Uncomfortable topics: Let's talk about race

[AnnaMaeBollocks]

I looked them up, and they're Southern terms that basically mean the same thing as high yellow, usually applied to females, with connotations of sexual attractiveness.

I find that uncomfortable on several levels, personally.

Well, yeah.  It kind of makes you an object - or a flavor - to that sort of person.

Yeah, that's what bothers me.

Yeah.

That and the old Richard Pryor character "Mudbone"...I'd be leery of anything that has a variety called "mud".

[East Coast Hustle]

I looked them up, and they're Southern terms that basically mean the same thing as high yellow, usually applied to females, with connotations of sexual attractiveness.

I find that uncomfortable on several levels, personally.

In that context, yeah, but I've never heard it used in the context of denoting sexual attractiveness. At least in the Tidewater area, it seems to just be a slang word for "part black, part something else".

[East Coast Hustle]

In short, if not a single black person that I know finds the term offensive, I don't see why I should.

[AnnaMaeBollocks]

In short, if not a single black person that I know finds the term offensive, I don't see why I should.

Maybe nobody you know, but http://www.skincaretalk.com/t/12928/redbone-yellowbone#post_179656

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Stuff that's acceptable between friends or in a single community can be wildly different from the norm.

[East Coast Hustle]

In short, if not a single black person that I know finds the term offensive, I don't see why I should.

Maybe nobody you know, but http://www.skincaretalk.com/t/12928/redbone-yellowbone#post_179656

So one guy says he thinks the terms are stupid, but I don't see anyone on there saying they think it's a racist term. There is, IMO, a rather large gulf between "stupid" and "offensive".

[East Coast Hustle]

Mind you I don't and wouldn't use either term myself, I just don't see any evidence of them being racist terms. It'd be like thinking it was racist if someone said I had a ruddy complexion.

[LMNO]

Considering that we live in a country where the use of the word "niggardly" is considered racist, I'm not even gonna go near Redbone/Yellowbone.

[Doktor Howl]

Considering that we live in a country where the use of the word "niggardly" is considered racist,

I think that's more a function of illiteracy than anything else.

[East Coast Hustle]

A combination of illiteracy and white people being so scared to be perceived as racist that they'll err on the side of caution to the point of ridiculousness.

I don't worry about that, since I couldn't give less of a fuck if someone mistakenly thinks I'm a racist. I know what's in my heart and am confident in that. And anyone that thinks I'm a racist obviously doesn't know the first thing about me anyway.

Actually in all fairness I do harbor some internal racism, it's just all directed at white people. but on a case-by-case basis some of you are OK.

[Doktor Howl]

A combination of illiteracy and white people being so scared to be perceived as racist that they'll err on the side of caution to the point of ridiculousness.

I don't worry about that, since I couldn't give less of a fuck if someone mistakenly thinks I'm a racist. I know what's in my heart and am confident in that. And anyone that thinks I'm a racist obviously doesn't know the first thing about me anyway.

Actually in all fairness I do harbor some internal racism, it's just all directed at white people. but on a case-by-case basis some of you are OK.

Does hating the human race count as racism?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I looked them up, and they're Southern terms that basically mean the same thing as high yellow, usually applied to females, with connotations of sexual attractiveness.

I find that uncomfortable on several levels, personally.

In that context, yeah, but I've never heard it used in the context of denoting sexual attractiveness. At least in the Tidewater area, it seems to just be a slang word for "part black, part something else".

Without sexual connotation I find it less disturbing. Out here we just call it "light". I mean, I am not a huge fan of the common Black practice of categorizing people by skin tone because it's a social hierarchy thing and I know where it came from, but other than that it's not overtly offensive. I guess. Mixed feelings here. (Oh fuck, undeliberate pun! I'm going to leave it.)

The social hierarchy issues associated with skin tone and hair texture are really bothersome. I won't go into the nuances of it right now, but there is a fucked up social dynamic within black communities that is directly descended from the way people were valued in the slave days. A light girl on a plantation would become a house servant because she was more "presentable", so she would be groomed and educated to a certain degree, and possibly even treated with affection (she would probably also be subjected to frequent rape, but hey).

The cultural residue of the higher value (and better treatment) of light-skinned mixes translates to higher social status to this day, and frequently that social status is accompanied by resentment and distrust (often unconscious) on the part of darker-skinned people. Weird dynamic all around. The result is that a weird cliquishness forms around skin tone, and dark girls often won't even try to befriend light girls because they think we're stuck up. And then we often don't approach them because we think they're aloof. So the cycle perpetuates itself.

[Don Coyote]

I did not know that. I thought it was just a descriptor used. "Which black guy?" 'Oh the tall light-skinned guy." which is how I've had people described to me by black people.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Huh, Wikipedia says that "Redbone" is an ethnic group: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redbone_%28ethnicity%29

That actually makes sense. A shit ton more sense than it just being a word for a skin tone.

My grandmother's family was from the Carolinas, so probably I'm technically a redbone. 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I did not know that. I thought it was just a descriptor used. "Which black guy?" 'Oh the tall light-skinned guy." which is how I've had people described to me by black people.

It's also a descriptor. It's just one that's loaded with cultural connotations, like "Ginger" is.