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These Words Are Racist and Need to Be Removed From English Lexicon
Language is powerful. There’s meaning behind words that goes beyond the dictionary definition — the connotative and denotative. The origin of words and phrases, or etymology, is also important. English has the problem that some language that has been acceptable for decades and centuries is racist, particularly anti-Black. These words and phrases need to exit the English lexicon for once and for all.
As I read Nikole Hannah-Jone’s The 1619 Project, the authors take care to use socially acceptable words in place of racist wording from the past. Here are some examples.
Enslaved is used instead of slave. Slave is a noun — a person place or thing. No human is born a slave. It’s a condition. So, the acceptable word is enslaved (person). Enslaved is a verb that describes the action and state forced upon a person by an enslaver.
Enslaver is used instead of master or owner. I could go the rest of my life without ever hearing an enslaver referred to as a master. A person can not be the master of another. Even though humans were sold and enslaved, the word owner denotes a power dynamic that needs to be carefully and systematically broken down through language.
Forced labor camp is used instead of plantation. Plantations are unfortunately seen as nice relics of the…
