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This is not really an ethnic slur and maybe a little petty but it sure made my life hell as a child. I was the little red headed kid and in those days red heads where the center of teasing and bad jokes all the time. When I was little I can remember crying on the school bus while the others were singing a song "I'd rather be dead than red on the head". It made me feel very alone and ugly. That could be because I was alone. I was the only red head in the entire school. It is funny that now so many people are dying their hair to get it red when not so long ago it was treated like the plague. Ok now lets get back to the really bad stuff...

No comment , there are to many .

being 100% polish, i think it is all in the tone, this is kind of funny, i am always taken for native american, how strange is that?

I know that racial or ethnic slurs can really hurt. I get that. But the other types of teasing, like b/c you have red hair, are kind of like the teasing I got when I was little because of my name (Frances Elizabeth_______, nickname Betsy). I got called "Betsy Wetsy", "Frances the Talking Mule", "Bang goes old Betsy" & anything that would get a rise out of me. And they knew it would, that I would be fighting mad. In retrospect, I think just ignoring them would have taken the wind out of their sails the quickest.

Well, this is not exactly an "ethnic" slur but I am differentlyabled or disabled. Which always confused me. One because we are all differently abled. And two just what exactly does disabled mean.. when a car is disabled it means it can't move, I can move, and I certainly am not a car. Does it mean I am not able to do things... I suppose I am not able to do somethings... like I can't run, but I can't speak Chinese either. So just exactly how am I disabled? Why does there even have to be a word to describe my lot in life? I am just a person... like the rest of people on the planet. I just do things differently.

Just because I use a wheelchair and others don't doesn't make me less or more able than others. I know a lot of people who can walk and run and whole lot of other things, but they are not nearly as smart as I am. Does that make them more stupid than me? NO. It probably just makes me more conceited when it comes to my brains. And by the way, why do people always think that just because I am in a wheelchair, I am mentally challenged? And then why are they dumb enough to think because I am mentally challenged, that I will not understand when they call me retard?

Now I know that this is a very sensitive subject, and it makes people really uncomfortable especially when they are in the presence of a person who is different than they are especially people who are disabled. Trust me, I have had enough people stare, look away or just plain ignore me, just to avoid acknowledging that I am disabled and they are uncomfortable about it.

But people say and do things that are hurtful to disabled people everyday whether they intend to or not. But when it is obviously intentional, it is way more degrading. My point is this, we are all different, and my experience with being called hurtful names because of something I could not or did not choose, has nothing to do with my ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. It has everything to do with why we all tend to judge other, or choose to hate them because of what they look like, or how they act, instead of trying to see them for who they are on the inside. I am sure if we all took the time to see with our hearts and not our eyes, well, there would probably be less words thrown around to describe others... who we might just like if we saw their hearts with ours. Ignorance ends with education... but only when a person is open to learning can the education start.

By the way, I hate the word retard...it is way over used, it's like the word gay... that is so retarded. He is so retarded. I also do not like words like whack job, or loony or other words that are used to describe mentally ill or challenged people. Oh, and crip, gimp, and peg leg are not all right either.

It's really kind of funny now that I think about it, but most of the people I come across daily are more likely to call a black person the n word or some other person of a different ethnic background something in poor taste before they call me crip or gimp or retard.... is that because I am more special than they are or because they feel sorry for me and no respect for them?

Ethnic slurs are learned racism. Challanged individuals
- whether physical or mental - receive have been labeled with derogatory nametags until recently.
When a young girl my next door neighbors had a new baby arrive. She had Downs Syndrome. Mary (ficticious name) grew up with all the love and priviledges her siblings enjoyed and shared friendships with the other kids. There was never any cruel name calling or exclusion from games and playtime. Mary grew up more fortunate than other children with this affliction.
As an adult with young children of my own visiting my parents my son, age 6 made a comment that startled me into action. He said Mary was "retarded". Just as he was saying this the sound of beautiful music was coming through their windows. I knew the source. Taking him by the hand I rang the neighbor's bell. We were politely and warmly asked inside where Mary was playing the piano. That's right. She was taught just as her siblings were and, in fact, was more musically inclinded than they. My son just stood there silent. Once outside I asked him if he could play the piano like Mary. He sheepishly said, "No". I told him he must be retarded then. Never again untilthis day as a grown man has he ever used that word again. I am proud to say that from that day forward he has always helped those less fortunate and found a talent in people no matter what their God given challenges are.
The ignorance of man towards humanity is not due to uneducated people. Many educated people are as capable of inhumanity as those that do not have degrees from higher education. True story. An African AMerican male with a law degree from a ivy league university took a leave of absence from his 9 figure job to work at a white bread country club as a waiter for one summer. His experiene was written in a book and talked about in the media for some time. You can imagine the stories of racism he told! The club members, all wealthy educated members of the upper class proved themselves ignorant.
The best lessons we can learn in life is to love one another as we love ourselves. The best lessons we can teach our children is to accept our shortcomings but never to accept our ability to hate.

The HEART should be "educated" too. People should teach their children not to be cruel to others. Showing the child how beautifully the Down's Syndrome child could play the piano was a lovely example.

My sibling married into a family that is as racist as they come. Dinner at their house was avoided for the jokes made about others..always about race or ethnic background. Still inevitably with hopes that it would cease my children and I were subjected to it. Years and years went by. One day my children - speaking about race - said to me that the best lesson I EVER taught them was never to laugh at those jokes. Children DO LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE AND THEY ARE WATCHING FROM THE CRADLE!!!You can preach all you want but it is your actions or reactions that speak to them.