To think this is a racist comment?

[chicaguapa]

My sister sent a text to my dad after X Factor yesterday saying 'bye bye shouty black woman'. I told my dad that I thought it was a horrible thing to say, but he said I was over-reacting. It wouldn't be totally out of character for her. AIBU?

MArdybra...I think the thing to aim for is for no mention of race...unless pertinent to the issue at hand.

When the police issue descriptions colour is one of the elements described. I don't think identifying somebody by their colour is racist.

Or am I wrong?

ForMash

Yes - I agree for adults, but a preschool kid like begony's is just saying what they see.

i can see the point you are making OP. i assume your sister is white? and i imagine if cher or katie had been voted out she wouldn't have said "goodbye rapping white woman" so i do understand that it was possibly meant in a racist way coming from your sister but i don't think generally referring to someone as black is racist unless associating their skin colour with a negative characteristic.

it probably is racist as he is aligning his negative view (shouty) with the colour of her skin. It obv. would not have been if he had said " so long shouty tall/small woman".

i.e not only shouty but you are also black. Unplesant linking of the two.

why no mention of race?

i don't have a problem being described as white, or british

why is mentioning someone's race taboo?
why is it worse than saying "the lady with blonde hair"
or "the man with the big beard"
or "the boy with the red jumper"

it's a descriptive and accurate term to help distinguish someone

There is confusion here between race and colour. Saying someone is black is descriptive. Perhaps if she had said afro-caribbean then it could have been racist as that was not relevant. So the indication would have been that she was shouty because she was afro-caribbean (although I am only guessing, for all I know she is a Nigerian woman).

Does your dad watch x-factor? Would he have already known who had gone? If so there would be no reason to describe her at all. "Bye Bye Shouty Treyc" would be fine.

And there is another black girl on there so she would have needed to be more descriptive if your dad didn't have a clue who had gone, so again "bye bye shouty treyc" would do!

And if the description is correct does that still mean it is racist?

I can be a loud Scots woman but I wouldn't take that as racist if somebody described me like that.

thisisyesterday, completely aggree!! and mardybra like your name too lol ive just changed it to that for a more festive name

i think it was the fact that OP's sister seemed to be celebrating or liking the fact that treyc was gone and by mentioning her skin colour along with the fact that she was shouty it implies that her skin colour is part of the reason why she is glad about it (aswell as the fact she is shouty)

I think the reason for using the description could be deemed as racist, not actually using the description.

I mentioned it to DH who said that if anyone else had said it, he wouldn't have been sure how it was meant, but as it was my sister he thinks it's likely it was meant in a racist way.

I'm ashamed to say that my sister said that she didn't want a black midwife to touch her baby. It was the first time DH had met her and he was . I'm sure she doesn't even remember saying it and that's what I mean about people not realising their own views until they give themselves away with comments like that.

booyhoo - I just don't buy that. With further explanation it transpires that OP's sister has, in the past, made racist comments. The OP therefore already thinks of her sister as racist - so, understandably, jumped to the conclusion that she was putting special emphasis on the fact that this woman was black.

However I still don't see how, if read as a stand-alone statement, saying someone was a "shouty black woman" can be seen as racist.

There is nothing wrong with using colour as a description. And I will say that until I am blue in the face

i agree there is nothing wrong with using colour as a description in teh case of describing someone. i.e; "do you remember the black girl that used to walk home from school with me?" as opposed to the two white girls taht also walked home with you. teh description is used to determine which individual you are talking about, but in this caes, tehre was no need to use her colour as a description A) because she could use her name and her dad would have known who it was and B) tehre is another black woman on the show so referring to her colour in order to determine who she was talking about was pointless because she could have been talking about either woman.

i also refer to my previous post in saying that it appears as though the OP's sister is liking teh fact that treyc has gone and taht her being shouty and black are the reasons for her liking it. i can appreciate that if you find someone overly shouty you may be glad tehy are leaving but there is no justification for disliking her based on colour.

Referring to someone wrt their skin colour isn't racist if the correct terminology is used. As far as I am aware, black is the correct term for erm, a black person. So no, not racist IMO.

That's it exactly Deborah!

YANBU. Sounds like a pretty horrible, casual racist stereotype to me. Are you all seriously trying to suggest that she might have written "bye bye shouty white woman"? I don't think so.

What happens if a black person, calls a white person "You stupid white person" Why is that not racist?

I've travelled around lots of African countries and I can tell you, that Africans are VERY racist to other tribes and white people are called "White Devils"
Go figure!

maxine, not all of us are saying it was a harmless comment. soem of us do agree it is racist.

Of course people use white as a descriptor. I use it all the time. I live in a very multi-cultural place with a lot of mixed race partnerships and children. My daughter - who is white, blond, blue-eyed, was called whitey-white, blondey-blond and golden girl when she first arrived. It wasn't used in an offensive manner, it's just how they described her (I am talking teachers and fellow pupils).

Here are some of the terms that are used around these here parts: white, black, dark-skinned, very dark skinned, blacker, brown , light skinned....none of them are offensive, they are all just descriptors.

this goes beyond innocent descriptors when the skin colour is aligned to a negative observation. It's simply classic for a person who has a discriminatory attitude to do this.

Of course using black and white as a description, to differentiate between people, is not offensive ( although as DeborahDeborah said, you have to use both or it sounds a bit like you're implying that one is more normal than the other...).

But using them to imply a quality, linking them irrelevantly to a criticism, implies that there is something inherently wrong with that ethnic group... and that is prejudice.

All of you who think "shouty black woman" is racist: would you also say that "shouty white woman" was a racist comment?

I am very about some of the comments here. Perhaps it's because I live somewhere that is very more relaxed about colour. Or perhaps it's because people here have experienced real racism for centuries and would laugh at the thought that someone being called a "shouty black woman" could in any way be deemed a racist comment.