Black Girl Join National Honor Society in Waxahachie, TX

Next time someone calls me a black woman I will just knock the shit out of them! Striking a blow for the SL forums.


I really think some people have no clear idea what racism is if they think this is racism. Come spend a week with me in the executive levels of Corporate America.

You don't think there is a relationship between the execuative levels of corporate Amercia and the National Honor Society in High School?

I do, but that's just me.

That's stretching PC a little too far, especially sice this was just meant as a quick placeholder till they found her name.

Okay, I'm not one for PC, and I don't think black girl was derogatory. It's just not the way I want to be remembered in my High School Yearbook. I was one of a few blacks in my High School and I was in some of the organizations and I'd like to think I was memorable. But to find out that my only lasting impression by the High School Yearbook Staff, and remember these were her fellow students, was to be known as the black girl, it would be a little painful. I'm sorry if I'm overly sensitive.

Eboni, someone off the street calling you Black Woman may be okay. I for one would not want to be lableled that way. If we started calling you the Black woman that sells Hucci prodcucts instead of your name, which we know, it wouldn't be right.

Well..that may be true, but also not fair. Racism is a card that can be pulled out when convenient or an "out" is needed in many cases. So don't blame others for being confused on what might be offensive and what might not.

I've seen racism claimed over the most ridiculous things, and at other times, obvious racism totally overlooked. So it is subjective and often times tough to nail down.

I don't think the label "black girl" is a terrible thing, but it was stupid of them and a bit insensative. Just as "white boy" would have been..or "yellow girl"...etc...

We aren't colors. We are all human beings.

Yeah... what he said

Although, to be TECHNICALLY correct, I am betting this girl wasn't "black", but a nice shade of chocolate or mocha I mean really, do ANY of us know a BLACK person??? LOL and bein an artsy-fartsy type, I like "colorful" and accurate color names

edited to add: hmmm looking at my own skin, I'd say I'm somewhere in between a rosy light tan and china doll white, but definitely not WHITE either hahaa!

Right on! I nominate this for best forum quote of the day.

People are too sensitive

So she should have just accepted being black girl and they shouldn't have reprinted the books and that would have been fine for your H.S. Yearbook?

But my name means black....


And I don't care what you call me if you spend money


*hums* Ain't nuthin going on but the rent...

I was in NHS, have been in Mensa since long before HS, and umm they are nothing like corporate America.


This is completely mild, at most it is un PC, it is not racism, not even passive racism. Racism is low on my list of concers, I am more concerned about sexism. *shrug* Everyone can pick their own battles.

An apology and replacement pages is about all they could do in this case.

Hmm as far as the yearbook staff not knowing the girl's name.

I did a google search on this High School the enrollment is about 1200. I imagine that it is reasonable to say they didnt know this students name.

It is odd though the choice to use "black girl" as a place holder before they got the name though. You would think would be more useful were you on the yearbook staff to say something like "Need name".

Since you assume the use of "black girl" was as a place holder.

Certainly I think you can question the motives of the students who used the term. But maybe not enough information to say for sure they intended to to be a racist statement.

What im saying it COULD have been, but maybe was a poorly done mistake also.

That's the most intelligent thing anyone's said on this thread.

To combat "this" kind of bigotry, people commit "that" kind of bigotry. And vice-versa. Over and over again. On this thread, and on a number of other threads I've seen here recently.

When human beings commit incomprehensible acts of cruelty and depravity against each other on a daily basis, the amount of energy expended commenting on this one unthinking mistake reminds me of the psychological strategy of avoidance.

Complete overreaction. Of course she shouldn't accept it, of course it was wrong, of course it wouldn't be fine ... however ... of course it was just a simple 2 word placeholder not meant in any derogatory way, and of course it was a really stupid blunder, a mistake, an accident that it slipped through without being proofread.

Is it worth fixing? Oh yes, absolutely.

Is it worth having a big racial bruhaha over it? With soapboxes and signs made up and perhaps a march on something? No

Oh I must have missed the racial bruhaha and the soapboxes and the signs.

It was just a story stating the facts. Take from it what you will.

The reactions of some people are interesting though.

Hmmm, my high school year book has 3 pictures of me in it, two of which have my name completely wrong and named as someone else. Do you think they would have torn out pages in the yearbook to fix it, me being white and male? I really, really don't think they would.

I think anyone who finds the term "black girl" offensive is going to spend a lot of thier time in this life offended. Also, that was a name placeholder so it has to be roughly the format of someone's name, "3rd person from left" isn't and no one does that anyway. This is not , in any way, a racial issue but it is hurtful to the student that after all the hard work she put into HS that to not be recognised properly. The fact they are going to so much trouble and expense is the right thing to do in this case (although, placing a tape label over the placeholder would have been better in my opinion). The matter was put to rights when it was discovered and that should have been the end of it.

What is a shame is the fact the news media used this mistake (which happens quite often) to play up a supposed racial incedent in a small Texas town to sell a story. What is even sadder are the countless people who fall for this sort of manipulation. Had it been "white guy" no one would have cared. There is no story here but the reporter got one anyway and got a paycheck for his/her trouble.

Sorry, Nehai. I'm still recovering from discovering that I'm a "breeder".

Being Native American, and being married to a woman of independent mind who has had to drill through glass ceilings all her life, I can judge very well what problems are more serious than others.

Sorry, Nehai. I'm still recovering from discovering that I'm a "breeder".

Being Native American, and having been married to a woman of independent mind who has had to drill through glass ceilings all her life, I can judge very well what problems are more serious than others.

I am glad that you can.

For myself, of course.

My yearbook at least had me named correctly....it just says (Not Pictured) after it everytime.

I have a pet peeve about using race/ethnicity at all, especially on government forms GRR

for example:
I consider myself to be a NATIVE American, simply because I was born here. I have looked at the various definitions of "Native American" and it pretty much derives as:

The descendants of the original inhabitants of North America and South America before the arrival of white settlers from Europe.

well, ok then, but So why not use the term Descendant instead of Native, cuz the word Native itself means one born in or connected with a place by birth. I'm so confused! AARGH!

I hate semantics LOL

"Native American" has a political connotation. It was an in-your-face statement to Americans of European descent who claimed to be "native" to North America, when the phrase was first used back in the sixties. It was also a reaction against being called "Indians", just because Columbus couldn't figure out where he was in the late 1400s.

I'm Goshute and Italian, Artillo. Got res status, even so. Howya doin'?

Ever been turned down for a job because the place had to fill a quota? A little more pigment, and I would have been in. Not to mention the times back in my college/Kinko's days when all the machines were cranked up, and I was called a racist by a customer at the counter because I wouldn't make three other jobs late just to fit in a new one.

I could get angry about it, but then again... I've also seen people get angry for having to wait in line when they have a master's degree. I'm serious. Fourth person back is screaming "I have a Master's Degree!" and waving papers. She was the worst, but she wasn't the only one who behaved like that. I'm not going to go around hating master's degrees, though. Too much trouble, and I have things to do.

Oh well. At least I found another Mensa member.


Gydeon.

OK--obviously the mistake should be corrected. Nobody's arguing that. She might even have rights to bitch and moan about the "publisher" incompetence and to get a free yearbook as an apology. (but not on racial grounds)

But does seem to be an example of "PC getting carried away". Racism is still a problem that remains, but now there's a brand NEW problem as well. Know what it is? It's this overreaction, knee-jerk response, overcompensation for what any random person perceives as possible racism--without even considering that they may be wrong.

Years ago I used to work in a retail store, and there was an older customer that came in...now I guess he was black. (Honestly his skin wasn't even that dark so I wasn't even entirely sure at first; I didn't really take much notice until after he was leaving, because I didn't understand what he was getting at.) I was walking around putting up sale signs, a few of which happened to be in different isles, and looking around at people who were walking around the store like I always do. (What kind of idiot wouldn't be aware of how many people are a small pharmacy just before closing time?)

Well, apparently because of the way I walked from one isle to the other (not a long distance, only two isles), he thought I was watching him. I was so surprised at the time that I didn't even realize what he was asking about at first. Shoplifters were almost the last thing on my mind at the time, and he didn't even look like one to me! Of course, he didn't believe me when I said that I wasn't "watching" him, and he said he thought "I had a problem". Right... actually I think it was the other way around.

It's this culture of them-vs-us, so-and-so race tends to be racist, etc, and the paranoia that results from it that I see as a problem. Go after the obvious racism cases. But when you make blind accusations against people that you don't even know, all you do is shoot yourself in the foot, make yourself look stupid, and make you seem like the one that "has a problem".

If there's a crowd of black guys, and you're trying to point out the one white guy in that crowd to someone, does it make any sense to require people (for PC's sake) to take the trouble to describe the guy's shirt, his tie, hat, hair, etc...when there's another obvious visual characteristic that could be used? I wouldn't give a rat's ass if I was called "the white guy" in such a situation, but maybe I'm just weird.