Skip to main content

Don't Call Me Coloured!!

Race is a very sensitive subject. You have to be so careful about how you refer to or describe someone just in case you cause offence but these days that can be said about anything. The tone, manner and circumstance of what you say makes a big difference to how something is taken.

When I was in Cyprus a Pakistani sister from Manchester was in conversation with a German sister. The German sister was referring to black people as coloured. The Pakistani sister to my surprise told her off to which the German sister replied "no no you mustn't say black it's wrong".

I had been keeping out of the conversation until this point when I felt the need to inform this sister that there is nothing wrong with calling a black person black. Many black people find the description "coloured" very offensive. To this the sister said "but you're not all black anyway. Some of you are brown, some of you are light brown, some of you are caramel". I had to laugh at this and just walked out of the room. I couldn't help but wonder what "colour" she would use to describe me. Chocolate perhaps.

People don't seem to realise the connotations behind calling a person coloured or even understand why people are offended by the term. If we are coloured then the world should be coloured because there is no person who is actually black as black is or white as white is. I suppose it doesn't help the cause when you have black people who have a complex with their race, telling people they are gold or golden brown. Wtf?!?!

Black is a race just as white is a race. I am not coloured therefore don't call me coloured. The key is though to accept yourself as you are and this is a message to all the "golden brown" people out there. Be proud of who you are and where you come from and the sooner we can accept ourselves the sooner other people will learn to accept you too.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Labels:

Comments

  1. Mars6 March 2011 at 21:09

    U know I feel sorry for non black people. It's hard Cus some pple
    Don't mind being called black while others take offence to it.
    Pple are so scared they don't wanna be labeled as being racist
    What is funny is White pple generally don't take offence when pple call them White. So why do some black pple have a complex about it

    ReplyDelete
  2. AyeshahRose6 March 2011 at 21:15

    Very true. I think the reason some black people don't like being called black is because they're not proud to be black. They're ashamed of it, like there's some sort of stigma attached to being black. We're the ones making it hard for non black people to just say black. We're black. We should embrace it and stop hiding behind foolishness like "coloured", "gold" and "caramel".

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous7 March 2011 at 18:03

    love the pic by the way

    ReplyDelete
  4. AyeshahRose7 March 2011 at 23:48

    Thanks lovey. I'm quite fond of it myself. Wish I drew it lol.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Double Standards!!!

Don't you just hate them?  Like, people say one thing, either about themselves or a certain situation but it's the total opposite for them, like it's not ok for you but it's all good for them.    The term double standard , coined in 1912, refers to any set of principles containing different provisions for one group of people than for another, typically without a good reason for having said difference.  A double standard may take the form of an instance in which certain concepts (often, for example, a word, phrase, social norm, or rule) are perceived as acceptable to be applied by one group of people, but are considered unacceptable or taboo when applied by another group . Taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_standard . I've recently been in a situation where a double standard was applied.  I didn't even realise it at first and the truth is we are all faced with double standards every day in our lives.  For example, people will s...
3 comments
Read more

Rastamouse - is it really irie man?

How many of you have seen the new CBeebies children's programme Rastamouse?  It features a Jamaican Rastafarian mouse and his crew of 2 (Scratchy and Zooma) aka The Easy Crew.  They solve mysteries in their native Mouseland.  Now when I first saw this I thought it was hilarious. Hearing these characters speaking patois on a children's programme was amazing to me and a sign of how far we had come in this country, accepting and promoting diversity.  At the same time I knew it would only be a matter of time before the complaints came in.  I could just hear hordes of parents saying "but this isn't teaching the children to speak real English", "I don't want my child pretending to be a gangster" (because believe it or not there is a blinged up gangster mouse on the show and he may not be behaving like a gangster but he is dressed as and speaks like one). It may sound like I don't approve of the show, don't get me wrong I actually like it. The thi...
3 comments
Read more

Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Help is a fictional novel written by Kathryn Stockett, set in 1960's Mississippi: "where black maids raise white children, but aren't trusted not to steal the silver". The book follows three main characters; Aibleen who is raising her 17th white child for a family more concerned with themselves, than with their own baby.  Minny who is famous for her cooking as well as her sharp tongue (she's not afraid to tell you like it is, whether you're black or white) and Miss Skeeter, a young white woman who has returned from college to find her beloved maid Constantine has disappeared.  The three main characters become friends as Miss Skeeter who is a keen writer, decides to write a book about white families and their black maids. I first heard about this book watching a review on the TV Book Club with Jo Brand.  They seemed to be 50/50 on their opinion of the book.  Their main concern was, how can a white author identify with the black maids?  How ...
2 comments
Read more