Is it ok to be proud of your skin color?

[Ria]

I think everyone is as equal as the next to feel proud of themselves or not and with that in mind, skin is on each and every person, so if being proud of oneself, it includes the colour of the skin also - it's just how it is.

 

[Elle]

Hell yes I'm proud of my skin color! I'm "tan" year 'round, while many are running to the tanning beds.

 

[Elle]

Oh, I'm not ashamed of my background, it's pretty cool, actually.

 

[Ria]

Yeah, it shouldn't matter where people come from. I was having this discussion earlier - well not to do with this thread, but to do with cultures and so on. Makes no difference to me who is what, it's how people are with eachother that's important.

 

[HisHoliness]

Hell yes I'm proud of my skin color! I'm "tan" year 'round, while many are running to the tanning beds.

And what Tim is trying to say is that this isn't pride in your skin. You're not proud. You're happy. May be you all just don't know what pride means.

pride

noun, verb, prid·ed, prid·ing. –noun 1.a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc. 2.the state or feeling of being proud.

Pride includes superiority by definition. Pride in your white-ness means that there are people who should be ashamed of their race, because they are inferior.

 

[Elle]

HUH?

Maybe you're reading too much into something I made a joke out of...?

 

[Mase]

I'm not proud of my skin colour. I don't even see the point in caring about skin colours.

 

[BreakfastSurreal]

And what Tim is trying to say is that this isn't pride in your skin. You're not proud. You're happy. May be you all just don't know what pride means.

pride

noun, verb, prid·ed, prid·ing. –noun 1.a high or inordinate opinion of one's own dignity, importance, merit, or superiority, whether as cherished in the mind or as displayed in bearing, conduct, etc. 2.the state or feeling of being proud.

Pride includes superiority by definition. Pride in your white-ness means that there are people who should be ashamed of their race, because they are inferior.

funny, that's not what my dictionary says. And the word i used was proud, not pride, i don't think that should make too much a difference since they are from the same derivative...by mine says this:

proud -adjective: feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one's own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is closesly associated.
2.having or showing a consciousness of one's own dignity
3. having or showing a high opinion of oneself or one's importance
4.imposing; splendid


It CAN be said that being proud means what 3. says...but it doesn't NECESSARILY have to be the case. We can be proud because we are conscious of our own dignity, or because we are splendid

 

[HisHoliness]

funny, that's not what my dictionary says. And the word i used was proud, not pride, i don't think that should make too much a difference since they are from the same derivative...by mine says this:

proud -adjective: feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one's own achievements, qualities, or possessions or those of someone with whom one is closesly associated.
2.having or showing a consciousness of one's own dignity
3. having or showing a high opinion of oneself or one's importance
4.imposing; splendid


It CAN be said that being proud means what 3. says...but it doesn't NECESSARILY have to be the case. We can be proud because we are conscious of our own dignity, or because we are splendid

So... how did you achieve your whiteness? Are the entrance exams tough?

 

[HisHoliness]

Oh, my definition came straight from Dictionary.com. Not sure off the top of my head what published dictionary they draw from.

 

[BreakfastSurreal]

So... how did you achieve your whiteness? Are the entrance exams tough?

notice the commas, and the OR usage instead of AND. I would argue that my WHiteness is a quality, not an achievement.

 

[COOL_BREEZE2]

Be proud of yourself dammit.

 

[charLIE2291]

Its okay to be proud of your skin color as long as your not white...being proud to be white is racist. Okay maybe that was over stating it but this thread reminded me of being back in college where there was a Black Student Union...well a bunch of us wanted to start a White Student Union and somehow the black students didnt like the idea and niether did the administration...apparently that was a bit racist to them.:wtf:

 

[Dana]

I back my original statement

 

[Dana]

Honestly... I think its ok to be proud of where u are from, your heritage, your country of origin...

 

[Pudding Time]

Why do we care about skin colour?

 

[COOL_BREEZE2]

Why not?

 

[Ria]

Re what PT asked......Even nowadays it happens that through some people being concerned what colour skin on who (luckily it is thinned out now), we are given cause to care and think about it for ourselves.

All are same to me, but there you go...

 

[Breath]

Apparently this whole "debate" all hinges upon what your connotations are for being "proud". I've seen various valid definitions of the word.

I am on the side of the fence that attributes pride to being a good feeling that is the result of an accomplishment. You can be proud of a job you did. You can be proud of your child's academia. You can be proud that you reached an athletic goal. Those are the types of things I see as pride-worthy.

Using that meaning of the word, I myself am not "proud" to be white. There is nothing I personally did to make it happen. I can see that those of us who hold this point of view find it odd that someone could feel pride over something they had no part in providing for themself. I also feel that those types of specific qualities are more something that you can be happy about.

But to be "proud" of your Caucasian skin...you might as well also say you are proud to have five toes or you're proud of your elbow. You see how weird that sounds? That's how weird it sounds to me for someone to say they have pride in being white.

 

[Cotton]

So is ok for blacks to be proud of being black? I mean because they scream it from the mountain top, yet no one accuses them of being racist. Why is it when a white person is proud, they're racist?