation, but that involves a play on words in chinese wherein a stronger inflection on the latter half of the chinese word for yellow (hwang-SU) means that a person is perverted, not cowardly
here is another example of a very popular, contemporary asian product which we in the west would likely find highly offensive:
"darlie" (nee "darkie") or "hei-ren" ("black man") toothpaste
Racism implies there's a hateful intent in your words in relation to a person's race. Since that wasn't the case here it's just ignorance, or technically correct if you want to be anal about it.
Sigh, I had a nice 30 row rant about racism going, but then I thought what's the fucking point. Anyway, to make it short, as long as you're scared of racism and old, old, OLD things like slavery is brought up to surface in every fucking turn, racism won't go away. Not saying that one shouldn't talk about it, just saying that it's gone too far.
Her definition is the second dictionary definition of the adjective yellow. The host's definition is third. They're both right. Or rather, the host is wrong for creating a question that is ambiguous even to anyone with perfect knowledge of it. It's not racist to acknowledge the word.\
Besides, the third meaning began in the USA in 1856, and it most likely derives from negative racial sterotypes that relate to the second meaning. That makes the third meaning even more offensive than the second meaning.
Just wanted to say that the vast majority of "African Americans" actually prefer to be called black. Saw it on 60 Minutes The host of the show talked to a room full of middle and upper class blacks and asked if they preferred to be called black or African American, and 90% of them said black.
The term "African Americans" is some term made up by black academics, but it never actually got very far with black people themselves. Ironically, non-blacks probably use the term African American more than blacks, and I find that the people who use the term African-American in their conversations rarely have any contact with black people, which is why they continue to use the term.
On another note.. I find it kinda weird that because there's an Asian kid in the video, the video gets an Asia tag. Does this mean any video featuring a black person should have an Africa tag? If not, why not? And if we are being consistent, should videos featuring white people feature a Europe tag?
When I was in boot camp there were 2 guys named Smith. One of African heritage, the other of European. So, since people in boot were busy enough, they did not bother to learn the Smiths first names and they just called the "black smith" (which is also funny in another way, but that seemed lost on the group) and "white smith". This offended some of the guys and to show their offense they decided it was necessary to prefix everyone's name with their skin tone. Since their were many of us and we were from many different back grounds, it turned out their were a myriad of colors to go around. I was Olive Grey Gaz, my best friend in the group was dirty tan Ghazal, another was chalk white Stubbs, and yet another was pinkish Sheer. I thought it was quite illuminating to hear each and every persons EXACT skin tone (as is it was interpreted by a bunch of young guys) attached to them as a label. To me, it really pin pointed how stupid the whole color thing is. Nearly everyone is a different color and it really does not matter what that color is.
Stumble This
this is going in my "To Be Promoted" playlist...
hardly racism though
k thx bye
If there where a rank higher then #1 for top new videos, this one would hit it.
My dad once told me in his day they called African Americans Negros, it was just what you called them. So if I had been alive and that question had come to me with Negro instead of Yellow, I would've answered exactly what I heard.
I'm pretty sure that girl doesn't understand that calling someone 'yellow' could be a seen as racism.
In what way is it horribly racist?
If someone calls me white, I don't consider them a racist.
How do you suggest we differentiate between skin colours?
(Throws tin-pan makeshift frisbee at Mad Dog Tannen.)
the little girl's answer most likely wouldn't be offensive to asians "in asia"
i have often heard chinese people refer to themselves as "yellow people" here in china -- as an interesting aside, calling a single chinese individual "yellow" in chinese can have a negative connotation, but that involves a play on words in chinese wherein a stronger inflection on the latter half of the chinese word for yellow (hwang-SU) means that a person is perverted, not cowardly
here is another example of a very popular, contemporary asian product which we in the west would likely find highly offensive:
"darlie" (nee "darkie") or "hei-ren" ("black man") toothpaste
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darlie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EM9C2esCG24&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BATZPCIlqL0
Even the racists are scared of us.
Besides, the third meaning began in the USA in 1856, and it most likely derives from negative racial sterotypes that relate to the second meaning. That makes the third meaning even more offensive than the second meaning.
The term "African Americans" is some term made up by black academics, but it never actually got very far with black people themselves. Ironically, non-blacks probably use the term African American more than blacks, and I find that the people who use the term African-American in their conversations rarely have any contact with black people, which is why they continue to use the term.
On another note.. I find it kinda weird that because there's an Asian kid in the video, the video gets an Asia tag. Does this mean any video featuring a black person should have an Africa tag? If not, why not? And if we are being consistent, should videos featuring white people feature a Europe tag?
that's a girl?
Yes. You'll see a lot of those if you go outside some day.
When I was in boot camp there were 2 guys named Smith. One of African heritage, the other of European. So, since people in boot were busy enough, they did not bother to learn the Smiths first names and they just called the "black smith" (which is also funny in another way, but that seemed lost on the group) and "white smith". This offended some of the guys and to show their offense they decided it was necessary to prefix everyone's name with their skin tone. Since their were many of us and we were from many different back grounds, it turned out their were a myriad of colors to go around. I was Olive Grey Gaz, my best friend in the group was dirty tan Ghazal, another was chalk white Stubbs, and yet another was pinkish Sheer. I thought it was quite illuminating to hear each and every persons EXACT skin tone (as is it was interpreted by a bunch of young guys) attached to them as a label. To me, it really pin pointed how stupid the whole color thing is. Nearly everyone is a different color and it really does not matter what that color is.