Originally Posted by
Rich
I was at lunch last week with 6 work colleagues including my boss's boss and others at different levels (attorneys, paralegals, admins). Among the people at the table was a member of the same team I'm on (I'm an attorney and she's a paralegal). She is black, I am white, and I've worked with her for many years. She used to report to me before some reorganizing years ago.
I was telling a story of someone I used to know when I was a kid. He was an older black man and the chef at a restaurant where I worked. He was fascinating and used to tell great stories. Anyway, I was talking about him in the context of cooking and being a chef I used to know and I made the comment that he used to tell stories about Satchel Paige from the Negro Baseball League. I felt the table get very quiet. Did I do/say something wrong? I mean, the Negro League was a factual thing, it's a fact that Satchel Paige played in it, and I thought it was fun and interesting that my chef friend spoke about him.
Am I not supposed to use the word Negro, especially with a black woman present? Am I not supposed to mention the Negro League at all? I sensed that people felt uncomfortable although I didn't sense it from the black woman at the table, the one person I would be concerned about making uncomfortable. Or is it just that in today's society we're so programmed to avoid certain words the mere mention of one makes it uncomfortable for white people?