A couple of days ago I was sitting on a bus minding my own business when a grandmother and her grandson got on the bus. The little guy was possibly 3/4 and he sat opposite me and kept holding his grans face and pointing to me saying “negro” “negro” – I kept a straight face more interested in the adult reaction than the childs words. She tried her best to ignore and that spoke loud for me. I tried to start a conversation about black with the kid but he was too young so we just chatted much to the visible annoyance of his gran.

The Spanish derogatory term is to use the word “inmigrante” for people of colour or from the global south” as opposed to those from Europe. “inmigrante is a nasty word in Spanish – negro inmigrante is probably worse though I dont know that they use that term. Just the little kid saying “negro” and pointing was a bit disconcerting to say the least – coming from London anyway.

I think your visit to Martinique will be a revelation in language and race:)

Bosse, I don’t recall suggesting any link between my two streams of thought. I write in a very stream of consciousness style.

Sokari and Rethabile, the more I dig, the more I find that you’ve only given me part of the answer. French people today do not use the word ‘negre.’ In fact most people generally hesitate to use the word. Is it simply anachronistic or is it a derogatory term? I think I’m going to take a step back from this forum for a bit and re-formulate my questions. Research is hard:-(

Bosse Hammarström
http://www.bossesblog.blogspot.com/

To de-niggerfy a nigger is to say that ‘hair could grow on one’s palms’, meaning to say a ‘de-niggerfied’ nigger will become white. It is easier to be ‘darkened’, than to ‘lighten’ up. Besides, no one has successfully changed the ‘foundative’ genes of the black man. Kindly note: a ‘nigga’(thats the right word) is always a ‘nigga’, dead or alive. In fact, it doesn’t matter if u’re black, asian, white, latino or whatever. If you feel you are ‘nigga’, then you are.

FEMME NOIR

Femme nue, femme noire
Vétue de ta couleur qui est vie, de ta forme qui est beauté
J’ai grandi à ton ombre; la douceur de tes mains bandait mes yeux
Et voilà qu’au coeur de l’Eté et de Midi,
Je te découvre, Terre promise, du haut d’un haut col calciné
Et ta beauté me foudroie en plein coeur, comme l’éclair d’un aigle

Femme nue, femme obscure
Fruit mûr à la chair ferme, sombres extases du vin noir, bouche qui fais
lyrique ma bouche
Savane aux horizons purs, savane qui frémis aux caresses ferventes du
Vent d’Est
Tamtam sculpté, tamtam tendu qui gronde sous les doigts du vainqueur
Ta voix grave de contralto est le chant spirituel de l’Aimée

Femme noire, femme obscure
Huile que ne ride nul souffle, huile calme aux flancs de l’athlète, aux
flancs des princes du Mali
Gazelle aux attaches célestes, les perles sont étoiles sur la nuit de ta
peau.

Délices des jeux de l’Esprit, les reflets de l’or ronge ta peau qui se moire

A l’ombre de ta chevelure, s’éclaire mon angoisse aux soleils prochains
de tes yeux.

Femme nue, femme noire
Je chante ta beauté qui passe, forme que je fixe dans l’Eternel
Avant que le destin jaloux ne te réduise en cendres pour nourrir les
racines de la vie.

Léopold Sédar Senghor, “Oeuvres Poétiques”

Besides, Negro is the academic equivalent of Caucasian or Asian. In other words, Nigger belongs to the same world as Honky and Chink. Unwanted words.

The French do use “noir” to refer to the colour (une voiture noir = a black car), but even they use “negro” to refer to folks of African descent.

About The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, I agree that it’s a bit slow, but perhaps that’s why I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found that it depicted Botswana life marvellously.