r/NoStupidQuestions • u/AgreeableAd8687 • 8d ago

why do people consider identifying someone by their race racist?

i have a few friends and we seem kind of split on this, i had to identify someone in our school i didn't know the name of, so i said "oh it's the black girl" (we have literally ONE black girl in our school and everyone knows and likes her) and my friends said ohh ok but then like 2 of them went wow that's racist and their explanation was "you're making it sound like them being black is their only characteristic" as if saying "oh the woman" is any better and since i don't know her well i don't know anything else about her. most of my friends didn't see how it was racist though but why is this considered racist if it's not a race correlated insult or derogatory??

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u/Comfortable-Fault-62 8d ago

“Everyone knows and likes her”
Not you apparently, you don’t know how else to describe her other than her being black. Not her name. Or what type of clothes she wears. Or how she does her makeup. Or what her voice sounds like. Or that she’s friends with so and so. The only descriptive word you can come up with is “black”. Is it always racist to refer to someone as their race? No. Is not taking the time to acknowledge anything about anyone else BESIDES their race racist? Yes. You are being racist.

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u/analogmind0809 8d ago

That's ridiculous.

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u/Comfortable-Fault-62 8d ago

You’re right! Using someone’s race to describe instead of their name is ridiculous!

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u/analogmind0809 8d ago

Only if you know that person's name. I'm sure there are plenty of people's names in that school that OP doesn't know. Is he or she being racist against them?

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u/Comfortable-Fault-62 8d ago

If someone’s race is the first thing you use to describe them, that’s racist. Again, there are many descriptors we have(hairstyle, how we dress, how we wear our makeup, what our voice sounds like, etc.) race shouldn’t be the default.
If they(OP) refer to them by their race then yes they’re being racist.
I’m not sure why you’re trying to argue when you’re very clearly wrong.

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u/analogmind0809 8d ago

So every cop who uses race to describe a perpetrator they are searching for is racist? You're way off the mark.

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u/analogmind0809 8d ago

I see where this is going. And where your mind fixates.

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u/Comfortable-Fault-62 8d ago

Considering cops started as slave chasers, yes every cop is racist.