Was This Elderly Lady Being Racist?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2477153/Disabled-pensioner-banned-using-Sainsburys-home-delivery-service-calling-driver-coloured-gentleman.html

Perhaps not quite the correct term to use in this day of Political Correctness, but was it serious enough for Sainsburys to ban her?

/// Using the term ‘coloured’ to refer to black people is considered to be offensive because it dismisses everyone who is not white as the same. ///

[jno]

as jim says, data protection rules mean they can't hand over transcriptions of conversations unless the person on the other end of the phone agrees... but perhaps, for some reason she has not?

A court could no doubt request that the transcriptions be released, but maybe she won't want to go to court.

[ClaryS]

more to this than meets the eye I think. I would like to know what she really said as I think she's realised just what she's done ( no more deliveries) and is now trying to backpedal. Having said that the phrase 'lovely black guy' and 'lovely coloured guy' is not racist IMHO but 'that black basket ' or 'that coloured basket' is. We were always told to refer to anyone who was non Caucasian as 'coloured' which in fact is a better description than 'black' because they rarely are these days (totally black that is)

[Gromit]

There is a dispute over the version of events. One of the two is lying.

She sould not and would not be banned for just referring to 'that lovely coloured gentleman'. But Sainsburys says she used several slurs over several weeks. One version of events is clearly false.

The story is pretty one sided, and is on the side of the alledged racist.

[sp1814]

Yes...I wish I knew the full story...it's the fact that Sainsbury's have stuck to their guns rather than offering flowers and a apology that makes me suspect her story.

Normally in situations like this, large companies bend over backwards to limit negative publicity.

[ClaryS]

A few weeks ago I was describing someone to my mother and said 'you know, that black guy that lives up the road'. My mum put on her horrified look and said 'you shouldn't call him that dear, its rude, they are coloured' . I honestly don't know why we feel the need to define people by the colour of their skin. I doubt I would be described as that pinky white lady that lives up the road.

[OILhead]

I agree - my instinct is that she is not telling the entire truth and that there is more to it than this which has led her to be banned.

Also while in the USA, there may still be organisations such as NAACP I don't think that can be used as an example of the word being appropriate - the handicapped and battered women are still widely used and accepted terms there whereas seen as very outdated and likely to offend here.

[THECORBYLOON]

"Providing the Salisbury's operator was not a black person, I cannot see any reason for that person to correct her, since it was a one to one conversation, no one was actually personally offended."

In my job I sometimes have 'phone conversations in which the caller says to me if they were black/an immigrant/foreign they would not be being penalized. That offends me but I am not black, I am not foreign and I am not an immigrant. It is a private conversation but I warn them that that if they carry on in that manner, I will end the 'phone call.

[mallyh]

they didn't mention if the delivery driver was upset or not

[woofgang]

I agree, Huge gap in story as reported!

[bazwillrun]

""I'm sorry but you can't say that""

since when has it been sainsburys job or place to tell people what they can and cant say ?

[bazwillrun]

"Normally in situations like this, large companies bend over backwards to limit negative publicity"

especially when it comes to appeasing ethnics of any sort

[jim360]

Technically it wouldn't be Sainsbury's saying it, but a person. If I am offended by something I hear I should have a right to ask the other person not to say it -- I don't think that I, or anyone else, should surrender that right just because I happen to work in a company. On the other hand, I agree that an outburst of "that's racist you racist" is not an appropriate way of dealing with what may have been said.

[jim360]

Why, incidentally, do you insist on "blacks", "ethnics" rather than "black people", "people of ethnic minorities" -- as if, somehow, the colour of their skin, or their ethnic and cultural background, is the only thing that defines them?

[vulcan42]

Sainsburys seem to be quite good at telling people what to do.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-24667356

[2sp_]

I personally don't describe groups of people by the colour of their skin.

However, if I am trying to describe someone and I don't know their name, I will describe their physical appearance - tall, short, blonde, brunette, black, white, male, female.

When we use someone's personal appearance to belittle or mock them, then that is when we cross a line into bigotry and prejudice.

[FredPuli43]

But jim, your phrases do the same job and they are longer. Can't see that blacks or ethnics is bad. Mind, the motive for using those words might be !

[jim360]

I don't agree with that, Fred -- obviously. The point is that saying "Blacks" instead of "Black people" turns the word from an adjective into a noun -- which, surely, promotes the importance of the word, and also hides the important and primary noun description that is "people". I think that's more than just a matter of semantics...

[FredPuli43]

Well, I use 'blacks' and 'whites' on here, so that must mean I dehumanise both!

[bazwillrun]

like i said the last time the same pathetic issue was raised...bet you dont have a problem if the word whites is used though do ya, or jew or indian etc etc !?

get over yourselves and your non stop guilt trip

perhaps some of you lot should go work for sainsburys...you can start telling people what to say and when and how...should keep you happy on your little power trips.

quite pathetic really