Let me explain, my brother filed a racial discrimination complaint a his school, Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada. Shortly after he was nominated to student body president, a former government member referred to him as "The head (she cleared her throat) in charge". The Director of Diversity at the school claims that he has never heard of such a phrase. Therefore in his questionnaire, he has posed the following statement to my brother, "1.Please provide your source or authority for your assertion that in the days of slavery “the head [anything] in charge” or “Head cheese in charge” is in reference to your race, African American/Black. "
I told my brother that he is not that ignorant, he's just trying to incite him and he must be careful. Also, he must honestly and carefully answer the question. What do you think, is he really ignorant of the phrase, or not?
Update:The title "Head ***** in Charge" where the "N" doesn’t stand for "*****", but instead "******" — and in common parlance among African Americans is referred to by its initials "HNIC" — derives from an abuse of power where a white slave owner chose a field slave as his overseer to maintain his relations of racial and labor exploitations. In keeping his fellow enslaved laborers in their place, the overseer was also kept in place because his survival was dependent on executing the demands of his master.
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do you mean honcho? I never knew where it originated from but thats the saying here, and its not considered derogatory in the least. The Director of Diversity needs to diversify his language experiences, and accept that he may not know it all!
I grew up in the south and heard it regularly by black people. I saw it used in a movie once too by a black man. The movie is Lean on me, starring Morgan Freeman as the crazy new principal, Joe Clark, that was going to clean up a New Jersey High School. It was one of the movies that inspires me as an educator. However, there are several times he uses racial references. One time in an argument with his boss on the school board, the school board boss is speaking to Principal Clark (Freeman) and says, "contrary to popular opinion around hear I am the head ***.ger in charge." I believe I even heard the expression a few times in some old Richard Pryor movies or 70's movies, but they used the acronym HNIC. I believe that it was a traditional expression among blacks on the Pullman cars and as blacks gained advantage in white society. I believe blacks used it to indicate their position to other blacks, primarily. I don't think that whites would be aware of it except those who live in intergrated neighborhoods or those who watch movies and see blacks use it.
Yes, he is ignorant. And just in case you wanted to know, the word "turkey" is also a derogitory term begun to denote jews, blacks, liberals, christians, jugglers, women, asians, gays, ballerinas, muslims, conservatives, men, brown-haired ten year olds and people with pet penguins.
I mean c'mon, doesn't everyone know that?
Maybe he hasnt .I know I have not