<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Mar 28, 2016 at 6:58 AM, Bouman MC <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:boumanmcc@gmail.com" target="_blank">boumanmcc@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><span class="">Why would anyone think of this phrase in<br>
racist terms?</span></blockquote></div><br><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">If that is an honest question in search of enlightenment,<br>if you truly want to find out why some folks find a 19th century diminutive adjective to be racist and offensive,<br>Check the term on Urban Dictionary.<br> <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cotton+Pickin&defid=6916831">http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Cotton+Pickin&defid=6916831</a><br>Google is your friend*: 'is cotton-pickin racist' <br> <a href="https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%27is+cotton-pickin+racist%27&t=canonical">https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%27is+cotton-pickin+racist%27&t=canonical</a><br> <a href="http://racerelations.about.com/od/diversitymatters/a/Five-Terms-You-Might-Not-Know-Are-Considered-Racist.htm">http://racerelations.about.com/od/diversitymatters/a/Five-Terms-You-Might-Not-Know-Are-Considered-Racist.htm</a> <br>* (but Duck-Duck-Go or Google in Private Browsing window is better, as it shows you what's outside the bubble, uninfluenced by your previous search selections.)<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">You can object that the "Po' White Trash" picked cotton too and were included in the term 'cotton pickin'', and you would be right historically, but that doesn't change the hurtfulness. They didn't find the comparison flattering, which makes it worse all around. And few like being called "Po' White Trash", either. <br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">If however that's a rhetorical question (as it sadly appears), <br>or if you think you are entitled to that explanation before you acknowledge that others' feelings might be valid, ... no, you don't get to decide whether other people are allowed to find offensive.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br>Telling people it shouldn't be offensive is itself offensive.<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">See also<br> <a href="http://racerelations.about.com/od/diversitymatters/fl/How-Not-to-Apologize-After-Making-a-Racial-Blunder.htm">http://racerelations.about.com/od/diversitymatters/fl/How-Not-to-Apologize-After-Making-a-Racial-Blunder.htm</a> <br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">and<br> <a href="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Encourage-Women-Linux-HOWTO/" target="_blank">http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Encourage-Women-Linux-HOWTO/</a> <br>especially but hardly exclusively page 4 "But I don't do that!" <br> (all of which applies equally to making underrepresented/under-empowered ethnic/race groupings feel safe and welcome too.)</div><br><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:georgia,serif">This Jim Crow attitude is out of place on an open mailing list in the 21st Century. <br></div><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Bill <br></div></div>
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