terry78
My name is Stefan, sweet thang
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This was on the front page of the Chicago Sun-Times today. I do agree with her to an extent.
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Is 'white boy' a slur? It sure isn't a compliment
July 20, 2006
BY MARY MITCHELL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Is "white boy" a racial slur? Judging from some of the debates that have occurred over the use of "white boy" by African Americans, I'd say the description is certainly heading in that direction. Until Roland Burris described his field of opponents as "unqualified white boys" during his Democratic primary race for governor in 1998, he was the front-runner. A day after making those comments before a predominantly black audience, Burris' political aspirations took a dive.
Despite the fact that he has always been labeled as "not black enough" for some black voters, white voters were absolutely outraged by his use of "white boy."
I'm bringing this subject up because of what happened to Ryan Rusch, the 14-year-old Beverly boy who was robbed and badly beaten, allegedly by three black youths. Rusch, who suffers from a heart defect, is in serious condition at an area hospital. He was taken from the scene of the crime -- a neighborhood park -- in an ambulance.
Two 16-year-old boys have been charged with aggravated battery and robbery. And a 17-year-old, Micha Eatman, was charged with one count of robbery and aggravated battery. Eatman is in jail on a $300,000 bond.
One of the juveniles apparently told police that Rusch was beaten and robbed because he was a "goofy-looking white boy," and police are continuing to investigate the incident as a "hate crime."
So far, the Cook County state's attorney's office has rejected charging the teens with a hate crime. Apparently, prosecutors are operating on the belief that the attack was motivated by robbery rather than hate.
But charging the teens with a hate crime reflects a community's outrage over intolerance, and I believe it has to be considered whenever race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation appear to be a motivation.
Slur or insensitive description?
In this instance, because the suspects are already charged with felonies, designating the attack as a hate crime wouldn't ratchet up the class of the crime. It would, however, give a judge more leeway in sentencing and would force these teens to deal with the underlying motivation for their purported attack.
It would also go a long way toward dispelling the perception that there is a double standard when it comes to police charging someone with a hate crime.
For example, there was little doubt that hate was the motivation when black youth Lenard Clark was brutally beaten in Bridgeport because the neighborhood already had the reputation of being hostile to blacks.
But the motivation wasn't as clear when Keith P. Radloff was tracked down and murdered by Matthew Givens, a black bicycle messenger with whom Radloff had had a confrontation a day earlier.
It also wasn't clear when Roy Trumblay, a 56-year-old White Sox fan, was beaten to death by 19-year-old Thomas D. Cooper, a black man who was determined to be mentally ill.
That's why figuring out whether "white boy" is a slur or just an insensitive or inappropriate description of white people will likely become part of the discussion about whether the teens in the Rusch case will be charged with a hate crime.
We need to be just as clear
Like the dreaded n-word, "white boy" means something different depending on who is saying it and when. Although the term doesn't carry nearly the negative weight as the n-word, it's picking up some heft.
Earlier this month, a black commissioner in Orlando, Fla., Daisy Lynum, stumbled into a fire storm when she said she didn't want "some white boy shooting my son or Tasing," as she argued that her son had been racially profiled by police. Despite fierce criticism, the commissioner stuck by her words, telling a local television station:
"In the last week, I've been called [expletive] more times than I have ever been called, probably in my life, for calling a white boy a white boy. Now when did that become a racial slur?"
Ironically, the taunts that sealed the fate of a Nicholas Minucci, the Howard Beach man who was found guilty of a hate crime in the baseball bat attack on a black man last summer (the man had admitted going to the all-white neighborhood to steal cars), included both racial descriptions:
"What's up, n-----s?" Minucci allegedly yelled at a group of would-be thieves before chasing them. "We'll show you not to come and rob 'white boys.' "
In defending himself against the hate-crime allegation, a charge that could enhance his sentence, Minucci argued he used the n-word as a greeting rather than a slur. That argument didn't fly, and he was sentenced to 25 years in jail.
We need to be just as clear about "white boy."
When the pop group Wild Cherry sang the lyrics: "Play that Funky Music, White Boy" in 1976, it wasn't a putdown. But over the years, "white boy" has evolved into a subtle dig on white males. Black people know this.
White people are starting to figure it out.
------------
Is 'white boy' a slur? It sure isn't a compliment
July 20, 2006
BY MARY MITCHELL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST
Is "white boy" a racial slur? Judging from some of the debates that have occurred over the use of "white boy" by African Americans, I'd say the description is certainly heading in that direction. Until Roland Burris described his field of opponents as "unqualified white boys" during his Democratic primary race for governor in 1998, he was the front-runner. A day after making those comments before a predominantly black audience, Burris' political aspirations took a dive.
Despite the fact that he has always been labeled as "not black enough" for some black voters, white voters were absolutely outraged by his use of "white boy."
I'm bringing this subject up because of what happened to Ryan Rusch, the 14-year-old Beverly boy who was robbed and badly beaten, allegedly by three black youths. Rusch, who suffers from a heart defect, is in serious condition at an area hospital. He was taken from the scene of the crime -- a neighborhood park -- in an ambulance.
Two 16-year-old boys have been charged with aggravated battery and robbery. And a 17-year-old, Micha Eatman, was charged with one count of robbery and aggravated battery. Eatman is in jail on a $300,000 bond.
One of the juveniles apparently told police that Rusch was beaten and robbed because he was a "goofy-looking white boy," and police are continuing to investigate the incident as a "hate crime."
So far, the Cook County state's attorney's office has rejected charging the teens with a hate crime. Apparently, prosecutors are operating on the belief that the attack was motivated by robbery rather than hate.
But charging the teens with a hate crime reflects a community's outrage over intolerance, and I believe it has to be considered whenever race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation appear to be a motivation.
Slur or insensitive description?
In this instance, because the suspects are already charged with felonies, designating the attack as a hate crime wouldn't ratchet up the class of the crime. It would, however, give a judge more leeway in sentencing and would force these teens to deal with the underlying motivation for their purported attack.
It would also go a long way toward dispelling the perception that there is a double standard when it comes to police charging someone with a hate crime.
For example, there was little doubt that hate was the motivation when black youth Lenard Clark was brutally beaten in Bridgeport because the neighborhood already had the reputation of being hostile to blacks.
But the motivation wasn't as clear when Keith P. Radloff was tracked down and murdered by Matthew Givens, a black bicycle messenger with whom Radloff had had a confrontation a day earlier.
It also wasn't clear when Roy Trumblay, a 56-year-old White Sox fan, was beaten to death by 19-year-old Thomas D. Cooper, a black man who was determined to be mentally ill.
That's why figuring out whether "white boy" is a slur or just an insensitive or inappropriate description of white people will likely become part of the discussion about whether the teens in the Rusch case will be charged with a hate crime.
We need to be just as clear
Like the dreaded n-word, "white boy" means something different depending on who is saying it and when. Although the term doesn't carry nearly the negative weight as the n-word, it's picking up some heft.
Earlier this month, a black commissioner in Orlando, Fla., Daisy Lynum, stumbled into a fire storm when she said she didn't want "some white boy shooting my son or Tasing," as she argued that her son had been racially profiled by police. Despite fierce criticism, the commissioner stuck by her words, telling a local television station:
"In the last week, I've been called [expletive] more times than I have ever been called, probably in my life, for calling a white boy a white boy. Now when did that become a racial slur?"
Ironically, the taunts that sealed the fate of a Nicholas Minucci, the Howard Beach man who was found guilty of a hate crime in the baseball bat attack on a black man last summer (the man had admitted going to the all-white neighborhood to steal cars), included both racial descriptions:
"What's up, n-----s?" Minucci allegedly yelled at a group of would-be thieves before chasing them. "We'll show you not to come and rob 'white boys.' "
In defending himself against the hate-crime allegation, a charge that could enhance his sentence, Minucci argued he used the n-word as a greeting rather than a slur. That argument didn't fly, and he was sentenced to 25 years in jail.
We need to be just as clear about "white boy."
When the pop group Wild Cherry sang the lyrics: "Play that Funky Music, White Boy" in 1976, it wasn't a putdown. But over the years, "white boy" has evolved into a subtle dig on white males. Black people know this.
White people are starting to figure it out.
