That’s pretty ghastly of you.
6 Likes
And how has appeasement of those happily oblivious racists worked out? The Civil rights movement is more than 50 years old and yet here we are.
Personally, I’m waiting for demographics to take its course. Education is wasted on the old, privileged and willfully ignorant. I am grateful that it’s no longer acceptable to be so callous in so many segments of the population.
15 Likes
If you had bothered to educate yourself about the history of the venue in question–or read this thread–you would know that its name had nothing to do with slavery. And if you don’t understand about “the nuances of language,” maybe you need to ask your high school teachers and college professors why they never taught you this concept. Of course, it requires critical thinking, which has been in very short supply over the past 25 years or so in the American educational system. :rolleyes:
13 Likes
LOL. I’m expanding the list of words we are no longer allowed to use.
Already mentioned:
Plantation
Whip
Chain
Cotton
Cabin
Rice
Okra
New additions:
Sugar
Tobacco
Mansion
Manor
Big House (whoops, that’s two words)
Shack
Ship
Mammy
Pick or Picking
Servant
Bootblack
Boss
Owner
I’m sure there are some I am forgetting (no doubt because of my white privilege). 
4 Likes
Tar
2 Likes
Did it ever occur to you that maybe words mean something different to different people and therefore could inflict different meanings? It really shouldn’t matter what that word means to you or me.
8 Likes
This is descending to infantile.
8 Likes
Well good lord yall. I didn’t demand she come back to answer it right now.
But something bad happening at the moment does not erase what happened in the past. There is no “clean slate” pass.
6 Likes
As this thread amply demonstrates, there’s a time and place for everything.
1 Like
So nothing has changed in 50 years??? Better tell that to all the Africans that are emigrating to the US. There has been a 300% increase in immigrants coming into the US from Africa…guess we need to tell them what a racist nation this is.
For fiscal 2020, the number of applicants from 47 eligible Sub-Saharan African nations was 9.2 million, compared with only 2.8 million in fiscal 2011.
The State Department Statistics:
7 Likes
It’s not about getting that rich old white guy to change. It’s about taking a stand against something that’s hurtful to a certain group of people and being an ally. Allyship means listening, it means being inclusive, it means being actively anti-racist and not just “not racist.”
Im not an eventer so I personally am not losing anything over this, but I have respect for those of you in the sport that did love this venue and are still accepting of the outcome… because the hard thing to do was also the right thing to do.
14 Likes
Emigrating is not about where you go, rather than what you are leaving. Some things/places are so bad you are willing to tolerate what others find unacceptable.
14 Likes
Time to end the cancel culture. This is getting absolutely ridiculous. It’s time people stopped being offended by every little thing and stop letting people tell them what should offend them. It’s condescending and ignorant for a white person to think they are superior to a black person and can dictate to them what should and should not offend them. Cancel culture Is causing more issues than any problems themselves. Systemic racism does not exist. It exists only in conversation.
6 Likes
Two things can be true. America can still have a systemic racism problem and yet still offer more opportunities than certain countries. The later does not excuse the former. This country has always treated immigrants poorly. Just because immigrants come here doesn’t make us not xenophobic.
Comments like these are hurtful because they’re dismissive. When you say things like “Yea well it could be worse like in such and such country” you’re totally dismissing the real hurt people are feeling in this country. If my coworker came into work tomorrow devastated because his mother died and I responded with “everyone’s parents die” I would be a jerk. Technically, yes I’d be correct but to dismiss someone’s hurt like that, and make them feel unheard, is cruel. That’s what’s going on here.
12 Likes
Denial. Not just a river in Egypt…
8 Likes
And my proof.
1 Like
“Cancel culture” is just what powerful privileged people call accountability. It is condescending to dictate what should and should not offend someone. So why don’t you stop dictating what should not offend someone and listen to POC and what they have to say about this?
13 Likes
So getting back on topic…as I understand the facts:
- An internet publication decides to take up a political cause.
- About 3 months before a major event is scheduled to take place, this publication starts to agitate to change the name under which the event has been held for 20 years and that is based on the historic name of the property.
- The historic name of the property dates back to when a troop of Boy Scouts planted some trees, thus giving this field the name, "Plantation Field."
- The name has nothing to do with slavery and the area is known for its abolitionist history.
- The land owner, organizer and board were not receptive to name change (for whatever reasons.....which can include "Just because")
- A member of the organization's board warned the publication that if they persisted with pushing this agenda, they could precipitate loss of the venue.
- The publication replied, "Too bad".....or something to that effect, (which I don't want to take time to find)
- The publication persisted in pushing the name change by going to various sanctioning bodies
- The event's access to the venue ends when the lease was terminated
- The publication then escalates by publicizing the organizer and landowner's reluctance change names and infer a charge of being racist in major newspapers including the NYT.
20 Likes
Because it sparked a conversation that clearly needed to be had. Lots of people did not know what that word meant to certain people and have since taken the time to learn. Unfortunately just as many people know what that word means to some people and just don’t care because that word is meaningless to them therefore should be meaningless to everyone.
If you can read 65 pages of COTH posts you can read what black equestrians have to say about all this.
10 Likes
So should we eliminate using the word girl because I am offend when I’m called it by an old man? Of course not. It is NOT THE WORD that is the issue. It is if the word is used in manner to be racist or condescending. So I have to use my listening skills and learning skills to understand if the person meant it in a ‘mean’ way. To me, the word plantation isn’t even close. But of course we can have the conversation. No one can control how others feel…but we can all control how we feel. I choose to educate myself first before jumping to any conclusions when anyone says words to me. Now there are SOME words out there that are clearly racial slurs and they have no business being used…and really, you could use any word and intend it to be mean or racist…but most words (like Plantation) have multiple meanings…and to me the word is not in and of itself racist, just that people with limited exposure to rural and agricultural life have only seen it used in their limited history books associated with where slavery took place so think about slavery. I get it but I also think we need to use our brains and our energy against REAL issues. This feels very academic and made up and overly sensitive to an innocuous word. Yes there is racism in the world (I’ve faced it too because it is not limited to any one ethnicity)…but this isn’t it. I’d rather spend my energy and social capital to make real changes that make a real difference rather than waste any more time on this.
10 Likes
