Amelia
Rookie
- Banned
- #1
I'm not sure that 'racism' is the right word for this.
Read more: Coggs' 'looks like you' quote starts debate - JSOnline
One specific definition of racism, from Merriam-Webster:
If your race has a history of being oppressed and treated as inferior, then wanting those of your race to gain more power and not lose what they have gained is different from the idea that one race is inherently superior to another. So the word "racism" might not apply.
Does American English have adequate terminology for such statements which would easily be categorized as racism if said by a white supremacist but which are more complicated when said by a member of a struggling minority group?
State Rep. Elizabeth Coggs, the Milwaukee Democrat running in the August primary for state senator, urged a gathering of mostly black voters Saturday to "vote for someone that looks like you."
The remark by Coggs, who is African-American, evoked both cheers and shouts of protest from the audience and from some of the other primary candidates who were invited to speak at the Community Brainstorming Conference at St. Matthew CME Church.
"That's just wrong," shouted Mandela Barnes, who is also African-American and is running against incumbent Jason Fields in the 11th Assembly District primary. Fields also is black.
Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) said Coggs' statement was aimed at her. Pasch, who is white, is running in Coggs' current 10th Assembly District; the three other candidates in that primary are all African-American.
Read more: Coggs' 'looks like you' quote starts debate - JSOnline
One specific definition of racism, from Merriam-Webster:
a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
If your race has a history of being oppressed and treated as inferior, then wanting those of your race to gain more power and not lose what they have gained is different from the idea that one race is inherently superior to another. So the word "racism" might not apply.
Does American English have adequate terminology for such statements which would easily be categorized as racism if said by a white supremacist but which are more complicated when said by a member of a struggling minority group?