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?

What do you expect from people who text about X-Factor ?

If your dad watches X Factor and therefore knows who got booted, he doesn't need to have her "described" to him in those terms. If your sister wouldn't have described Katie or Cher as "white girls" then she really has no reason to have described Treyc in terms of her race. She sounds like a bit of a noob. Sorry.

stranded, it isn't what was said it is the context in which it was said that makes it racist.

YABU. She was shouty, she was black. Unless she was glad because she was leaving the show because of her skin colour.

"Unless she was glad because she was leaving the show because of her skin colour."

i think that's teh whole point lessons.

LessonsinL: //YABU. She was shouty, she was black.//

Do you mention the skin colour of everyone you describe?

Was the text racist? Arguably no more than it was sexist.

Is your sister a racist? Definitely.

Is that text from your sister racist? Very likely.

Still laughing about poor Lenny Henry. Even funnier when Louis tried to make it seem less racist by saying "because he looks so happy", which just sounded like code for "he is a bit chubby" :o

Ooh, what happened with Lenny Henry? Do I need to Youtube it?

Yes, YouTube it.

It was cringe central.

Louis said that Paije reminded him of a young Lenny Henry.

oh teh lenny henry comment was awful. why is louis allowed to speak anymore?

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

Is there a racist stereotype about white women being shouty i.e. loud and uncontrolled?

www.racialicious.com/2007/10/25/carpoolers-yet-another-loud-black-woman/

I did not think there was a stereotype about black women being shouty. Perhaps that is where I think differently from others here. I see it simply as a statement that she is loud, and black - not that she is loud because she is black.

Perhaps if she had said "that loud american woman" it could have been racist because there certainly is a cultural stereotype that Americans are very loud.

Shouty blonde woman.
Shouty tall woman.
Cross-faced shouty woman.
Intense white guy.

None of these descriptions would I find offensive, even though they catagorise people and do not use names. Also, you obviously do not want us to take the comment on its own as when some people said YABU you then came back with instances of actual racism. This comment alone is not offensive and does not prove racism.

YABU.

I think that any statement where colour is mentioned but is not relevent to the statement is racist.

There are 2 types of racism, imo.

1 - nasty - hurling abuse, thinking someone is less human than you, violence etc

2 - ignorance. "I had a chat with a lovely black man yesterday" for example - adding colour where it is not relevent.

If I wanted to show someone which was my husband and he was sitting with a group of white men, I could say - the one with the jeans on, or the bald one, or the black one, depending which would single him out (if they were all wearing jeans, or several were bald for example)

It is racist to add someone's colour much of the time - I was talking to a nice black man - you wouldn't say "I was talking to a nice white man" would you? You'd just say "I was talking to a nice man" people (white people) don't mention colour when the person is white, but mention it when the person is not. That is racist.

So many people are ignorantly racist - like when that high ranking policeman said "All british people are racist" when he meant all white people are racist (which is wrong anyway, but never mind) He showed his own racism by his unthinking british = white attitude. He was meaning to be anti racist, amusingly, but showed himself up as the oppostite.

YABU - Your sister should have referred to the bizarre spelling of the contestant's name .

the comment on it's own is not racist.
However your sister may be a massive racist which would add context.

'I did not think there was a stereotype about black women being shouty. Perhaps that is where I think differently from others here. I see it simply as a statement that she is loud, and black - not that she is loud because she is black.'

It's an age-old stereotype and TreyC isn't shouty. Context is everything.

HecateQueenOfWitches would it work the other way around as well though?

For instance if my dp was over the otherside of the room talking a group of black men and i had to single him out to someone, would saying "My dp is the man over there, the white man."

If you describe a person as "a white" person when amoung lots of black people, is that racist as well?

There's nothing racist about describing someone with reference to their colour: I get really annoyed at the feisty turny things people do to avoid mentioning that someone is black or Asian because IMHO that is, in itself, a bit racist (as in 'can't mention race, race is racist')

BUT in this context she clearly meant 'shouty' as a negative and it's reasonable to assume, given context and previous, that she also meant 'black' as a negative. So YANBU, she's a nasty racist and ought to know better.

That should be 'twisty turny'.

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"

Now that is what I would call a sweeping generalisation, Ripeberry.

Not racist, no. It was a descriptive comment, not a racist one. No different to saying "the shouty blonde woman" or "the shouty tall bloke". We all pick on a person's distinguishing feature when we describe them.

I think the crux of the thing is:

1. She has a history of racism. Midwife thing is terrible!
2. She was using the word 'black' next to 'shouty' which is a negative adjective. The fact that these two words were next to each other and that she clearly didn't like TreyC means that she was using the word 'black' as in a negative context.

If she had said "What a shame to see the pretty black woman go out" you would have just accepted it as a descriptive adjective.

Broadly, I have no problem with using skin colour to describe someone if I need to. I think there is a lot of over-sensitive-bollocks with regard to 'being racist', but in your sisters case, I think other information informs us.

Ah Xposted with Unruly

On its own the comment's not racist if Treyc was shouty and is black (don't watch X-Factor but have been told she was pretty harmless) and if your dad didn't know her name.

However, if your dad does watch it, he would have known her name which would mean her name and not colour should've been used.

Also your sister has made racist comments in front of complete strangers (your DH) so I think its probably safe to assume she's a racist and meant the X-factor comment in a racist way. If she was involved enough in X-Factor to waste money testing about it, she knew TreyC's name. She was happy that the 'black woman' had been eliminated, its pretty clear.

Describers such as 'black' or 'brown' are not offensive on their own, its the context and the intentions behind it that are important and as your sister has previous I would say she meant it in a racist way.

She's a racist twonk and I'm sure if she was dying in childbirth and the only midwife around was black, she would expect the 'shouty black woman' to help. I have no time for people like your sister, sorry.