Are you the black sheep of the family?

no.
In a field around here if there is one black sheep in a pen of white sheep it means there is 100 total sheep in the pen. Black sheep are not as common as white sheep so they stand out.

In this case, it is agricultural, not racism

Regardless of its origins, it perpetuates the idea that white = good and black = bad. That's all people are trying to say. Sometimes the meanings of things change and we try to adapt so that our word choices don't contribute to ideas that can hurt others.

I've struggled with this myself: "but thug isn't racist" and "they/them is plural!" etc... things change, we adapt.

We must have been typing at the same time. I’m sorry you feel that way.

I think this one is a very cut and dry lesson so going back and forth isn’t needed. There are no nuances to discuss. Either you care to make the change or you don’t. Either you see the error in something you’ve done for years and want to take an easy step in a new direction or you just don’t give a damn. Simple


It’s a Monday for me regardless.

I’ve stopped calling myself the odd man out years ago. My grandmother told me words give things power so I stopped feeding it and crazy enough it stopped growing. No one says shit to me about my life choices nowadays!

Funny how self coined the term is. And how proud the people are who usually place themselves in that box.

I think you are only the odd man out if you give a damn what your family thinks of you.

America does have a specific image in mind which would explain why some people have been allowed to terrorize society without many hurdles. No one suspects until they do and hell even after let’s talk about the collegiate sport they played or their hobbies first.

You don’t want to be afraid? That’s an interesting way of phrasing your resistance to change. You have a good day as well.

I’m getting the obtuse vibe and won’t be playing. Again America doesn’t have anti-blackness on lock. The use of the phrase “black sheep” or blacklisted blackballed blackmailed etc you’ve been put on notice that it’s anti-black. Any time you use the word after you’ve been put on notice means you don’t care about taking small steps to be anti-racist.

Language is a powerful thing. It’s also an easy switch. When someone says they don’t want to “live in fear”, which by the way is a common phrase amongst “resistant humans”, my ear always perks up. I don’t think you’d use that phrase if you knew what it’s like to walk into a room of strangers as a Black woman and wonder who is anti-black. Now that’s fear.

I agree with this. It is an easy switch. And the people in this thread sawwhet were very understanding about it. I can't read where anyone handslapped you for using a commonly used phrase, just that they are trying to educate to not use it anymore. I thought nothing of it. Being a crocheter, I knew about the history of this term. But now that I've read some posts, I will think twice about using it again. And that's the goal here, not to make anyone feel bad. When you know better, you do better.

You've mentioned working on language, so perhaps this is an opportunity to mention that the phrase "odd man out" is sexist and reeks of the patriarchy.

I think you misunderstood me.  I was specifically talking about the term black sheep.  Not the term crocheter.  And it might very well be crochetier.  It's not offensive in any way, so I don't think anyone really cares.  

I feel abit nervous writing this in case it doesnt come accross right. I am hoping that it may help in some way.

First of all , I dont personally know what it is like to be on the receiving end of racism , but it must be a terrible thing to endure. 

Language as Olan said can be very powerful and I think that words can influence predjudice .

The examples of blackmail etc do carry negative connotations associated with the word black, and it has given me pause for thought because I hadn’t realised that before now. 

when I think of the words black sheep , I think of 2 things -

1 - a person who has been pushed away or looked down upon by their family for not conforming.

and

2 - the image of a sheep with black wool .

I live in a rural area, full of sheep and quite often in the fields there are one or two sheep with black wool and the rest with white wool and some have mottled grey wool. It depends on the the type of herd.

Choice of words are so important to remove and re-educate prejudice and discrimination in all areas of life.

I hope it is okay to say that it took me by surprise that black sheep would be thought of as a racist term , but then I havn’t walked in Olan’s shoes. When I think of black sheep, it would never be in terms of racism.
The other examples of words given have enlightened me though.

I can see things from both sides. I hope I have not hurt anyone’s feelings .