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Hey, call me slow, but I just looked up this word and found out what it exactly means...
I am not pleased.
B's babysitter calls JD this everyday...
I had no idea what it meant, so I looked it up.
WOW!!!!!!!! :eek:
I'm upset, insulted, and just blown away...
B's babysitter is an older caucasian woman. JD is AA...
How do I approach this and what you you guys do?
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I am still new to the process and have yet to adopt but any form of racism should be stopped immediately...she has to know that that term is not "cute" and should not be used towards anyone, especially a child!!
I am AA and while I have never been called that (well that I am aware of), those racist epithets are part of normal conversation for a lot of people...sad but true..
In Spike Lee's movie, "School Daze", there is a whole musical scene between the "Jigaboos" and the "Wannabees"...the "Jigaboos" were the ladies that were dark skinned, had natural hair(no chemicals), etc, while the "Wannabees" were the light skinned, long hair, etc. women....they were all AA women but it highlighted how AA women tend to discriminate against one another for physical reasons....
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When I was a child, my family in MS. used that term, but not toward AA people. It was used to us along with other funny sounding words as a term of endearment. I doubt my Aunt knew what it meant in colloquial terms. (The family is CC).
I would suggest that you explain to her what the term means in a non-threatening way (she may not know), and ask her if she can find another term as a nickname for him or some term of endearment. Just tell her that you have recently learned that the word is used as a highly offensive term toward AA people and would prefer that your son not be called that. I would hope she would understand. Make sure she knows that you aren't calling her racist or mean or anything like that and that you're sure she only means it as a special name for him. (I would hope that is what she is doing).
You know that it's your job to protect your child (even in cases where the individual didn't realize what they were saying/doing). If someone didn't realize that they were pinching your son's fingers in a door, you would say something right away, right?
I'm not saying that you have to cuss the lady out the next time that you see her, but she should definitely be left with the impression that 'jigaboo' is an unacceptable term as it relates to your son (or anyone else, for that matter). She should know that you take it seriously.
One last thing...If it were me, I'd also be looking for alternative childcare arrangements on the chance that she did know what she was saying.
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