Quote:
Originally Posted by HejiraNYC
Well... how do you know she means n***** and not negro (which, although antiquated, I do not believe is considered to be a pejorative)? I had no idea that people, well, make that white people still used terminology like that. I don't think education, class or age is any excuse. Somebody should sit her down and give her a talking-to.  |
Oh, I'm sure she meant negro. And yes, there are still white people who use terms like that, tho probably none under the age of 60.
I haven't actually seen this great-aunt in years. She may even be dead for all I know.
I have a few relatives who actually use the N word with distressing frequency. My grandmother is terribly, terribly racist and will regularly refer to any black female orderly at her nursing home as "that n***** woman." And doesn't even think about it. In the '50s, her mother (my great-grandmother) had a black maid, who everyone referred to as "N***** Dorothy." I'm not sure if this was said to her face or not. My grandmother often said that Dorothy was a good woman because Dorothy "knew she was a n*****." Yes, she used that exact phrasing.
When Dorothy died several years ago, my mother spoke to her daughter about attending the funeral, and the daughter evidently was none too thrilled with the idea of anyone from my mother's family being in attendance. My mother couldn't, for the life of her, understand why.
Then there's my grandmother's younger sister - another piece of work. She decided to sell the house she'd lived in for 30 years because a black family moved in to a house down the street. So she has this McMansion type house built in a new ritzy little subdivision, and who should build a house directly behind her, but a black woman.
She said that the NAACP must have put up the money for the woman's house, because "there's no way a black woman could afford to buy a house in this neighborhood."
And no, I don't have anything to do with any of these people, and haven't in years. This kind of disgusting mindset isn't even the main reason. Ugh.