I don't know what a N2 is either, but it seems obvious that it is some kind of course for learning Japanese or Kanji, and that he did poorly in it. That's good enough for me.
Many people experienced a personal economic crash. Otherwise there wouldn't be so much talk about gentrification.
It's easy to say "the crash never comes or never came". Everything seems to be fine.
79 years ago, there was a huge war in Europe killing Millions people. Yet here today everything is fine, without history lesson you wouldn't even necessarily know it ever happened.
So was there a "big crash" 79 years ago? After all, things are fine now.
"the way you used it is exactly how a racist would use it to mock a black person."
I still don't see what exactly is so mocking about it. Yes, I was perhaps "conjuring up" a stereotypical scenario. So what? Clearly, the stereotype exists. Even if it doesn't reflect reality, imo it would still be valid to refer to the stereotype, as the stereotype exists and is part of reality. The much celebrated Toni Morrison book also conjures a stereotype, about a black girl obsessing to become white. Somehow that is good - why?
And again, no - nobody should be forced to spend time learning about the behavior of racists. Why should they? Life is too short to spend it studying nasty people. I reject this as an attempt to control other people's life, with the power of being a minority.
"Generally the way to avoid being offensive in that situation is to write your characters respectfully as human beings, and to ask members of the minority group you are portraying to review your work for any unintentional offensiveness before publication."
Nope, and that is also why I am so defensive. I value freedom of thought and freedom of art higher than people's choice of being offended.
Of course any writer is free to make the choice to try to offend as few people as possible. But writers should also be allowed to write what they think.
So if it is so commonly used, why on earth should it be offensive to refer to it? In what way would you consider my statement "mocking"? I don't think it is very relevant what racists commonly do. I don't feel obliged to obtain knowledge about the lifestyle of racists, and neither should anybody else.
Even more interesting in the context of the original complaint of there not being enough books with black heroes. So if a white writer would write such a book, they wouldn't be allowed to use the word "momma" or refer to anything that PoC might do that is different from white people? You are creating an impossible world.
As I said, I am not a native speaker, so I don't really know how momma is typically used (if at all). It was more of a spontaneous use on a whim. But I also haven't found any indication yet that it is a derogatory term.
Sorry I still think the "offense taken" is overblown. I am also not concerned about not offending anybody at all. Frankly I think many people who feel offended about certain things perhaps should just get over themselves. I mean in this case, is momma used in the real world? If so, then I think it should be OK to use it. I don't believe in censoring statements about the real world.
Edit: rate limited by HN, so here is my reply to the question below:
Racist - seriously? So "momma" is not a word that is ever used? Is it a word from the AAVE - so why would it be mocking the AAVE?
I'm not a native speaker of English. But honestly, I don't care about that level of political correctness. I doubt that using "momma" is as big of a deal as you make it sound.
Edit 2: no being black doesn't imply speaking differently, but the scenario here was poor oppressed black girls obsessing over white dolls, with mothers who don't care to buy them black dolls. Also, just because I used "momma" doesn't imply all blacks only ever say "momma". What weird twisted logic is that? In the same vein, if I had used "mother", I wouldn't have denied black identity by claiming no black people ever say "momma". If you are offended by little things like that, then sure, your life will be difficult. Lighten up! (no pun intended - I mean the mood, not your skin color).
I am actually a bit offended by you being offended, by the way! Why do you think so badly of me, without even knowing me (interpreting my words in the worst way)? It seems you have a lot of bias against me.
"hair straightening products" - there are also products or procedures to give white people more curly hair, or tan their skin. That really doesn't prove anything.
"Take this as an opportunity to look deeper."
The sheer arrogance in that statement. Being queer or whatever doesn't make you special. Sorry.
Why are many characters white? Because many writers are white. Should white authors write books with non-white heroes? Wouldn't that result in an outcry about cultural appropriation and things like that? Never mind that it would presumably be difficult to credibly describe the experience of people you have not experienced yourself?
Are there many non-white authors writing books with white heroes/heroines? Maybe they should just write more books about people who "look like them"?
A lot of popular children books actually have female heroines, like Pippa Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren being one of the most popular authors of children's books. I never had a problem enjoying them, strange enough. It never occurred to me as a kid that I shouldn't be allowed to enjoy reading those books, because the protagonists have the wrong gender. Good thing today's children have better education on such issues - god forbid they could enjoy a book of the wrong identification!!!
What about Lord of the Rings, should PoC be able to enjoy that book? Should it be considered a hate crime to recommend the book to a PoC? Should the government give out a grant for someone to write an alternative to Lotr with PoC heroines?
Female Superheroes exist, but it is also only one rather silly genre (and only two publishers). Plus, there are other reasons why action heroes tend to be male: because men are expendable and therefore supposed to do the dangerous work, as in real life. Superheroes are a lie, anyway, but to tell women they could simply be action heroes would be an even greater lie.
As for the experiment: "These findings exposed internalized racism in African-American children, self-hatred that was more acute among children attending segregated schools" - that is clearly an unwarranted interpretation of the result, fueled by ideology. And wanting to play with white dolls is not "obsessing" over white dolls.
One of those silly toxic grievance ideas, that you should only enjoy fiction when the protagonist looks like you, has the same gender and so on.
Do real world PoC even ever obsess over white female dolls with blue eyes? It was just a work of fiction, after all. Do white girls obsess over black dolls? We have a black doll, that my white wife grew up with. I don't think it disturbed her in any way.
That's what the pregnant woman claims. The manager could have disliked her for other reasons or considered her unfit for leading people for other reasons.
Maybe the (female) manager(s) simply didn't like the woman in question. What is a manager to do, in this day and age, if they are not happy about an employee?