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I recently ran across a piece in the
Philadelphia Inquirer that
lays out four racist words and phrases that should be banished from the English language. It begins like this:
Steel yourself, brave reader, here they are:
Peanut gallery
Eenie meenie miney moe
Gyp
No can do
The same grammarian who authored the piece had previously confronted the "deeply racist connotation" of the word "
thug," noting that president Donald Trump "wasn't the least bit bashful" when calling Minneapolis rioters "thugs" in a tweet, despite the word's obvious bigoted history. In 2015, President Barack
Obama referred to Baltimore rioters as "thugs" as well. He likely did so because "thug" — defined as a "violent person, especially a criminal" — is a good way to describe rioters. It's true that not
everyone in a riot engages in wanton violent criminality. Some participants are merely "looters" — defined as "people who steal goods during a riot." That word is also
allegedly imbued with racist conations, according to the executive editor of the
Los Angeles Times and others.
Attempting to dictate what words we can use is another way to exert power over how we think. Few people, rightly, would have a problem with referring to the Charlottesville Nazis as "thugs." Only the "protester" who tears down a Ulysses S. Grant statue or participates in an Antifa riot is spared the indignity of being properly defined.
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