<p>First of all, everyone knows you don’t call a 46 year old man a boy. Second, everyone knows African Americans are offended by the term “boy” when referring to African American males. Davis should apologize to Obama and beg for forgiveness.</p>
<p>From the same Congressman’s website, he boasts to Kentucky about his efforts to hold back gun control within Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>So I’m worried about Geoff Davis’ hair-trigger finger, now, too.</p>
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<p>There’s not much hunting for ducks and deer in Washington, D.C., so what’s Geoff Davis doing messing with how another district tries to curb urban crime? (although they do hunt fior bucks in D.C. )</p>
<p>Yes I’ve often heard of Kentucky as being the most racist state in the US, even though it doesn’t get the “recognition” that Mississippi/Alabama sometimes get.</p>
<p>Oh, give me a break. To Yankees the term “boy” seems a bit off, but to us Southerners it seems perfectly natural and can be used to reference anyone.</p>
<p>For example, a possible negative reference: “That boy is crazy”; or a positive: “That boy is smart like a fox”. You can use “boy” to reference kin and typically is used in the familiar. The female is “girl”, e.g. “That girl is crazy” or “That girl is smart like a fox”. Whites and African Americans use the term similarly.</p>
<p>Its use does not automatically imply a racist reference though the Congressman should have know better since Senator Obama is 50% African American and 50% white of some probably Northern European blend.</p>
<p>"He said in his remarks at the GOP dinner that he also recently participated in a “highly classified, national security simulation” with Obama.</p>
<p>“I’m going to tell you something: That …,” Davis said. “He could NOT make a DECISION in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country”</p>
<p>Simba, I took the opportunity to look at Rep. Davis’ website. And he’s either a pathological liar or a certifiable moron - take your pick. If that’s who you’re getting your “key messages” from, God help you.</p>
<p>The difference is that Davis is not running for President. Hopefully no one is naive enough to suppose that every member of Congress is a genius, or wise, or in full control of his/her senses.</p>
<p>p2n–to any African-American I’ve ever known or read the writings of, “boy” is offensive. And rightfully so. The history is there. Whether meant or not, not knowing this is just hugely clueless, and almost unbelievable in a politician. Southern, Northern, or Inbetweenern, it’s just not remotely appropriate.</p>
<p>Well, one thing you can be perfectly sure of, when Geoff Davis (hummm, closely resembles the name of the President of the Old Confederacy, doesn’t it?) referred to Obama as “that boy”, he wasn’t conveying “respect”. It is inherent to the meaning of “boy”, that the maturity of adulthood is lacking, that “manhood” has not yet been reached. This statement was not issued within the context of a meeting of the “good 'ole boys club”, with Obama present and “member in good standing”, and everybody enjoying good natured ribbing over cigars and shots of Kentucky Bourbon. And Davis is old enough, and “a man of his times” enough to know what calling Obama a “boy” conveys.</p>
<p>I was raised a Southerner (in Georgia and Kentucky), and am familiar with this conversational pattern, and what Davis said wasn’t okay.</p>
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<p>Exactly. It’s a very informal conversation pattern, something that you ONLY do in the familiar. You don’t refer to a fellow Congressman in the familiar in public.</p>
<p>In addition, if you’re white, you don’t use it to refer to blacks. Again, I’m a Southerner, and I have known this since I can remember being aware of the concept of race relations. There is too much history tied up in there.</p>
<p>I’m a “northerner”, not a Yankee and I wouldn’t think of using the term “boy” to refer to a grown man, whether they were African-American or not. It’s just disrespectful. Let’s not make it a Mason-Dixon thing.</p>
<p>I see I need to restate what I already wrote:</p>
<p>Its use does not automatically imply a racist reference though the Congressman should have know better since Senator Obama is 50% African American and 50% white of some probably Northern European blend.</p>
<p>If the Congressman says it again, its racist. If he lets it go once as a verbal slip, he’s just human.</p>
<p>There are palpable and continuing cultural differences between those from the North and those from the South. Folks from the North may not notice but those from the South certainly are able to tell the difference.</p>
<p>Upon rereading my last post I see I’ve probably insulted all the nice folks from the North in my Floridian zeal to spear the common obnoxious tourist. </p>
<p>“Oh, give me a break. To Yankees the term “boy” seems a bit off, but to us Southerners it seems perfectly natural and can be used to reference anyone.”</p>
<p>I’m a Southerner, too, and either this Congressman was deliberately race-baiting, or he is a total idiot. Take your pick.</p>
<p>I’m a white woman from Jersey & I would not use “boy” to describe a black man. It’s awareness I absorbed from tv & movies, where the actor playing a racist sheriff, or other authority figure, would use the word with an evil snarl to insult black men. I would assume it’s pretty commonly known to be a slur.</p>
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