Harry Reid said WHAT?!?

[matt wade]

OK, then why/how do most 2nd generation Asians speak standard accent free American English?

Because they put an effort forth to do so?

 

[Bro. Curtis]

OK, then why/how do most 2nd generation Asians speak standard accent free American English?

Why has nothing to do with it. It is a fact.

 

[JohnDeereFan]

To believe that there is a "Negro dialect" is RACIST !!!:BangHead:

Let me ask you a question: Let's say that your daughter was kidnapped and you got a phone call from the kidnapper demanding a ransom. You notice that the caller has a timber and a sound to his voice that indicates that he's black.

The police ask you what the caller sounded like. Do you tell them that he sounded black?

The police are going to ask you if the caller had any identifying characteristics in their voice or the way they spoke?

So what do you tell them?

 

[targus]

Then it must be RACIST to believe that Southerners have an accent and words that "are their own" or that Canadians have the same.

Give me a break...

"Southern" is not a race. It is an area of the U.S. with it's own cultural environment.

Accent is learned from the cultural environment.

Have you ever heard how some blacks speak English in London?

 

[just-want-peace]

"Southern" is not a race. It is an area of the U.S. with it's own cultural environment.

Accent is learned from the cultural environment.

Have you ever heard how some blacks speak English in London?

Or the dialect of the Blacks in the lower SE regions of SC - the Gullah dialect.

A lot is a choice - ebonics(?) - that seem to have (had) a bit of "PRIDE" connected with it.

Also, when many blacks refuse to acknowledge that someone like Justice Clarence Thomas IS NOT BLACK, (yes, I heard this exact claim from a black; at least he claimed to be black), then why expect them to try to speak normal English- again, it's a "PRIDE" thing.

Bill Cosby had a little to say about this very problem, and I do believe that he is black!!:smilewinkgrin:

Racist?? Only if racism is in your heart and what is in your heart is what comes out!!! Jesus told the Pharisees that what is is "--in your heart --comes out of your mouth--"

When a statement of FACT is regarded as racist it tells far more about the complainer than about the speaker.

I find it extraordinary that I would be defending Reid, but he made no racist comment, in practicality - IMHO - although I do NOT know what was in his heart.

 

[targus]

Racism is the act of attributing the actions, character, etc. of another person to that person's race.

Racism may or may not also include assigning a superior or inferior status to another person based on that person's race.

Reid was attributing dialect to a race based on race.

Dialect is not a product of race.

Dialect is a product of cultural environment.

I am not saying that Reid's comment was malicious.

But it was racist.

 

[Revmitchell]

Racism is the act of attributing the actions, character, etc. of another person to that person's race.

Racism may or may not also include assigning a superior or inferior status to another person based on that person's race.

Reid was attributing dialect to a race based on race.

Dialect is not a product of race.

Dialect is a product of cultural environment.

I am not saying that Reid's comment was malicious.

But it was racist.

Wrong. Racism always includes an inferior or superior status. Without that component there is no racism.

The belief that some races are inherently superior (physically, intellectually, or culturally) to others and therefore have a right to dominate them. In the United States, racism, particularly by whites against blacks, has created profound racial tension and conflict in virtually all aspects of American society. Until the breakthroughs achieved by the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, white domination over blacks was institutionalized and supported in all branches and levels of government, by denying blacks their civil rights and opportunities to participate in political, economic, and social communities.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

American Psychological Association (APA):
racism. (n.d.). The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Retrieved January 11, 2010, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racism
Chicago Manual Style (CMS):
racism. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racism (accessed: January 11, 2010).
Modern Language Association (MLA):
"racism." The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 11 Jan. 2010. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racism>.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE):
Dictionary.com, "racism," in The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Source location: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racism. Available: http://dictionary.reference.com. Accessed: January 11, 2010.
BibTeX Bibliography Style (BibTeX)
@article {Dictionary.com2010,
title = {The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition},
month = {Jan},
day = {11},
year = {2010},
url = {http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/racism},
}

The "dialect" of black people is born out of a desire to be other than white. It is seen among black people that to speak in an articulate manner and clear enunciation is to speak like a white man.

Rieds statement was not racist in any way shape or form. But the issue but for almost everyone else in this country was not whether it was racist but if a conservative said it would it have been painted by the left as racist.

 

[rbell]

Racism is the act of attributing the actions, character, etc. of another person to that person's race.

Racism may or may not also include assigning a superior or inferior status to another person based on that person's race.

I agree w/RevMitchell. Your first statement is incorrect. Your second one is quite correct.

 

[billwald]

People confuse race with culture. Some Americans chose to participate in a trash culture. White trash, black trash, same old, same old.

 

[targus]

People confuse race with culture. Some Americans chose to participate in a trash culture. White trash, black trash, same old, same old.

Yes, that is what Reid is doing when he attributes dialect to race.

 

[Aaron]

...and statements like this alienate leftists.

Not when uttered by leftists.

 

[rbell]

Not when uttered by leftists.

You're right...however; if Reid is to win, he needs all the leftist vote....including pretty much every black in his district.

Even if this alienates one out of ten...that could be disastrous for him.

Not that I'm complaining...