Recently, a good friend of mine (japanese), who I respect for his open-mindedness, told me that he thought a mutual friend of ours (who happens to be black) seemed a bit sensitive about his colour. I asked him why he thought so and he explained that someone had made a joke about how he (the black friend) would be difficult to see in the dark... Anyway, I thought it seemed like an innocent remark, so I didn't really know what to say. In the end, I ended up saying that if you met a fat person you wouldn't make jokes about being fat - an incredibly unsatisfactory comparison I know, but I was a bit flummoxed.Originally Posted by Maciamo
I think it's exactly as people are saying in this thread, particularly Maciamo's quote above. The use of katakana for foreigners' speech is mildly irritating, but I guess we have to try to be a bit humble about our funny pronunciation. The 'Bob Sapp' phenomenon is more worrying, I think; it would be more palatable if it was balanced by more 'serious' or 'real' black men and women also appearing on TV.
Bookmarks