September 05, 2005
Is this supposed to be a comment or a racist remark?
by Liza Sabater
[update: 5 Sept 2005, 3:40pm] The answer is NO as per my readers. I wish the article had made that clear. Unfortunately I am one of those people are marginally informed about most of the local vernacular and folklore of most cities in the US. A bit of history on that article would have gone a long way into creating context for the use of the word. I mean, 'tribes' and 'natives' are words regarded as racist by some people here and in other parts of the hemisphere.
French Quarter Holdouts Create 'Tribes' | In the absence of information and outside assistance, groups of rich and poor banded together in the French Quarter, forming "tribes" and dividing up the labor. As some went down to the river to do the wash, others remained behind to protect property. In a bar, a bartender put near-perfect stitches into the torn ear of a robbery victim.While mold and contagion grew in the muck that engulfed most of the city, something else sprouted in this most decadent of American neighborhoods --humanity.
Posted by Liza Sabater in Culture, Hurricane Katrina, Journalism, Language, Media, Race
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Say it loud, say it proud!
Are you asking if the use of the word 'tribes' is racist? In the context of New Orleans, I'd think it is more likely a reference to Mardi Gras "Indian tribes," traditional social/cultural groups among New Orleans' black community.
It was kind of surprising to me to learn about the Mardi Gras "Indians" when I studied them during an ethnomusicology class in school, but apparently they have a long history there, and the term "tribe" is routinely used without (as far as I'm aware) any racist connotation intended. Or at least, if you want to chage that the term is used in a racist manner, it's being used that way by the New Orleans residents themselves, and has been used that way for over 100 years.
See http://www.mardigrasindians.com/ for some background information.
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Comment by: Mary at September 5, 2005 03:35 PM
That is not a racist comment. Unless you are reading something racist into it. A tribe is a group of people, usually but not always with a common ancestry who form a unit with common goals and division of labor, leadership is often unpermanent.
I read that article and there was no mention of anyone's race.
Please don't add insult to injury by being inflammatory.
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Comment by: liza at September 5, 2005 03:40 PM
John,
Thanks so much for the explanation. I had no idea. The question was sincere, not rhetorical. I had no idea "tribes" was part of the New Orleans vernacular.
Mary,
I will update the post to explain it was a sincere question. Where I come from, unless it is one of "us" to have an .... outsider (racially or ethnically) call you a 'tribes people' is, well, regarded a big no-no.
Thanks again for the clarification.
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Comment by: John Callender at September 5, 2005 05:29 AM