re: Georgia "player" facing backlash for Asian slur

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So now you’re just being an idiot.

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Calling a black woman or man ‘sister’ or ‘brother,’ respectively.
Why it’s offensive: If the perpetrator doesn’t give everyone these nicknames, either statement claims kinship that probably isn’t there, suggested Rev. Shannon Craigo-Snell, a professor of theology at the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Kentucky and coauthor of “No Innocent Bystanders: Becoming an Ally in the Struggle for Justice.”

“It’s claiming familiarity and intimacy,” she added. “And often when I see this happen, it’s actually in a situation where the white person is trying to gloss over real hierarchy of status or conflict.”

If the person hasn’t really interacted with black people before, she may also be unconsciously overcompensating when trying to make a connection by assuming that’s how black people talk.

What to say: Ask him why he said it and explain the significance. Then, suggest he maybe not call a black person “sister” or “brother” unless that person invited him to do so.

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