The Fascist American Empire wrote:Yumyumsuppertime wrote:
Are you saying that if we stop talking about it, then it'll somehow magically go away?
People (in America at least) have an attention span that could rival a hamster's. So yeah, eventuality, if we just don't bother with "proper" labels like "African American," for example, we'll just stop seeing them as different. One could argue that political correctness is a form of oppression by focusing on how group X is different from groups A, B, Q, Z, and T. Allow me to continue using "African American" as an example; why are they not just "Americans?" Why must they be "African Americans?" Unless they personally came from Sub-Saharan Africa to immigrate into the United States, they are not African. They are American.
True, there is nothing wrong in taking pride in your family origins, "Scottish and Proud!" or "Norwegian and Proud!" or "Korean and Proud!" or "Nicaraguan and Proud!" would be perfectly normal statements to describe oneself. But all said and done, you were born in America, you live in America, you speak American English, you are, by definition, American. No special labels required, unless you want the more formal "United States Citizen/Inhabitant."
Because people still see the skin color, because there are still stereotypes that surround people with that skin color, and because people with that skin color are still treated differently, there is a word to describe the racial background that is the reason for the skin color, and the focus of the stereotypes. Without having a word to describe the difference, there is no way to reasonably discuss the unfair prejudices arising from the difference.