Janet Clark, a school board chairwoman for Florida’s Pinellas community, is taking flack for using the term “hoodlums” to describe a small group of kids. Apparently people are up in arms because they think the term is racist.
First of all, go look it up in any dictionary you choose to use. Do you see any racial denotations or connotations? No, you don’t, because they don’t exist. Thug, criminal, violent youth, these are all synonyms for the word “hooligan.”
Ray Tampa, president of the St. Petersburg branch of the NAACP, comes with the counterpoint, “The (teacher) code of ethics says you can’t embarrass kids or make disparaging remarks about kids.” Let’s consider the context here though. Clark wasn’t saying this to students’ faces, or purposefully trying to denigrate them; she was making a point.
Third point, and most important, calling someone a hoodlum (a tough, often aggressive or violent youth; a young ruffian) isn’t a slur if he is in fact a hoodlum. “They might be disruptive. They might be in gangs. They might be many things, but they are not hoodlums,” said board member Mary Brown, not realizing that she just made the case for why they are actually hoodlums. For a school, the lack of critical thought on display here is outstanding.
To her credit, Clark will not apologize, nor should she. An attempt was made to say that the meanings of words change over time, and that’s why people are blowing up over this, but think about it: when was the last time you heard someone use the term “hoodlum” to mean anything other than what it really means? There is no evolutionary step that has made this word in any way as offensive as these reactionaries are making it out to be. Good for Janet Clark for sticking to her point, even if she loses her job for it. That’s not the kind of place in which you want to work, Janet. Too many ignoramuses there. Uh oh, am I being racist?
Comments
Gary
March 15th, 2010 - 1:20:23 PM
Um, no you're not being racist (I don't think), but you are being a bit thick-headed, or maybe ignorant. There's a difference between connotation & denotation, and you're conflating the two. Sticking purely to hoodlum's denotation, what the dictionary definition of the word is, than yes, you're correct, no big deal. However, when you get to the connotation, how the word is typically interpreted (in a non-dictionary sense), you get into rough water pretty quick. Hoodlum (as well as thug, btw) has long held a racial undertone/context, serving as a demeaning dog-whistle to mean: young black (or Hispanic) troublemaker. Take UrbanDictionary, for example. Not usually my favorite source, but a good one typically for slang (& their connotations). Here's what they have: "Young trouble maker's who wear hooded jumper's and/or large puffy FUBU jacket's, baseball caps, shiny pants and may sport chains. Often seen loitering in front of drugstores and on stoop's and fences, harrassing passer's by." I think we know who they're referring to here. I mean, come on. The only people who use the word "hoodlum" these days are media pundits & talk radio hosts, like Beck or Limbaugh, to disparage young black/latino males. It's not an appropriate word to use if you want to avoid racial connotations, plain & simple. Should be fired for it, probably not. But still.
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