Offended by ignorance

Wow. Firstly, OMG, that is horrendous! I am so glad your little niece was taught well and managed to get away.

Secondly, yes its very ignorant and offensive but you just can't get through to some people. I want to say its good she did the poster.....but I understand why you're unhappy with it.

I am so glad that your niece is ok.

I get why you are offended, it's no different to all the ignorant folk who think all asian people are from Pakistan.

I'm glad your nice is OK, I get why you were offended at use of the word "Jamaican" as a presumption, but I'm less sure about your replacement of 'black/coloured". Why not just "black"? "Coloured" is a bit non-PC and, worse, meaningless...

I was thinking the same...

I say coloured as that's the word I was taught to use as a child (I'm in my 40s and it was seen as rude to call someone black when I was a child) .

Plus my Mom wouldn't let people describe me as black because I'm not (I was called half caste, although I'm sure the PC term nowadays is mixed race) . I personally see myself as part of the human 'race' so I'm not sure which idiot thought up that term

So glad that your niece is okay. What a brave clever girl.

It's a funny one and I'm tring tob e delicate here as I'm in danger of taking offence on behalf of a group to which I don't belong...

The C part of the NAACP, a major force in the Civil Rights movement and a group to which Rosa Parks belonged, stands for Coloured. And so, it could be argued that if it is a term that black people are happy to identify with, it could be freely used. However, that rule clearly doesn't apply to the more taboo words sometimes used in reference to black people.

I think the problem I have with it is the uncomfortable connotations of white colonialism - this is a word that white people used to describe those with different skin colour to them. Also, it's non-descriptive. My Dad still uses it (he was taught it as the correct term) and all I ask is "Which colour do you mean?

Anyway, this is not my battle so I'll leave it there. As I said, glad to hear your niece is OK.

It is hard to keep up with what's politically correct isn't it.

Wouldn't have generalised like that though.

Thanks ladies. I think I got so wound up by it all because I was so upset and emotional when I went into work this morning.

The most important thing is that she is safe. It's scary as a man fitting tha same description tried the same thing about half a mile away just before Christmas.

I totally understand where you a coming from. Like your dad , it's purely the word that I use. I actually think most 'coloured' people ?, , prefer to be called black nowadays , especially the younger generation.

Glad your neice is ok,good job she is sensible. On the black/coloured theme- I would say that addressing people by black/asian/white type of name is best. I was taught that everyone is 'coloured', we are all different colours! There is def an age related difference,my 65 year old mum would think I was rude if I called someone 'black'

Goodness, glad your neice is ok, how scary. Hope they catch the man.

My niece, god bless her quite correctly described him as a black man, it was our ignorant head that took it on herself to guess that he must be from Jamaica if he was black....

?

My friend who is mixed race British/Indian wrote her dissertation on the basis of the "other,please specify" box you seem to find on most forms. she found herself frustrated that sge diddnt fit. As it was partially an installation the audience had to fill in a form describing thier ethnicity but with all sorts of strange options,basically If you were white or black (as a lot of my uni were) you had to tick the 'other' box. Twas interesting.

Really cheeky of me I know but I'd be WELL interested in reading that, any chance it's online somewhere or could be emailed to me?

I always have to tick the 'other' box no matter how many options are listed. What especially frustrates me is that sometimes you tick the 'other' box online and then the form FORCES you to specify and won't let you continue unless you do. I can't specify without being ridiculous. So essentially my choice is: lie (and therefore 'blur out' my mum and her parents); be ridiculous; or be denied access.

Hope your niece is okay LoveSka!

I frequently fill in the "other" box as "Viking".

? I may start just writing "Human", actually. May give the data-entry or data analyst person a giggle!

I still have that 2001 census mannerism. my Ethicity and religion are "Jedi"

Oh, but I AM a Viking....! (ahem)

Sorry to hear about your neice LoveSka, so glad she had the presence of mind to run. Hope she's okay.

Off on a slight tangent I know, but in religious choice boxes at college we used to put 'moleist'.

So glad your neice is ok. Such an awful thing to have happened.

As for the race thing, I remember reading a poem in GCSE literature. It's called "Half-Caste" by John Agard.

http://www.intermix.org.uk/poetry/poetry_01_agard.asp

Loved studying it because I found it really interesting!

It's all very confusing and it's not nice having to label people as this or that, but I suppose when describing a person to the police it's necessary to give some description of skin colour/hair style etc. Unless he had an accent though, i can't think why Jamaican would come into it.

I remember hearing Tyra Banks describing Naomi Campbell as a strong "African-American" woman once. She's neither African nor American as far as I know (I think she actually has Jamaican and Chinese ancestry, born in England etc?), but that seems to be the acceptable term over there for anyone with black skin.

I remember being told when I was a youngster that coloured was the correct term and black was offensive. I was 19 the first time I heard that the term half-caste was offensive.

As for the pakistan reference. I had a friend in school who had a white British father and Israeli mum. She had a British first and surname and she still got called p*ki at school by a select few tw*ts because she was very slightly darker skinned than the other kids.

You writing 'coloured' on the poster is just as ignorant as the fist description put up....

I thought of this poem too. I went to a conference during my GCSEs and heard Benjamin Zephaniah read it aloud. Sent shivers down my spine!

Very, very glad your niece is ok anyway. How scary for her! Hope they catch the man soon.

Finallymrsj, I don't know how you would find it online but it would still be in the uni library I guess?

Everyone has their own opinion, that's the nature of this forumn after all. As I has said before, that is the word that I was taught to use (by my black father). I hope to god that no one was ever taught that all black people come from Jamaica.

Everyone does have their own opinion yes but you titled the post about ignorance being annoying, writing 'coloured' on the poster is very ignorant IMO, your neice said he was black so why not just change it to that? why put black/coloured?

Glad your neice is ok, what a horrible experience for her.

Black, coloured what ever the term you use, be it wrong or right, it's purely a term.

Where as the black people coming from Jamaica is a fact.

I wrote it simply because that is the term I'm comfortable with and if I'm ignorant for that so be it.