You know, I was raised by racist thinking parents. I sometimes question things that I am going to say with this question, “Could this be misconstrued as racist?” Not because I am a racist, but because I spent the majority of my life around them. Even my childhood friends were racist. When I worked for my older brother back in 1993, we were going to a house to replace some windows, and he told me, “Watch your mouth, these people are colored.” I just looked at him like he was insane and told him, “Colored is what people in the fifties said, this is the nineties, the people you are talking about are black, unless you have gotten a remodeling job from some green or blue people.” He just stared at me like I was green.
Sometimes I wonder if I am making a racial faux pas, and I stop, hoping not to offend someone. That is when I ask the people I am around if it is correct to refer to them by certain racial definitions. I want to know, and I have no desire to make anyone uncomfortable, least of all myself. So if you hear me (read me) call someone something that you find offensive, remember, I have already discussed it with someone else and they saw no problem with it. Correct me if you feel the need. just don’t be an asshole about it.