Current Events > Is the word "negro" offensive or just outdated?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Or does it just depend on how you say it? Because many young people don't say the world but many old, particularly black people continue to use that word to refer to their race.

See ya in a week brah
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why not both
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organicbamf posted...

why not both

https://img.memesuper.com/200de1d4ef6baaccc1cb515779c2faf6_-meme-why-not-both-meme-why-not-both_419-261.jpeg
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organicbamf posted...

why not both

There are words that never used to be offensive but have since become offensive. It's possible to have words that were never offensive become outdated.

It is offensive if non-black people say it but ok if Black people say it.
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Negro is literally black. I don't care.
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Isn't it just French/Spanish for black?
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Hash-Brown posted...

Isn't it just French/Spanish for black?

yes on the spanish idk on the french

IHeartRadiation posted...

Negro is literally black. I don't care.

This. It's the Spanish translation.

Virtually every can of black beans in the grocery store says "Frijoles negros" below it.
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I still hear people say negro. Even white people. I think it's definitely outdated but I don't think it really has the same connotations as an actual slur.
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i don't even know how to respond to the people saying that negro means something in a different language

as tho they're completely ignorant that different words in different languages have different connotations

it's not even that i'm getting offended on the word itself, but the inability to discern linguistic differences... man idek
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Iodine posted...

It is offensive if non-black people say it but ok if Black people say it.

This is so dumb. It is a scientific word, makes more sense than black, and isn't a slur. It is just demonized for being similar to an offensive slang word. Plus it does sound old fashioned sounding.
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lilORANG posted...

I still hear people say negro. Even white people. I think it's definitely outdated but I don't think it really has the same connotations as an actual slur.

It depends how you use it, but that goes for every word.
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organicbamf posted...

i don't even know how to respond to the people saying that negro means something in a different language

as tho they're completely ignorant that different words in different languages have different connotations

it's not even that i'm getting offended on the word itself, but the inability to discern linguistic differences... man idek

It actually means the same thing in our language though...
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MARKINGRAM22 posted...

organicbamf posted...

i don't even know how to respond to the people saying that negro means something in a different language

as tho they're completely ignorant that different words in different languages have different connotations

it's not even that i'm getting offended on the word itself, but the inability to discern linguistic differences... man idek

It actually means the same thing in our language though...

saying "negro" means "black" without historical usage of the word (while maybe not as pejorative as "the n word"), is just ignorant tho. and to equivocate that with the usage in other languages... man idk
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It depends on the context it's being used in.

Like, if I'm just quoting Abraham Lincoln like so...

"Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it, 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read, 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty—to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy."

- Abraham Lincoln, Speeches and Writings, 1832-1858
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organicbamf posted...

MARKINGRAM22 posted...

organicbamf posted...

i don't even know how to respond to the people saying that negro means something in a different language

as tho they're completely ignorant that different words in different languages have different connotations

it's not even that i'm getting offended on the word itself, but the inability to discern linguistic differences... man idek

It actually means the same thing in our language though...

saying "negro" means "black" without historical usage of the word (while maybe not as pejorative as "the n word"), is just ignorant tho. and to equivocate that with the usage in other languages... man idk

Historically it isn't a slur. It is used in academic settings. The only reason it has negative connotations is its slang version and that it hasn't been used in common language for awhile.
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It can be and even if you don't mean it to it doesn't really sound good which is why no one says it

ChromaticAngel posted...

It depends on the context it's being used in.

Like, if I'm just quoting Abraham Lincoln like so...

"Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it, 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read, 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty—to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy."

- Abraham Lincoln, Speeches and Writings, 1832-1858

He isn't using it as a slur though. That was just the common term. Just cause he is being racist doesn't make the word a slur. Someone can say white or black and denegrate that race doesn't make those words slurs.
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I just say "the black dude".

Or like "black Jimmy", like not "white Jimmy".
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Axiom posted...

It can be and even if you don't mean it to it doesn't really sound good which is why no one says it

Exactly it doesn't sound good, cause the slang version. Not cause the word itself is a slur.
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It also doesn't really help that only white people have ever said it. I've never heard a black person call another black person it. Well aside from Uncle Ruckus

It's not a slur like the other N word

It may be outdated but so is "colored" but that's apparently what you're supposed to say now??
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it's spanish
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Iodine posted...

It is offensive if non-black people say it but ok if Black people say it.

racists actually think this
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I mean, if someone feels offended by being called something, then it's offensive.

it's not up to the person using the word's intentions.
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MARKINGRAM22 posted...

He isn't using it as a slur though. That was just the common term. Just cause he is being racist doesn't make the word a slur. Someone can say white or black and denegrate that race doesn't make those words slurs.

I don't think you read the comment as well as you think you did.
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Axiom posted...

It also doesn't really help that only white people have ever said it. I've never heard a black person call another black person it. Well aside from Uncle Ruckus

This isn't true. Of course it isn't used today in a non academic conversation most of the time, but negro was the common term people used.
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outdated

also it's just black in spanish so idk
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I really feel like it's just outdated. "N*****" is obviously offensive, and even back in the days when people said "negro", they also said "n*****" if they wanted to demean/insult blacks.
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It's going to be context specific.

Using it today in the same context it was used in the early 1900s isn't going to be appropriate.

Repeating it as a quote from an earlier time or while speaking Spanish is fair game.
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It is offensive, but it only became offensive because we decided that it was offensive. It wasn't an inherently demeaning term.

The same notion which condemned that term -- people of that generation were racist, therefore the term must have been racist -- may very well condemn our generation in the future. The future may look at terms like "black" and "African American" and decide that one or both terms are racist because they were the terminology of the generation that killed Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner.

While it shouldn't have ever become offensive, it's not a word that can be redeemed either. When it appears in text or audio from the past, bear in mind that it was the politically correct term of the era. When used today, keep in mind that it means something vastly different. If you're white, you don't get to say it without social consequence.

Skye Reynolds posted...

The future may look at terms like "black" and "African American" and decide that one or both terms are racist because they were the terminology of the generation that killed Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner.

African American never really sit well with me, TBH. I mean, sure it's preferable to many other words that start with the letter N, but when I see it, I feel the following messages are being sent.

1. That a black person's identity is about Africa, first and foremost, and not something that can be divorced.
2. That they're not "real Americans" or otherwise carry a subtext of immigration even if they were natively born here.
3. Either that they belong in Africa or they're trying to bring Africa to America
4. Dismissal of the identity of Black individuals that are not from Africa (for example, New Guinea)
5. That their heritage is tied to the African slave trade even if it isn't

Black isn't a perfect word either because it causes issues with various other non caucasian-European people that leads to things like a team in Washington calling themselves Redskins.

I don't have a better solution at the moment. I think going back to Caucasian / Negroid / Mongoloid might be better in the long run but that's not a fight I care enough about.
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ChromaticAngel posted...

It depends on the context it's being used in.

a classic non-answer

Iodine posted...

It is offensive if non-black people say it but ok if Black people say it.

Racist