# News Anchor is fired for referring to Kamala Harris as colored in news promo **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 22, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775 "2020-08-22T20:45:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/102 "2020-08-24T14:51:09Z")
Out of 300 million people? Yes, I’m sure there are a few who are offended by that. Right wingers and racists sometimes seem to be offended by that term, for sure. There are probably some people who don’t like being lumped in with other non-white people as well. So what? Are you claiming that if the announcer had referred to Harris as a person of color, he would have been fired? Because I’m dubious. If that’s not what you’re claiming, then what is the point of your post? Some people are easily offended? Whoa, really? ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/103 "2020-08-24T14:58:42Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > … Are you claiming that if the announcer had referred to Harris as a person of color, he would have been fired? Because I’m dubious. If that’s not what you’re claiming, then what is the point of your post? Some people are easily offended? … I am **not** claiming that the announcer would have been fired if he had referred to Harris as a person of color. The point of my post was that “[s]ome people are easily offended.” ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/104 "2020-08-24T15:01:37Z")
I hereby declare you [Captain Obvious](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/commercials/images/2/25/Captain_Obvious.png/revision/latest?cb=20200126035738). ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/105 "2020-08-24T15:07:42Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > …Right wingers and racists sometimes seem to be offended by that term, for sure. There are probably some people who don’t like being lumped in with other non-white people as well. … There are probably also a significant number of older, less-educated African-Americans who would perceive the term as a back-handed way of referring to them as colored persons. And I would not want to offend them. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/106 "2020-08-24T15:13:02Z")
Let’s take the most generously positive take on this possible: Journalists use words as the raw material of their craft. This man didn’t know that a particular word has been openly considered a slur for a good 50 years. Does he deserve to have a job where words are the stock in trade? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/107 "2020-08-24T15:29:24Z")
> [@Ynnad](#): > > > [@RitterSport](#): > > > > … Are you claiming that if the announcer had referred to Harris as a person of color, he would have been fired? Because I’m dubious. If that’s not what you’re claiming, then what is the point of your post? Some people are easily offended? … > > The point of my post was that “[s]ome people are easily offended.” This point is brought up about a million times more often than is necessary or useful. I’d advise you to stop offering it, as it adds nothing to the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/108 "2020-08-24T15:32:28Z")
[quote=“Ynnad, post:101, topic:918775”] What do you want to bet there are at least a few people in the United States that would be offended by the term “person of color”? [/quote] About as many people as belong to The Flat Earth Society, I would guess. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/109 "2020-08-24T15:45:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > … as many people as belong to The Flat Earth Society … . Which, surprisingly, is not an insignificant number. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/110 "2020-08-24T15:49:44Z")
Who has suggested that the standard for social mores is whether we can find _anyone_ who is offended? ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/111 "2020-08-24T15:50:09Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > > [@Ynnad](#): > > > > The point of my post was that “[s]ome people are easily offended.” > > This point is brought up about a million times more often than is necessary or useful. I’d advise you to stop offering it, as it adds nothing to the discussion. I thought the whole point of this discussion was to learn how to avoid offending people. Therefore, I posit that it is very relevant to this discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/112 "2020-08-24T15:57:00Z")
But it’s not relevant to attempt some kind of gotcha by _reductio ad absurdum_ that some group of people can always be found who will take offence at virtually anything. It’s quite obvious that there are _good_ reasons why the historical use of the word “colored” gives it significant semantic baggage. ---
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/113 "2020-08-24T16:02:43Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > … It’s quite obvious that there are _good_ reasons why the historical use of the word “colored” gives it significant semantic baggage. You are absolutely right about that. One quick example: > **[Water fountains symbolize 1960s civil rights movement](https://www.army.mil/article/200456/water_fountains_symbolize_1960s_civil_rights_movement)** > > BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--Two water fountains stood side-by-side. One was a modern machine capable of delivering cool water. The other, nothing more than a sink with a water fountain attached to deliver tap water, its basin showing the stains of the hard... Why do you think I am trying to attempt some sort of “gotcha”? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/114 "2020-08-24T16:10:04Z")
Why do you think people can’t read your recent posts, and you need to ask to have them quoted back at you? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/115 "2020-08-24T16:19:27Z")
> [@Ynnad](#): > > > [@Acsenray](#): > > > > > [@Ynnad](#): > > > > > > The point of my post was that “[s]ome people are easily offended.” > > > > This point is brought up about a million times more often than is necessary or useful. I’d advise you to stop offering it, as it adds nothing to the discussion. > > I thought the whole point of this discussion was to learn how to avoid offending people. See, that’s the problem. The problem with racism and racist terminology is that there are people who keep focusing on the idea that it’s about “offending” people. No, not it’s not. It’s about the fact that language is one of the weapons in the arsenal of a fundamentally oppressive society. So, no, the fact that there might be some theoretically small number of people who might take offense in any situation has zero relevance. Actually, it has less than zero relevance, in that it acts as a diversion from the actual issues at stake. But maybe that was your intent? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/116 "2020-08-24T16:53:50Z")
Well said. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/117 "2020-08-24T18:03:02Z")
This story seems so weird to me. WTAM is a station I’m very familiar with, as they are the local AM news station around here. For years and years and years I listened to Indians baseball on that channel. Then a few years ago they started broadcasting on WMMS FM, which was nice because the sound is better and I can pick it up on a radio that doesn’t have an AM receiver. Now when I have to tune into the games on WTAM instead of WMMS (spring training or whatever) I am shocked and disgusted at just the commercials and the bumpers for this waste of airspace. It’s 100% commercials for old man medical appliances and “buy silver before the fed takes away your money” and clips of all their loony shows like Limbaugh and Beck. For years they ran commercials for this local cigar shop that was just a guy complaining about how much he hates his bitch of a wife and he spends all his time trying to ditch her and go to the cigar shop. Female baseball fans (at least those of us on Twitter) were none too pleased with Misogyny Cigars. The worst is their daytime guy, Mike Trivisano, who has been on the station for eons and used to be boring and normal, then started trying to be a shock jock, and now he’s just devolved into whatever sort of old midwestern angry white guy you can imagine is acceptable in Trumpistan. That fucker turns my stomach, he’s so bad. Anyway, WTAM is a shit station and they know it. Regular folks tune in for baseball (out of habit or because they like the postgame show, I suspect) and I am surprised if too many people who would be offended by the word “colored” heard the broadcast. And considering the programming the other 21 hours of the day, I am absolutely SHOCKED that the station took the action it did. Really, I don’t know how many listeners they thought they might lose over it. They might lose more listeners BECAUSE of the action. I wonder if the Indians said “lose the kid or lose the contract” to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/118 "2020-08-24T20:19:51Z")
How far back may a non White ancestor be for a person to be a Person of Color? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/119 "2020-08-24T20:26:11Z")
It’s blowing in the wind. None of this is really difficult. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/120 "2020-08-24T20:42:36Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > How far back may a non White ancestor be for a person to be a Person of Color? . . . 42 ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775/121 "2020-08-24T21:50:22Z")
So this makes it sound like they didn’t think the term was racist enough and that’s why they fired him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/news-anchor-is-fired-for-referring-to-kamala-harris-as-colored-in-news-promo/918775.md?page=6)