Miriam English wrote:
>
> At 07:36 PM 24/08/2001 -0500, Greg Burch wrote:
> >Olga, relax. "Mexican" is the word in English for people from Mexico. It
> >so happens that in LA and Houston and, I guess from Brian's post, Atlanta,
> >the most numerous population of recent immigrants who are just starting up
> >the socio-economic ladder are from Mexico.
>
> True Greg, but Olga's point is a good one too. Sure, "Mexican" is just a
> word to refer to people from a locality, but we must still be careful how
> we use words. Chink, spik, wog, etc could be justified the same way, though
> they are so clearly loaded that the racism is obvious. I am not saying that
> what Brian said was racist. All I can say is that it *could* be interpreted
> as such. Only Brian can know for sure... and possibly even he doesn't know.
> These things can often be so ingrained we don't even know we are doing them.
I hereby declare the word "American" is a racist term. Equating
inhabitants of the 50 states with a highly unstable radioactive isotope
(Americium) is insulting, degrading, and diminishing of the self esteem
of the inhabitants of the 50 states. (Of course we can continue to call
ourselves and each other "Americans" but its racist for others to do
so).......
Mike Lorrey
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