When hearing the blacks being called these names it made me think of the many names that people will refer to Asians by in this day and age. I will hear them being called names such as orientals or chinks. Chink is a term that is used mostly in a derogatory way. It is a shame that people will call someone just by using a term such as oriental or negro. Why can't we just call them by there one true name, and ignore race?
Monday, March 9, 2009
Malcolm X (5)
Throughout the entire Autobiography we hear people with black skin called many different things. A few examples of these names are afro-american, negro, nigger, and simply blacks. Where do all these names come from? Obviously, calling someone a black is self explanatory because of there skin color, but where did afro-american, negro, and nigger originate. I found these answers in this article http://www.answers.com/topic/afro-american. Blacks are sometimes called afro-americans because of there African descent. The "afro" is just short for African. Negro is a term that derived from the Portuguese. It was a word that slave traders called there slaves. The term nigger derived from the term negro. It is just another way that people pronounced it. This is the term that people use most in hatred. This is how the the different terms that represent someone with black skin came to be.
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3 comments:
OOO I like your idea of trying to find the origin of the names. Although your link didn't really work I went ahead and researched myself the different names for blacks and asians. I think it is very interesting how they have come from different places around the world for many different reasons. I also agree with you that it is a shame to have the need to use a derogatory name.
I never wondered where different racist names came from. I didn't know that 'nigger' was just another way to say 'negro'. I also wonder why black people call each other 'nigger' if the term was created by slave owners. I think that racial slurs are one of the strongest factors of racism in today's society.
You make a really good point when you say that we should just ignore race. It kind of makes me think of what the world would be like if everyone were blind or at least color-blind, so we could not tell the difference what color skin each human has. This is not to say that this would cure all racial problems and would be the solution to racism, but the world might have been a completely different place if we were blind. But it would be sure that the color of skin would never be an issue between people anymore.
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