Give Me Back "Urban"

I got a question.

When did the word "urban" become synonymous with "black"?

It sort of snuck up on us, didn't it? First you heard it as a substitute for "ghetto" or "slums". And as a common adjective for music or style....or crime.

Urban crime does not mean crime in the city. It means crime by blacks.
Urban music does not mean music from/of/about the city. It means black music. Generally hip hop.

But the other day, I heard it used to describe a nightclub.

An "urban nightclub".

And, silly me, I thought they were actually talking about an urban nightclub, you know, one that was located in an urban area, in a CITY. I understood it to mean a city nightclub, rather than, say, a suburban nightclub, or a country nightclub—of which there are many, just so you know.

But no. What the speaker meant was that it was a "black" nightclub. Populated exclusively by black people.

That was just so weird to me.

What do they call a nightclub in the middle of an urban area that isn't a "black" nightclub?

Just a nightclub? A "city nightclub"? A "downtown nightclub"?

And when I said "urban area" in that sentence, did you immediately assume I meant a black ghetto?

I just meant an urban area. A city.  You know...like, what it MEANS in English.

God, I HATE the way our language is getting bastardized by assholes who just can't say what they mean.

And eventually, the word "urban" will become anathema to the crowd who currently endorses it. As euphemisms always do.

Look..

"Nigger" was not, at it's inception an insult. It was just a word used to indicate a Negro. Sure, often by people who weren't blacks' best friends, but the word itself wasn't mean to be a horrible affront.

Usage somehow made it an insult and "colored" became the respectable (PC) substitute.

But it turned out, those same people used "colored" as instructed, but still weren't blacks' best friends, thus usage soon made that, too, an insult, and "Negro" was the respectable (PC) substitute.

That, too, soon went out of favor, and "Afro-American" was the 60's respectable (PC) substitute.

That soon became, not an insult, but out-dated, and "black" was the respectable (PC), cooler, hipper substitute.

That has not yet become an insult, but the most PC usage today is "African American" (used about black people who are several hundred years out of Africa....but NEVER about white people who have just emigrated from Africa!)

(Oh....and also used by idiots, often doltish members of the media, about any black person, whether actually  "American" or not. i.e., French and Italian blacks are commonly referred to by these morons as "African-Americans"...so mindless due to PC indoctrination are they.)

And now..."urban" as an adjective is taking over. When I say "urban youth"....can you guess who I'm talking about?

Is it Chinese kids living in San Francisco? Korean kids living in Oakland? Mexican kids living in Los Angeles? Jewish kids living in New York? Cuban kids living in Miami?

So, we've lost another perfectly serviceable word to stupidity and Political Correctness.

There is only one reason to keep doing this. Someone is trying desperately to avoid actually identifying people of the Negroid race as such. And I don't know where this driving need comes from.

Surely with all their "Black Pride" they don't mind being simply and straightforwardly identified as black people, colored, or Negroes!

I'm perfectly willing to be described as white, Caucasian, Caucasoid, or any other designation that indicates my race.

I've never felt the need to outlaw the word "white" and demand to be called "European-American".  Nor have I ever felt "Caucasian" to be insulting.

"Whitey" is a little nasty. But it was never a real term of identification, it was created as an insult, like "jerk" or "asshole", and there's the difference.

But, nevertheless, in point of fact, I don't really care. "Paleface", "honky"....whatever. They just don't bother me.

Is that because I like being white, so references to the fact that I am are not, in and of themselves, insulting? I just don't know.

"Hillbilly" and "redneck"  and "trailer trash" have been insults hurled at white folks for years. Mostly they've been embraced, and adopted as badges of honor by the targets.

So they've completely lost any power to wound or embarrass.

In fact, I joke that "Hey, shut up! Those are my people"....when someone uses those terms in a way that's meant to disparage the people they're describing.

I'm pretty sure there's a lesson here if you have ears to hear it.

 /Gun