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Is "Uncle Tom" a Racist Term?

Alceste

Vagabond
So I get if a white kid is poor then it is fine for him to adopt the culture of others of the same class.

But if the child is born into affluence then it is a shame and inauthentic if he adopts a culture that is beneath his station.

It's a shame and inauthentic for anyone, anywhere to fake an accent and mannerisms from another culture.
 

Drolefille

PolyPanGeekGirl
So I get if a white kid is poor then it is fine for him to adopt the culture of others of the same class.

But if the child is born into affluence then it is a shame and inauthentic if he adopts a culture that is beneath his station.

No. You missed the point entirely. Unless you're assuming that Alceste considers Scottish people below her station in life.

If I out of the blue start wearing a sari everywhere, affect an Indian-American accent (and I'm well aware there's more than one, which I think just furthers the point) and only listen to Bollywood music, that would be inauthentic. Because I'm putting a culture on like a coat, and because that doesn't even represent all Indian people. Or possibly ANY Indian people.

If I, despite being ethnically white, was raised in India, married into an Indian family, or moved to India and started living with Indian traditions, fashions, etc. That's authentic.

One is cultural appropriation, the other is joining a culture.
 

CynthiaCypher

Well-Known Member
No. You missed the point entirely. Unless you're assuming that Alceste considers Scottish people below her station in life.

If I out of the blue start wearing a sari everywhere, affect an Indian-American accent (and I'm well aware there's more than one, which I think just furthers the point) and only listen to Bollywood music, that would be inauthentic. Because I'm putting a culture on like a coat, and because that doesn't even represent all Indian people. Or possibly ANY Indian people.

If I, despite being ethnically white, was raised in India, married into an Indian family, or moved to India and started living with Indian traditions, fashions, etc. That's authentic.

One is cultural appropriation, the other is joining a culture.

Sorry but I do not think that white children of any class are cultural appropriating black culture just because they like rap and adopt elements of hip hop culture. They are finding a voice and it is giving them a sense of empowerment. I find it a little racist to suggest that black culture is foreign and unnatural for white people of any class.
 

Kilgore Trout

Misanthropic Humanist
Sorry but I do not think that white children of any class are cultural appropriating black culture just because they like rap and adopt elements of hip hop culture. They are finding a voice and it is giving them a sense of empowerment. I find it a little racist to suggest that black culture is foreign and unnatural for white people of any class.

This sounds exactly like the opinion of a rather sheltered, somewhat naive, middle-class, white person.
 

Reverend Rick

Frubal Whore
Premium Member
My point was skin color has nothing to do with culture.

So back to the OP, saying a black person acting white is an Uncle Tom is racist.

Who the hell gets to decide how a person should act based on their skin color?

That sounds racist to me either by calling a white kid a wigger or a black man an Uncle Tom.
 

Kilgore Trout

Misanthropic Humanist
So is "wigger" a racist term? I believe it is.

Racist against white people, or black people?

To be fair, if you see most of the morons walking around who are described as "wiggers," you see that it's less of a racist term, and more of term for describing foolish idiots. "Wigger," isn't a broad term to describe any white kid acting "black," but rather, specifically, white kids who haven't naturally absorbed "black" culture through environment and life, and make a parody of it by overacting its affectations and mannerisms. The inautheticity pretty much ends up annoying and insulting both white people and black people.
 

CynthiaCypher

Well-Known Member
So is "wigger" a racist term? I believe it is.

I 100% agree with you. When a white child adopts African American culture he or she is not appropriating that culture, they just assimilating what is part of their larger American culture. So to say that an white child is being inauthentic or that it is unnatural for a white child to adopt elements of African American culture is racist.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
I guess I am an Auntie Tom because I am not white. Excuse me for sounding white.
This is such a telling thing that in a thread about racial expectations & prejudice, you
must respond to a post supposing that because you hold certain views, you are a particular
class & race, & ignorant of the larger world.
Btw, you write quite well for a non-white. Are you Asian? I don't even hear an accent.
(Note: Attempt at humor in last line.)
 

Reverend Rick

Frubal Whore
Premium Member
I think if you want to be a white kid and play gansta or a black man and vote Republican people should not call you names or tell you how to act because of your skin color.
 
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