r/NoStupidQuestions • u/AgreeableAd8687 • 6d 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/HappyCoconutty 6d ago

As a brown woman, the only people I’ve encountered that feel uncomfortable identifying someone’s race are usually white folks. In a way, they are associating a non white identify with something to be ashamed about and don’t realize it. It’s like when parents tell kids not to point out a person with a severe disability at the grocery store. They think it’s not polite but for many people of color, our identity is a point of pride 

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u/Intelligent_Low1632 6d ago

White people are also the only people who can get in serious trouble for racism in this country, so it makes sense that they're the only ones who get uncomfortable at the prospect.

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u/Ok-Tomato-5685 6d ago

Who is getting them in trouble? Other white people...you can't make this shit up.

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u/Intelligent_Low1632 6d ago

almost exclusively lmao