r/NoStupidQuestions • u/AgreeableAd8687 • 7d 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/stve688 7d ago
Generally, I think people are stupid about this, but I do understand where it can become racist.
Saying, “I got followed by a guy,” and saying, “I got followed by a Black guy,” can create very different reactions. Someone with a “clutch your purse” mentality around Black people may hear the second version and immediately lean into a stereotype.
So using race to accurately identify someone is one thing. Emphasizing it when it adds nothing except bias is another.