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Help[Opinions] Re: Jemima
in reply to a message by noisynora
No no no and no.
In the US, it's far too associated with the outdated racial imagery of Aunt Jemima, which is at best just pancakes and syrup and at worst a direct insult against a black woman; it's only slightly less explicitly racist as a name than Mammy; Jemima is at least an actual, long-standing, Biblical name and Mammy was more of a title, like Cook or Nanny.
And it never really got much use in the US since colonial times.
In other countries, I understand it doesn't have that kind of baggage, and that's fine except with the Internet and all there's still not really any getting away from the associations, and it seems naïve to ignore the problem.
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you're a mile away and you have his shoes!
Steve Martin
In the US, it's far too associated with the outdated racial imagery of Aunt Jemima, which is at best just pancakes and syrup and at worst a direct insult against a black woman; it's only slightly less explicitly racist as a name than Mammy; Jemima is at least an actual, long-standing, Biblical name and Mammy was more of a title, like Cook or Nanny.
And it never really got much use in the US since colonial times.
In other countries, I understand it doesn't have that kind of baggage, and that's fine except with the Internet and all there's still not really any getting away from the associations, and it seems naïve to ignore the problem.
Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you're a mile away and you have his shoes!
Steve Martin
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