'are You Brown Because You're From Africa, Racist Or Not??

[anotheoldgit]

Spoken by a seven year old I hasten to add.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2910692/Branded-RACIST-five-little-girl-said-friend-brown-boy-asked-black-child-Africa-teachers-reporting-primary-school-pupils-bigots-official-records.html

[anotheoldgit]

/// I'm not sure. The same teachers would say that he didn't ask any of the white kids where THEY were from, only the black kid. ///

Why would he, seeing that all the white kids were the same as him?

[jim360]

Well if that's the case, AOG, then it's their problem. Some people are just touchy like that, but the question "where are you from?" is always going to be innocent. On the other hand "Are you from Africa?" is, perhaps, a bit awful. Again, how would you respond/ feel if asked whether or not you were from "Europe"?

[joggerjayne]

I wonder what happens if you ask a red haired, fair skinned kid if he's Irish?

[jim360]

I don't buy that at all, jj -- firstly, most people ask "where are you from then?" at least once in normal conversation. Expecting perhaps the answer Manchester, or Leeds, or Headingley, or something. It's just small talk. I can, just about, sympathise with a teacher picking up on a kid asking "are you from Africa?" because there are 53 countries in Africa and so it's a bit of a broad question to ask. A child shouldn't be jumped on for asking it but a quiet word to the effect of trying not to jump to such conclusions seems sensible.

But any teacher who gets all riled up about the "where are you from then?" question ought to be sacked. (Possible exception: children at a villiage Primary school when the answer is, clearly, that village.)

[2sp_]

Surely the school could have taken the view that this could be a learning opportunity? The pupils could have been taught that not all "brown" people come from Africa and not all people from Africa are "brown".

[anotheoldgit]

jim360

/// It would depend somewhat on the context, although it seems more sensible anyway to ask "Where are you from?" ///

On my travels abroad, being blonde haired (well once) and blue eyed, people have asked me "are you German" and even having lived through WW2, that did not offend me whatsoever.

[stuey]

On a much lighter note: did you know that Brazil nuts do not grow in Africa?:)

[Orderlimit]

"I wonder what happens if you ask a red haired, fair skinned kid if he's Irish?"

Nothing JJ, the robots who trot this sort of nonsense have been forcilbly programmed that racism only amounts to skin-colour. I even read some where the other day that a black person can't racially offend another black person and most agreed !.

[jim360]

Well, I guess some people just don't get offended. Well done them. If the question is however offensive in nature, or just ignorant, then that means it's not someone's problem if they do get offended. Equally, if someone sees offence where there is none, that is their problem. The hope for the future is to cut out things and attitudes that are offensive, without going too far.

[joggerjayne]

// I don't buy that at all, jj //

Gaah, dammit, I was quite pleased with that point.

If I asked where someone was from and they said Headingley, they would get my best blank, goldfish face. I'm going to Google where it is in a minute.

[ummmm]

"I wonder what happens if you ask a red haired, fair skinned kid if he's Irish?"

They would probably laugh. My red haired, fair skinned, OH has been asked that numerous times.

He is Irish though....

[jim360]

If you think that's bad, OL, you'll be horrified to learn that some people are pushing for a definition of "sexism" that essentially means men can't ever be victims of it...

* * *

Some context for that is needed. Basically, it's redefining racism/ sexism etc to mean what we now refer to as "institutional *ism", and then extending the concept of "institutional" to include *isms with a long historical context; what we call now "racism" gets called instead "prejudice" or "discrimination".

It's a semantic argument, really. And I think it's tosh. But never mind.

[Old_Geezer]

He probably didn't understand the question :-D

[mikey4444]

I think this is obviously clearly out of order, but I would query how widespread this sort of thing is ? When you read the DM article, its been left a bit high and dry, as Ms White refused to sign anything, but we don't know what the outcome was. The DM has also not reported the School's side of the story.

Typical DM story really...designed to titillate and disturb but not inform or educate.

[jim360]

It's a suburb of Leeds (the point being that the answer could be as specific or not as you like, but the question is hardly offensive).

[ummmm]

Lol, OG.

[Orderlimit]

"pushing for a definition of "sexism" that essentially means men can't ever be victims of it..."

Trust me Jim, nowt surprises me nowadays

[jim360]

Like I said, the context is important, and if you read through the full argument you can see where it's coming from, but it's still unnecessary IMO.

[anotheoldgit]

jim360

/// You wouldn't want to be judged based solely on your skin colour (or gender, sexuality, age) either. ///

Who is judging anyone on their skin colour here, and no one was judged because of their gender, sexuality or age. ( except of course this youngster was only seven) so am I judging him because of his age?

[ludwig]

The problem is fairly simple. Too many tw4t5 in positions of authority, and a climate of fear that if you're not seen to be ruthlessly stamping out 'racism'* at every opportunity, you might be accused of being racist, and subsequently stamped on yourself.

*(substitute any ism or phobia you like)

Same reason we have gangs of men grooming and raping kids and the police do f* all about it for years. It's sad really.