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Gender Inequality In America

Decent Essays

You Know You're Not in America Anymore When....

Race relations in the United States may not be everything that it can be, but at least mainstream media knows better than to put blatantly racist headlines on the front of their papers or magazines. Even with freedom of speech and the press, restraint in the name of peace and civility is accepted practice in America. Other countries do not have to follow these standards, and sometimes we can be shocked at what shows up in the headlines around the world.

For instance, the book Between the World and Me, the latest contribution by Ta-Nehisi Coates, has received great press in America. In a Dutch paper, the book was featured with the headline "Ni**er, Are You Crazy? (without the asterisks). If …show more content…

The tone of the article is pessimistic, and the illustrations, as well as the headline, were meant to reflect that. There is no racist remark to be read in the review because that is not our cup of tea.”

Krielaars said that the headline was not an original, but, in fact, was a quote from an American satirical novel, The Sellout, by Paul Beatty. In the book, the quote was fictitiously assigned to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Krielaars noted that the thought behind this was to highlight even more how many issues there were with American race relations.

The editor also explained that the paper is not written for English speaking Americans, but the Dutch. Ni**er is an English word, and in Dutch does not carry the same vulgarity or offensive value. Dutch readers, black or white, recognize this. Krielaars continued, "We realized the word is offensive, but in the headline it was meant to focus on the pessimistic message of Paul Beatty’s book when he gave the line to his fictional Clarence Thomas. Considering the fuss in your country it would have been better if we had put the headline between quotation

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