Sweden Democrat: 'a negro is a negro' to me
Published: 28 Nov 11 16:42 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/37620/20111128/
A Sweden Democrat politician in southern Sweden recently made the papers after saying on Facebook that the word “negro” is not a racist term.
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The debate kicked off after Rydh answered the query “Is it racist to say negro?” in a Facebook post. To her, the answer is no.
According to the paper there have been many reports to the Swedish Equality Ombudsman (Diskrimineringsombudsmannen, DO) pertaining to the word and several companies and government agencies have been made to pay damages to people who feel discriminated against when that particular word has been used.
But Rydh told the paper that it is not the word but how it is used that is important.
“It shouldn't be an insult to be called a negro. There is the red race, the yellow race, and then there's me, who is of the white race. A negro is a negro. There is nothing demeaning with that,” Rydh told Smålandsposten.
Rydh also told the paper that things have gone too far and that if it continues in this fashion it will soon be impossible to say anything at all.
“We do have freedom of speech in this country, after all,” Rydh told Smålandsposten.
According to Rydh, despite the fact that some may feel the word is demeaning most of the people she knows wouldn't mind at all. But these are no people of colour, the paper pointed out.
“No, I don't know many negroes, there aren't that many in our area,” Rydh told the paper.
She retained the firm belief that it is the context that should determine when it is acceptable to use the term, and if someone feels insulted they should just say so.
Annika Rydh is one of two Sweden Democrats on the municipal council in Älmhult.
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Now if i walk around calling anyone a nazi, what will happen? Nothing.
Yes, yes pretty words... But in the famous words of Samual Jackson 'I double dare you motherfu**er!'
Any American, or reasonably well informed person without a memory deficit can corroborate this fact. Of course, intention and intonation can alter meaning in a particular context. However, the word Negro, per se, is not a derogatory term.
That I keep hearing this from Swedes is surprising. It doesn't speak well for the education of the average Swede. Sweden Democrats do not define the English language.
Why is Negro all of a sudden a racist word?
Ii is NOT racist
"Sweden democrats do not define the English language" It is not their job period their purpose must be other things ,and invest their time for the betterment of their party in a good manner rather than involving themselves in sensitive issues and so forth..
so it is your right to use that word as per free speech in Sweden.
But you have already known that someone might get offended from that word, so why dont you just be nice and avoid saying it at all then.
would it be better not to hurt someone feeling, then trying to tell them that it will be ok after?
be nice!!! there are plenty of words to say and racial issue will never end if you dont respect one another.
Even MLK called his people Negroes and why the is there still a
United Negro College Fund
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Negro_College_Fund
In the United States:
A white guy talking to another white guy: Probably racist to say negro
A white guy talking to a black friend: Probably not racist to say negro
A black guy talking to another black guy: Not racist to say negro (for some reason)
In Brazil:
Negro = the socially acceptable way to refer to Afro-Brazilians
Preto = basically, the Portuguese version of the "N" word
In Europe:
Judging from all the people I've heard saying the either the word "negro" or the "N" word is common, everyday colloquial conversation it doesn't have the same pejorative connotation as it does in the United States. Also, the history of Africans was dramatically different in Europe, so there isn't an entrenched history of systematic racism associated with the word as it would be in the United States.
Motto: A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
White people donate to it...are they expected to leave "negro" off the check?
Black people donate to it, can they write "negro" on the check.?
If "negro" is offensive in America, then why haven't the checks been returned???
@Gamla Hälsingebock : Sarcasm is not the best argument.
My belief is that if I am referring to myself then I may call myself what I wish. If I am referring to someone else, even with my "freedom of speech", I should respect the wishes of that person and try to not offend. I believe that there are responsibilities that come with "freedom of speech" and one of those is to treat others in the manner in which I would like to be treated.
"just what are you people calling yourselves now"?
And just for a by.. I never heard more swearing that from afro americans and they f..ck ni..er this f..ck nig..er that and you f..ing ni..er mother wh..re etc.. boy they can let rip and that all is just fine and nobody complains.. but if a latino (may I say that ?) or white (no idea what else to call them.. maybe settlers ?) use half those words they are racist and demeaning.
we also have the music awards of all sots for all races and the BLACK Music Awards for blacks only hmmm
And we have collages for all races and BLACK collages for blacks only hmmmmm
also have the negro fund for... you guessed it, blacks only but no funds dedicated to latinos, whites, yellows, greens, pinks and what ever other color there is.
Real double standard and don't give me the "intended meaning" BS either.. a frog is a frog is a frog so frog right off :)
go well all you rainbow people and peace to ya all !
...And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old NEGRO spiritual, 'Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!'" [Capitalization emphasis added.]
--From the August 28, 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech in Washington, D.C. by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
National Association For Colored People...
Colored? no wait, Negro, no that's not it either!
Black people, err, no.
African/Americans... can we call a Haitian that?
How about "those people" nahh, doesn't fit.
Gee? What's in a name?
depends on the way or the manner on how the " word " was used then anway,well
perhaps some people are just too free that they'll comment on anything.
neger isn`t derogatory. Neger comes from the spanish word Negro. Get your mind right. Svart doesn`t come from the word Negro.
But to minimize a person by refering to them by the colour of their skin is just strange and stupid. That goes for everyone.
In my country were gypsies since 1990 called Roms ( one person rom) and we have no problem so far as we were called "members of majority"in medias.
So if there was a problem it was "among the member of majority and Rom"
But during this year increasing pressure of corectness bring neologism
Non-Rom, so we are not a members if majority or simple white native anymore, we become non-romes :(
Seriously, I never hear white folks say "My white friend So-and-So..." - even where no offense or prejudice is intended, white folks often preface a description of someone of color by specifying their color - while any other number of descriptors go unremarked.
In the end, people are just people - there is but one human race. Try leaving skin color out of the equation, it is so absurd to even consider it, and does nothing more than insert a barrier and create an "us and them" atmosphere.
"We do have freedom of speech in this country, after all," ..... HAHAAHHAA ... Sweden and Freedom of Speech are two opposite things : Can you talk about denial of Holocaust? They put Julian Assange in jail just that he exposed some country.
I have never met any white "person" anywhere ., unless -pale-pink means white sometimes .
So, lets start with automobiles...yes! Why not?
They are all the same when you think about it.
So now you cannot call a Saab a Saab or a Volvo a Volvo, because you might offend one.
You cannot say a blue Saab or a red Volvo!
Depending on your usage of their name you could be subject to PC rules and branded an "automobilist!
You now must call them all, automobiles, regardless of make or manufacture.
Remember that as long as the blood flows under your skin, more or less you are a "purple-pink" color skin!
However, for any reason or any impact, you lose your blood pressure or blood flowing under the skin, then you are pretty much a "beige" color skin!
Moreover, taking into account that the skin of this type of race is very dry, so you need every day to have some kind of treatment for it or put some kind of fat or oil on the skin to make it suitable, so as to be clearer and more precise you had better know that you belong to "the Beige-purple-pink color dry skin race"!
Keep in mind that, just and only "the A4 paper SHEET is white!"
I see no problem in obliging that, instead of going into long discussion about semantic, interpreting feelings attached to a word and it's connotation.
Suppose when we are talking about colors of flowers, when we say red color, yellow color, white color it is clear for us because those colors reflect the light in a certain frequency which stand in the red Spectrum, yellow Spectrum and white Spectrum so we see them red, yellow and white.
But about the skin it is not accurate. In fact it is an unreal definition the red for skin and the yellow or the white for the color of the skin, because the color of the skin never stands in the red Spectrum , yellow Spectrum and white Spectrum.
In addition, since Annika Rydh had said that she was white, I remind that, her opinion is not correct. Because she looks pink-purple
and suppose for any reason or a shock she looses the circulation of blood under her skin, then her skin has the color of beige. So at the most, her skin could have a color between beige, pink, purple.
To be more accurate talking about the skin, it is better to choose a better classification and it is about the properties of the skins. Dryness or softness "moisturize".
So forget about colors, more scientific is the classification of:
1- dry skin race
2- "soft" skin race
Therefore, Annika Rydh should know that she is belonging to the "dry skin races"!
@jes dear, I hope have you got it
The word Negro is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not. The word negro means 'black' in Spanish and Portuguese, from the Latin niger, 'black', probably from a Proto-Indo-European root *nekw-, 'to be dark', akin to *nokw- 'night'.[1][2]
Here's my kind tuppence worth,
it could have been a lot worse:
http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/2011/12/01/sensitivity-tuning-a-short-note-on-the-word-negro/
There used to be another, but Neanderthals are now extinct.
I put it to you that is "racism" is an issue of importance to you, then you are a racist. There is my definition of racism.
I see no reason to build walls between myself and my co-workers just because my ancestors emigrated from Africa a few score generations before theirs.
http://www.africandna.com/