Thursday, December 08, 2005

"Like a good white man"

If a UK resident of Asian, African or Caribbean descent gave an excellent speech without notes and was praised for being "like a good white man", would this be "racist?
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I don't think it's a strict 1:1 comparison. If someone said "like a white man", odds are they would mean something to the effect of "to a degree of proficiency (presumably) uncharacteristic of a non-white". But "like a black man" in this case simply seems to mean "with an appreciable degree of understanding of and sympathy to the issues of a minority group". It's in no way the backhanded compliment of the first example. Though these days, it's probably not the best way to phrase it, for the very reason it's being discussed here.

12:14 am

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