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SMART TALK: African Americans |
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by Dan Veaner
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Friday, 11 April 2008 |
 SMART TALK
by Dr. Viva
Palaver
AFRICAN-AMERICANS: Last
week, I touched upon the use of minorities
as a euphemism that masks white people's racial prejudice in the name of
political correctness.
At the Institute for the
Linguistically Impaired, I often hear white patients, especially, refer to
people of color by continent. African-American, for instance. As staff psychologist, I'm fascinated by the
self-righteous and evasive replies I get when I ask why not use a less-clumsy
term, such as black. After all,
that's what they mean.
Naming groups by continent,
if done consistently, soon gets vague and downright useless. A white American born in Africa becomes an African-American, for instance. Born in Siberia? Asian-American.
Israel? Iraq? Asian-American
again. And from Brazil? South
American-American?
Whatever happened to American? More to the point, what did these people
think American meant?
My patients soon realize
that the labels, even when by country, usually betray a preoccupation with
exclusivity. Then they can begin
thinking, and avoiding using what really are racial labels and embarrassing
themselves.
They also soon notice that
they may have an appalling lack of geographical knowledge and may not know even
what continent most countries are on.
So instead of parading their ignorance, they use fewer labels.
And that's a good thing.
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