Post-it note from those fugitives: what exactly is racist in this note?

[digby]

space-time wrote:
I would have never guessed, not in a 1000 years, that some people consider oriental to be an offensive word...

So, your point is that you don't know it's offensive?
Well, replace "oriental" with any other racial term. "Wellll, I've never thought calling a boy a Nigra was racist."... is that a compelling argument for using the term?

You sound like Gramma. "Those nig...pickanin...Afra...blackies... oh, you know, THOSE people. Whatever THEY want to be called now."

As a majority, I sort of have to ask minorities what they'd like to be called. And I'm often surprised. Got a black student who thinks "African-American" is idiotic if the person's not from Africa. And asian students who quietly fume at "Oriental".