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6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

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31–40 of 199 posts

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#31

If one's going to play the ethnic etymology game, why not start with the NPR staff's overwhelmingly Jewish surnames? Why is every chance for black/white/hispanic/asian/male-female grievance mined and exploited by NPR, but their own ethnic nepotism swept under the carpet? Why don't NPR's Jews judge themselves by their own standards?

It's really sad that somebody would come to HN just to push an antisemitic agenda.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#32
post #6

I don't think the other people are at fault here. I think it's reasonable to assume that someone with a stereotypically black name is black, just like it's reasonable to assume that a random IT professor is male based on the fact that 90%* actually are. As long as you owe up to your error when you notice it (and e.g. apologize). It's a reasonable optimization that works out more often than not. The problem only start…

We can make excuses for this behavior, but we shouldn't make it look OK by using the word "reasonable". It's certainly understandable why people make those assumptions, but those assumptions are neither based on reason nor fair.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#33
post #6

I don't think the other people are at fault here. I think it's reasonable to assume that someone with a stereotypically black name is black, just like it's reasonable to assume that a random IT professor is male based on the fact that 90%* actually are. As long as you owe up to your error when you notice it (and e.g. apologize). It's a reasonable optimization that works out more often than not. The problem only start…

I would push back on that view and say other people are absolutely at fault here. if thats not something we can't or won't own up to as a society, then we will have to continue to live with the consequences of stereotyping which, good and bad, harm us all in many subtle and not-so-subtle ways. difficult, but necessary.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#34
post #10

As a white guy with a (very mildly) African American sounding name, I have had similar experiences. When I meet people in person after emailing them they sometimes seem surprised, and some later admit they expected me to be black. The worst example was when I was told by someone renting a room on craigslist that they couldn't rent to me because I was a "security threat", even though I had hardly said anything about m…

[deleted]

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#35
My wife, also from Oregon interestingly enough, has an Irish first name spelled in a "black" way (with a 'w' rather than a 'u'). Every now and then, hilarity ensues when she meets someone in person who was obviously expecting someone who looks different.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#36

Couple of off the cuff thoughts: Why can't people use the expression "niger" in context? It was clearly meant as a racial insult, and I think people need to remember that that is the way it is commonly used. Replacing it with a placeholder doesn't make racism go away or make the word less racist, all it does it soften the racism used in that instance. His TSA story is more likely fiction. Is he saying that there are…

I have an acquaintance who looks white but was named Mohammed (he is Kurdish). He changed his name to "Michael" because, as he said, "It's easier to say... like for example at the airport."

I agree about referencing the word "nigger", Louis CK has a bit where he says he hates the phrase "the n-word" because, "you still put the word 'nigger' into my head, so it's not like you didn't say it".

But socially one probably has to accept reality, there's a court case about a guy who was fired for saying the word, not using it in a derogatory way but just referring to the word itself.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#37
post #6

I don't think the other people are at fault here. I think it's reasonable to assume that someone with a stereotypically black name is black, just like it's reasonable to assume that a random IT professor is male based on the fact that 90%* actually are. As long as you owe up to your error when you notice it (and e.g. apologize). It's a reasonable optimization that works out more often than not. The problem only start…

Our bureaucratic preoccupation with racial and gender categories is much like those who segmented bloodlines into Untouchables, or royalty. (As if it was ever impressive to be related to some glorified dictator called a "king".) Consider that, depending on your racial category, it may be ok for the US state to choke you to death in public. Even just to speak normal English, you have to basically surveil into people's…

"Consider that, depending on your racial category, it may be ok for the US state to choke you to death in public."

It is never OK, ever.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#38
post #6

I don't think the other people are at fault here. I think it's reasonable to assume that someone with a stereotypically black name is black, just like it's reasonable to assume that a random IT professor is male based on the fact that 90%* actually are. As long as you owe up to your error when you notice it (and e.g. apologize). It's a reasonable optimization that works out more often than not. The problem only start…

It is absolutely unreasonable. When you say it "works out more often than not" I would ask "For whom?" Many snap judgments based on race lead to the death of unarmed black men and women.

Studies have shown that resumes with black-sounding names get fewer callbacks and we treat black men like white men with a criminal record.

Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal? http://www.nber.org/papers/w9873

Norton Pscyhology: Devah Pager and Dalton Conley discuss racism and the stigma of criminal record https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CofLE3q3Qh0

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#39
post #6

I don't think the other people are at fault here. I think it's reasonable to assume that someone with a stereotypically black name is black, just like it's reasonable to assume that a random IT professor is male based on the fact that 90%* actually are. As long as you owe up to your error when you notice it (and e.g. apologize). It's a reasonable optimization that works out more often than not. The problem only start…

I would push back on that view and say other people are absolutely at fault here. if thats not something we can't or won't own up to as a society, then we will have to continue to live with the consequences of stereotyping which, good and bad, harm us all in many subtle and not-so-subtle ways. difficult, but necessary.

Are generalizations really not allowed? Do we have to handicap our brains?

I actually worked for the progressives and saw campaign analytics first-hand. It was one of the most racist things I've seen.

And it works.

Re: 6 Words: 'My Name Is Jamaal I'm White'

#40
post #6

I don't think the other people are at fault here. I think it's reasonable to assume that someone with a stereotypically black name is black, just like it's reasonable to assume that a random IT professor is male based on the fact that 90%* actually are. As long as you owe up to your error when you notice it (and e.g. apologize). It's a reasonable optimization that works out more often than not. The problem only start…

This is what amazes me about white America:

1: 14% of the population is black,

2: 90% of white America have never spoken to a black person let alone have a black friend.

3: So where do their stereotypes come from, rap?, news?, (with regards to height) NBA?

4: They don't like to talk about this and this will be flagged off HN.

It amazes me with so little to no interaction with a group, white America can infer a black persons character and be so confident in doing so.

EDIT: "In fact, PRRI's data show that a full 75 percent of whites have "entirely white social networks without any minority presence." The same holds true for slightly less than two-thirds of black Americans."

Look at it another way 66% of black people say they do not have a white person in their social network. So roughly 34% of 14% of the population have a person in their social network from the white population. So how the hell can all these white people claim to have all these black friends? How can all these white people know so much about people they don't have meaningful interactions with?

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