Inform me, pls

[highlyeccentric]

Americans and persons better informed than I:

What is the "war on drugs", exactly?
Why am I seeing the occasional reference to the "war on drugs" in RaceFail posts, usually with the implication that said "war on drugs" is a specific and negative policy against the black community? Is there a particular race angle to its application, or is it something which negatively impacts low socio-economic groups, including a high percentage of the black community?

~

Next:

Is 'people of colour' really the PC term?
Is it PC anywhere outside of the States? Because it sounds racist to me, and my gut says it wouldn't go down well in Australia if you reffered to anyone as a person of colour.
Who IS considered a 'person of colour' in the States? Is an Italian-American considered a 'person of colour'? An immigrant from the Middle East? The Hispanic community?

Comments

[iremos.livejournal.com]

"Coloured" is only a step up from the n-word. To say someone is "of color" is to reclaim the idea of a diverse ethnic heritage without resorting to the parlance of a very racist era.

Equally, "African-American" is fraught with all sorts of meanings. For example, Obama was criticized early on in his campaign for not being "black" enough because although his father was African, he didn't have the experience of slavery, although it could be argued that Obama in more "African-American" than most "African-Americans" who, because of their distance from their lineage, cannot pinpoint where their African heritage is located on a map.

So yes, a "person of color" is a PC term, but usually not one applied by a white person, but by members of that minority.

[anachronisma.livejournal.com]

I'm brilliant and am posting things to the wrong places. Sorry!

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

Clearly it is past your bedtime, Karimonkey.

[anachronisma.livejournal.com]

It's 1 AM! I've made a bunch of dumb mistakes because I'm nervous... I sliced my thumb open with a bread knife, sent an email without an attachment, and did Erratic Posting.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

Nervous Karifish? I hope Karifishes aren't like goldfishes, nervous goldfishes keel over and die.

[anachronisma.livejournal.com]

I'm leaving in 6 hours for my conference and have to meet a whole bunch of strangers in approximately 15 hours and manage all by myself like a Real Grown Up (TM) when I don't have the foggiest CLUE what I'm doing or how my paper got accepted.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

*giggles* ye'll be fine! Me and my army say so.