Common Racial Slurs Non-Blacks Use as Codes to Describe Black People

[KamaAina]

http://racisminamerica.org/common-racial-slurs-non-blacks-use-as-codes-to-describe-black-people/

Still, that experience was the catalyst for writing this article. I think it’s important for Black people to know how other racial groups talk about us in code while in person or behind our backs. Being somewhat familiar with the vitriol language used to describe our people should encourage us not to contribute to the racists’ economy. The way that I see it, why would someone patronize a business that have such strong and dangerous perception of he or she?

This is especially imperative when dealing with police officers.

It’s critical to know the type of language that’s being used to reference us by those sworn to protect and serve without bias. The dialogue used by cops when referencing Black people might explain why some of them harbor violent tendencies towards us.

Below is a list of completely demeaning and disrespectful racist terms provided by the Racial Slur Database to describe Black people:

[uppityperson]

1. Good grief, what the hell is wrong with some people

[LittleDuckie]

2. Can't be all that common.

I've never heard any of those in real life, & have only seen two or three of them online.

[bettyellen]

4. The point is they I are coded so you're not supposed to know unless you're part of the in group.

Are you black? Because you'd not hear them used if you were not unless you were part of the peer group. Curious you'd be so dismissive of casual
Racism.

Police definately have these terms, even in liberal NYC.

[jberryhill]

5. "ghetto hamster" and "lawn jockey" are "coded"?

Um... Maybe I should work for the NSA, because that doesn't seem like a difficult code to crack.

[bettyellen]

6. The majority are coded- initials or word snippets, yes.

[Brickbat]

20. Oh, well then.

[LittleDuckie]

32. Do you understand what "common" means?

If a thing is common, most people can be expected to be familiar with it.

The OP is misleading when it claims that these terms are in common use among whites. They're not.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

3. "Democrat"

I had a former apartment neighbor who was white tell me about a music concert that he attended downtown. I didn't really care, but I feigned some interest.

He said that he left early because there were "too many Democrats" at the concert.

I was perplexed and asked him how he knew their political affiliations. Were people wearing identifying clothes, or what?

He looked at me like I was mentally challenged and replied, "Black people."

So it appears that "democrat" is an identifying word to some people as well.

[TheDebbieDee]

7. Didn't read the article but the last racist code-word for

Black or African-American was "Canadian". This was about 2003 - 2004, IIRC.

[caraher]

23. My wife works with someone who uses "Canadian" that way

I hadn't heard that before about a month ago. So I guess it's still out there.

[SwankyXomb]

28. It's used in the restaurant industry by servers

Meaning African-Americans, like Canadians, don't tip.

[Humanist_Activist]

8. I thought Greaser is a derogatory term for Hispanics, mostly Mexican-Americans...

https://www.google.com/search?q=greaser&oq=greaser&aqs=chrome..69i57.2063j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Can't really say I'm familiar with most of the others, at least as slurs, coded or not. Obviously, for the ones in foreign languages, those who aren't speakers of said languages wouldn't be familiar with them. In addition, others seem quite local. Others are codes within very specific subcultures(police culture mostly), etc.

The most common coded language used around here would be terms such as "Urban" usually used to criticize "Urban Culture", "Urban Youth" or "Urban Music", etc. Others would be localisms such as making references to neighborhoods "North of Delmar", etc. usually in a derogatory way.

[xfundy]

9. So damn tired of the hate.

So much hatred, so little understanding, or even trying to understand.

[TipTok]

10. Common?

Not so much...

[LanternWaste]

17. You may want to review the definition of the word 'common'

You may want to review the definition of the word 'common', as the listed words fall well within the parameters of four of the seven meanings.

[TipTok]

19. *sigh*.... Really?

How about the top of the list (a.k.a. common sense)...?

occurring, found, or done often; prevalent.

You hear a lot of AAs referred to as "Levars", "Nauticas" "Sailors" or "Buppies"? If so, you might want to think about who you are associating with.

[Lee-Lee]

11. Not sure where the author is from but none of these I have ever heard

And I've been called and heard pretty much everything out there.

The "Canadian" one mentioned above I have encountered, and "Obama Voters" seems to be in style as of late.

And part of what is in the article is just junk- a Gar is a fish nothing like a piranha, for example, and clearly that was just an attempt to make up a reason for that one.

[PersonNumber503602]

21. Well that explains why those KKK members were burning the maple leaf flag...

I've actually never heard of the Canadian thing. Where/when was that a thing?

[ileus]

12. Not sure if any of these are real much less "common"

[PaddyIrishman]

13. Chalky?

I don't buy this one:

CHALKY

Chalky is “heard throughout Ireland, extremely derogatory word for blacks, who have an increasing number in the Irish population.”

I've lived in Ireland all my life and I've never heard the word "Chalky" being used in reference to black people.

There is an English "Comedian" Jim Davidson who used include in his stage show his voicing of a West Indian character called "Chalky" but seeing as he also told Irish jokes I doubt if he's the inspiration for that.

[haele]

24. "Chalky" was sometimes a mid-19th cent./early 20th cent. nickname for AA's.

Often used as a nickname by white people for a black man considered socially acceptable - one a white person could do business with, or one who could pass for white - in the Northeast, notably used by Tammany Hall politicians and some of the 2nd wave Irish immigrants. That's probably which is where the confusion as to "it's heard in Ireland" may have come from.
When I was doing a lot of research for re-enactors back in the day, I came across it several times in contemporary writings.
It was not typically used in the South; and there has one instance I've read about in Texas around 1910 and a couple former slaves with their own businesses out west in the late 1800's who referred to by that nickname.

Haele

[dawg]

14. None of these are all that common.

I'm a white man living in the deep South. I've only ever heard two of them them. (And believe me, I've heard plenty of racial slurs in my life.)

[FLPanhandle]

15. +1

As a fellow southerner, this list appears to mostly made up.

[Bonx]

16. Well, it's not like the OP is an actual news source. Just another crappy blog.

[LanternWaste]

18. Odd that. Having myself lived in the south since the 70's, I've heard all but two.

Odd that. Having myself lived in the south since the 70's, I've heard all but two. I suppose we are forced to conclude that anecdotal evidence and our own experiences often fall short of the reality that surrounds us, as most fish never recognize the mere existence of the very water we live in.

[melman]

25. All but two?

I find that hard to believe.

[nolabear]

31. Boy that's what I was thinking. I grew up among some TALENTED racists,

and I've heard exactly one of those, maybe once. "BUPPIE." I think it was floated as a trial balloon in the Yuppie era, and it wasn't particularly derogatory.

I could quote you some inventive invective but I've never heard of a one of these.

[closeupready]

22. Not common. Witty in a racist way, perhaps. DU sanctions "trailer trash"

as acceptable vernacular, which I would think a no-go on a self-ascribed "progressive" site, so what do I know.

[Lint Head]

26. It seems that when some of these words are used as code

the person speaking and being spoken to both know the racist reference for which the word is being used. Because some of the words are used for things other than a racist putdown, it makes the word easier to disguise. It proves racists are cowards who must disguise and suppress thier true beliefs.

I used the word spook once to refer to a cartoon ghost and a friend of mine was offended. I should have thought more before using that word.

[Runningdawg]

27. Lucky me - I live in a state that doesn't use code words.....

[Mr Dixon]

29. SMH

No worries i will not let clowns steal my shine.

[loyalsister]

30. "gimpy" I had no idea but should have

I will definitely remember it as I sometimes hear it used among people with disabilities. Awareness is helpful. Thanks for posting!