Covering The Coverage: SF Weekly Could Use A Lesson On Race And Language
We had originally intended to write a story that SF Weekly covered about a construction management company that’s been accused of fostering racism among Black and Latino carpenters, until we came across one, particular sentence tucked away within the article that gave us pause. By which we mean, “gave us diarrhea:”
Cunningham said the second problem was the “pinches negros” (which translates roughly to “fucking niggers”).
No, it does not. We sort of get what writer Lauren Smiley is trying to say; the addition of “pinches” does turn the neutral “negro” into a derogatory term and we’re sure Cunningham (the foreman accused of encouraging racial tension among his workers) is a guy who knows his way around a racial slur, but it’s totally irresponsible for a journalist to insinuate in any way that the word “negro” translates to “nigger.”
Negro literally means black. Its the name of the color and, when used in describing a person, means “a Black person.” What is most troubling about Smiley’s definition is that it ignores cultural differences regarding race in Latin America. Often times, in Latin American countries with a high population of black people, there exists a brand of racism that’s based more on ignorance than outright hatred or malice. A term like “negrita,” for example, is one of endearment and, while arguably belittling or objectifying, is not one intended as a hateful put-down.
We’re not trying to argue that “pinches negros,” altogether, is a benign statement. Our issue revolves more about the implication that “negro” is somehow akin to the word “nigger” or that it is in anyway a word wrought with hate. It’s an irresponsible and culturally ignorant translation on Smiley’s part that, the way we see it, can cause more potential damage to a greater number of people than something a foreman said to a group of men.
Building Racism [SF Weekly]
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- Editor
Cindy Casares
- Associate Editor
Alex Alvarez
- Contributing Editors
Gabriel Caro - Camilla Rowan
- Editor at Large
Daniel Mauser
Please see relevant episode of “I Love New York,” when Rico calls New York “negrita.”
Posted by Marco | March 26, 2008
does damn nigerians are taking all of our jobs….pinches negros!
Posted by latinogamer | March 26, 2008
…And here we see the umpteenth time where a non-Hispanic person, living in a nation filled with over 44 million Hispanics, is utterly ignorant of Hispanic culture and Spanish terminology to the point where she refers to a word as offensive just because it sort of sounds like another offensive word in English. Couldn’t she look it up? Or ask someone? This sort of misunderstanding can only happen when there is a combiantion of ignorance and bad communication. I’ve been with a lot of people who see or hear “negro/negra/negrito/negrita,” go on to ask “does that mean nigger?” and are then very incredulous when I tell them that it does not have the same blatanly offensive and racist connotation. Yes of course the terms negro and negrito have are many racist undercurrents, but they are not as openly insulting as the n-word.
Posted by aydiosmio | March 26, 2008
or maybe in the west coast, negro just means nigger when it is reffered to someone that is of african descent, but if i say to a hondureno or panameno, negro just means black….
the MADNESS!
Posted by latinogamer | March 26, 2008
@latinogamer
as a west coaster I can say that nope it doesn’t. It means black. But srsly what is up with the tension between blacks and latinos? Interracial couples out there speak up!
Posted by pocachica | March 26, 2008
The reality is that if you want to argue semantics then you are right.
However, the intent of this phrase is overwhelmingly offensive, and its meant to be.
When most people say this, Im willing to bet, they mean “F***ing N*ggers.”
Lets just take our lumps and move on…
Posted by D | March 26, 2008
What if you say, “pinches negrita”?
Posted by AskThisBlackWoman | March 26, 2008
And wouldn’t it be “negro pinchado”? I don’t know, I’m not Mexican, but “pinches negros” looks the terms don’t agree, kind of like “Rosa Mexicano”…
Posted by hello | March 26, 2008
I think you could more accurately translate it as “these damn blacks”. Or maybe even damn negroes. I agree that the n-word is much more insulting and hateful than the Spanish “negro”, usually.
But Spanish curse words / insults are magic! Their meaning /force can vary widely in different Latin American countrries, and it can shift depending on context or combination. Maybe this guy really DID want to say what the journalist translated.
Posted by Xoch | March 26, 2008
if that person really meant fucking niggers he should have said pinches mallates.. All the mexicans that i know call black people mallates when they want to offend a black person
….to me pinches negros is like saying fucking or stupid black people which is still kind of offensive because i know i dont want to be called a pinche “something”
that writer should have not said it roughly translates to fucking nigger. because it doesn’t
Posted by la roncha | March 26, 2008
pinche writers…
Posted by Paul Saucido | March 27, 2008
i always thought it was pinche mayate…
Posted by El Pocho | March 27, 2008
When you attach a pinche to anything it’s usually bad. The word negro is not nigger, maybe mayate, llanta, chango, simio, mono, chapopote, tiznado, sombra, mayugo, memin pinguin, mapache, zorullo, etc. does mean nigga’. I think there’s a Mexican singer that calls himself “Nigga”, he is black, sings, dances, and does a bunch of shows and not a lot of people give him any shit.
Posted by El Negro Tenzarta AKA boozer | March 29, 2008
I gotta say, “Fucking black person” is pretty much as offensive as “fucking nigger” in my book. This guy ain’t getting any humanitarian awards.
Posted by La Cindy | April 02, 2008
That Mexican singer name “nigga” is very offensive, and the reason why he doesnt get shit is because for American release he changed his name to Flex. Mexican culture has always been insensitive to people of African descent.
Posted by national | April 18, 2008