Current Events > Why is it ok to call Africans black, Caucasians white, but not Asians as yellow?

(+) Yeah! (+)

what's up with this racism irony

You're smarter than this.

I hope.

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Think of it from Yellow's perspective and the letter y

Y TC? Y?

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The only yellow people I've met have jaundice is the reason.

DrizztLink posted...

You're smarter than this.

I hope.

What? It's not like you're actually white or black in colour either no?

You are killing my hope.

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No, seriously WHY?

I googled but couldn't find any answers on this. I can only see how referring to the diff races by colour is a simplified and easier way to spell/pronounce in everyday life. Is it because saying the word 'Asian' is only two syllables whereas saying 'African American' is a troublesome four syllables and saying 'Caucasian' is a troublesome three syllables?

Because they aren't actually yellow

Mackorov posted...

No, seriously WHY?

I googled but couldn't find any answers on this. I can only see how referring to the diff races by colour is a simplified and easier way to spell/pronounce in everyday life. Is it because saying the word 'Asian' is only two syllables whereas saying 'African American' is a troublesome four syllables and saying 'Caucasian' is a troublesome three syllables?

I'll humor you.

Because of the historical connotations of the word use.

Same reason why you can call someone from Britain a Brit but it's bad to do to someone from Japan.

White for sure doesn't have the same history, and black is either outdated or reclaimed, depending on who you ask.

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Zikten posted...

Because they aren't actually yellow

You aren't actually white either.

Also to note, Asians and Whites DO have different skin colours, especially noticeable out in the sun. Whites tend to form more pinkish skin and Asians well...they don't change much. Go put two persons of the different races right next to each other and you can see.

DrizztLink posted...

I'll humor you.

Because of the historical connotations of the word use.

Same reason why you can call someone from Britain a Brit but it's bad to do to someone from Japan.

White for sure doesn't have the same history, and black is either outdated or reclaimed, depending on who you ask.

ok. Interesting. Interesting...

Mackorov posted...

You aren't actually white either.

Also to note, Asians and Whites DO have different skin colours, especially noticeable out in the sun. Whites tend to form more pinkish skin and Asians well...they don't change much. Go put two persons of the different races right next to each other and you can see.

but some white people really are that white

no asian people are yellow

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Mackorov posted...

ok. Interesting. Interesting...

Like if it would fit in a political comic from the 40's, it probably isn't a good thing to use to describe an Asian population.

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DrizztLink posted...

Because of the historical connotations of the word use.

This

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DrizztLink posted...

Because of the historical connotations of the word use.

yeah.

white people used "white" in legal documents and when refering to themselves. it was used to unite immigrants from europe, england, russia, etc into a new idenity when interacting with other people around the world (and usually their power relationship).

black was actually a slur up until maybe the 60s and 70s when it was turned and used by us black folk for a sense of unity during civil rights. but before, saying black meant you were making fun of their skin color.

yellow? that really hasn't happened (self use by the group). at least not to my knowledge and ive studied a lot of asian american history. it was mostly used against us as a slur or just as a way to paint our ethnicity with a color. yes, saying "are you yellow?(scared)" or "you yellow-bellied" whatever was a slur at the expense of asian people, fyi.

so i guess thats an answer.

mods please dont mod me, i love all peoples and creeds and walks of life. you banned my other account for pointing out historical things but please dont do it again. im just providing facts. i dont even think i put an opinion in there. dont do this. i can't browse reddit and twitter all day i need something to break that up.

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DrizztLink posted...

I'll humor you.

Because of the historical connotations of the word use.

Same reason why you can call someone from Britain a Brit but it's bad to do to someone from Japan.

White for sure doesn't have the same history, and black is either outdated or reclaimed, depending on who you ask.

Just throwing this out, but could it also be due to how Africans at that time didn't have a proper identity of their own (due to western colonization) so could only take in whatever prejudiced term was given to them, whereas Asian countries like China and Japan were still mostly self-governed so took offence when they were called 'yellow'?

I also think the colours themselves may mean a subtle negativity. For example, black and white are not exactly seen as distinct colours whereas colours like red, blue, yellow are

MixedRaceBaby posted...

i can't browse reddit and twitter all day i need something to break that up.

Imgur?

I like the meme dumps, it's where I got most of my material for those image topics I used to do.

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Mackorov posted...

Just throwing this out, but could it also be due to how Africans at that time didn't have a proper identity of their own (due to British colonisation) so could only take in whatever prejudiced term was given to them, whereas Asian countries like China and Japan were still mostly self-governed so took offence when they were called 'yellow'?

africa is an entire continent. there was no unified idenity sure, but people still had families, towns, tribes, etc. british people didn't invent idenity.

europe colonized asia too. see: malaysia (english) indonesia (dutch, english), vietnam, cambodia, (France), philippines (spain, america). hong kong (england)

then later on all by japan when they took over.

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eh i need go to sleep

good luck tc.

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They aren't that yellow.

Native american's are likeley more red in complexion than asians are yellow.

Also because it never really stuck as a naming convention. "Asian" is a pretty short term to begin with.

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Because we aren't yellow. The Simpsons are yellow.
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MixedRaceBaby posted...

africa is an entire continent. there was no unified idenity sure, but people still had families, towns, tribes, etc. british people didn't invent idenity.

europe colonized asia too. see: malaysia (english) indonesia (dutch, english), vietnam, cambodia, (France), philippines (spain, america). hong kong (england)

then later on all by japan when they took over.

Except that is Southeast Asia, dude. Completely different. When Americans refer to Asians, they refer mainly to the East Asians (korean/Japanese/chinese), not Indians, Filipinos, Indonesians etc.