nem writes:
Dude, how could I have ever known something as innocuous as saying "boy", (which to me, is on par with "dude", "guy," "man", etc) would ever contain such overtones?
Back in the days when I was somewhat of a racist, it never occurred to me about the word "boy" when referencing a black male either. However, as sheltered as I was having attended one christian school after another, I managed to pick this up by the time I was in high school through the various books that I read while working in the library and the various books I had to read for my English classes.
The Invisible Man and
To Kill A Mocking Bird come to mind.
{added by edit}In fact, the high school I went to had almost no non-white people. Counting all the kids that were in my classes in my freshmen year, there was 1 non-white kid, and her name was Persha. The fact that I actually remember her name even though we almost never spoke to each other should tell you how phenomenal her presence was to me.{/added by edit}
I guess some ed. institutions just want their students to forget all the racial stuff that happened in the past. There was this particular book that I read about the true life story of the author. In one scene, the author recalls having been called a "nigger" by a little girl when he was about 8 or so. He really went deep into event. He said that later in his life he came to realize that that little girl never really meant to offend or insult him. She just innocently used that word to him because she had heard someone else used it. But this innocent use the word had changed his life forever. He wrote in his book that after that little girl called him "nigger", he lost all his innocence and became completely aware of how the society that he was living in hated him so.
While I was still a christian, I was taught many times that words have much power. After all, god did say let there be light for light to exist. We can go through the entire old and new testaments to find practically an unlimited number of examples of how the power of word is stressed.
Nem_jug, we are so surprised by your use of the word "boy", innocent or not, mostly because in life you are a figure of authority. People would have probably reacted less harshly if you were someone else. After all, we live in a society where people are allowed to stay in their blissful ignorance of their own history. But being a cop, you should really educate yourself of this kind of stuff to avoid complications. People look up to you.
The word "nigger" was used by everyone to demean a particular group of people. The word "boy" was particularly used by figures of authority like policemen, public servants, and even the local store clerk to demean a particular group of people. Other examples are "gal" and "broad".
Anyway, just be careful next time. The word coming from you has a lot more meaning and insult than if it is coming from me.
Edited by gasby, : No reason given.
Disclaimer:
Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.
He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!
™ Version 4.2
