I don’t know how to act around black people!

Hey all,

First of all, I feel I should begin by stating categorically that in no way am I racist, and that I am a firm believer in equality and harmony between different races, religions and sexes.

That said, I have a major problem with black people: I just don’t know how to speak to them. I think that the problem is that I’m terrified of unwittingly saying something insensitive to them, and being accused of racism/apathy towards black issues. Because of this, whenever I speak to a black person, I find myself almost trying to suck up to them and their cultural heritage, e.g. I constantly address them as ‘mate’ or ‘bro’ (which sounds incredibly odd due to my received pronunciation), compliment the achievements of people like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, pretend to be in awe of reggae and rap artists (whom I actually despise), claim to be Samuel L Jackson’s biggest fan etc. It’s weird, because every time I start doing it, it sounds really forced and untrue, and I vow never to do it again, but I always do… Most of the time I don’t even make a constant decision to do it, it just happens because I’m so nervous. And recently it’s got even worse: I’ve started peppering my speech with ‘black slang’, e.g. I’ll greet them with a friendly ‘yo’, talk about my ‘crib’ and say things are ‘hip’.

Is this normal? Is it something that I should be worried about? What could I try and do in order to be less nervous around black people and to be able talk to them as I would with anyone else?

Thanks.

x

That's it, I'm going to have to out troll you and show you how to do it properly

Pffffft, be my guest and try. Just be sure to link me so I can judge your 'skills' *cough cough* for myself...

Is this normal? Is it something that I should be worried about? What could I try and do in order to be less nervous around black people and to be able talk to them as I would with anyone else?

Enjoy my friend, before it gets banned

Hey all,

First of all, I feel I should begin by stating categorically that in no way am I racist, and that I am a firm believer in equality and harmony between different races, religions and sexes.

That said, I have a major problem with black people: I just don’t know how to speak to them. I think that the problem is that I’m terrified of unwittingly saying something insensitive to them, and being accused of racism/apathy towards black issues. Because of this, whenever I speak to a black person, I find myself almost trying to suck up to them and their cultural heritage, e.g. I constantly address them as ‘mate’ or ‘bro’ (which sounds incredibly odd due to my received pronunciation), compliment the achievements of people like Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks, pretend to be in awe of reggae and rap artists (whom I actually despise), claim to be Samuel L Jackson’s biggest fan etc. It’s weird, because every time I start doing it, it sounds really forced and untrue, and I vow never to do it again, but I always do… Most of the time I don’t even make a constant decision to do it, it just happens because I’m so nervous. And recently it’s got even worse: I’ve started peppering my speech with ‘black slang’, e.g. I’ll greet them with a friendly ‘yo’, talk about my ‘crib’ and say things are ‘hip’.

Is this normal? Is it something that I should be worried about? What could I try and do in order to be less nervous around black people and to be able talk to them as I would with anyone else?

Thanks.

Just buy them a KFC and you will find that all tension you had with them will dissapate.