Blocklisted

I would never consider myself a racist, but I realized I have used some seemingly common terms in the past that are offensive.

Everyone in the past has probably uttered "blacklist", "whitelist", or even something as seemingly innocent as "master bedroom" which has connotations to slavery.

I had just never thought about it deeply, until now.

Does that make me racist?

Maya Angelou said, "The plague of racism is insidious, entering into our minds as smoothly and quietly and invisibly as floating airborne microbes enter into our bodies to find lifelong purchase in our bloodstreams."

One definition of blacklist is, "a list of persons who are disapproved of or are to be punished or boycotted." It's hard not to think of the Civil Rights Movement and thus Jim Crow laws when the word boycott is used in the definition.

Furthermore, blacklist or black implies bad while whitelist or white implies good.

And of course what if a Black person was blacklisted or a white person was whitelisted. It's hard not to avoid a racial context.

The Online Etymology Dictionary suggested the origin of the term, "black-list, 'list of persons who have incurred suspicion, earned punishment, or are for any reason deemed objectionable by the makers and users of the list,' 1610s, from black (adj.), here indicative of disgrace, censure, punishment (a sense attested from 1590s, in black book) + list (n.1). Specifically of employers' list of workers considered troublesome (usually for union activity) by 1884. As a verb, from 1718. Related: Blacklisted; blacklisting."

When you consider the time period of the origin, it's hard not to associate this definition with the core of a slave's life.

It's worth reviewing everyday speech even if you think there is no mal-intent and considering what is on your blocked list and allowed listed.