Mencken condemned as racist

Question

The politically correct nomenclature for American people of Negroid African descent has been continually shifting over the years. It was one of the topics Alistair Cooke covered in this week's Letter from America. Ref:

I found it interesting that HL Mencken suffered much abuse from the (then 'Negro') community when he may have coined the term 'African American'.
To quote Cooke:
'...I couldn't help recalling the funny, awful day in the middle 1940s when my old friend and mentor, the most famous talent in American journalism, Mr HL Mencken, one day wrote in a chapter of his memoirs about his hometown Baltimore about fond recollections of the local "African Americans" - a usage that caused an uproar in the Negro community of more cities than Baltimore.
'In fact the most prestigious of all coloured national organisations - the NAACP - the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People - brought to the floor, at one of its conventions, a resolution damning and blasting Mencken as a "bigot", "fascist" and, I believe, the new villain: "racist".'

Mike Connally Reading, England

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[nq:1]The politically correct nomenclature for American people of Negroid African descent has been continually shifting over the years. It was ... of its conventions, a resolution damning and blasting Mencken as a "bigot", "fascist" and, I believe, the new villain: "racist".'[/nq]
I would think the thing that rankles, and always will, is that a term is seen as necessary.

john

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[nq:1]The politically correct nomenclature for American people of Negroid African descent has been continually shifting over the years. It was ... damning and blasting Mencken as a "bigot", "fascist" and, I believe, the new villain: "racist".' Mike Connally Reading, England[/nq]
From The American Heritage Book of English Usage at http://www.bartleby.com/64/C006/002.html
(quote)
During American colonial and early national times, black slaves and freemen alike were often referred to as Africans, even after several generations' residence in America. That this practice was common among blacks as well as whites is obvious from the number of churches and institutions founded during this period with names such as the African Methodist Episcopal church and the Free African Society. However, this usage fell out of favor in the 19th century, and it was not until the Black Power movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s that black Americans' African heritage was again acknowledged in popular terminology.
(end quote)
*Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary,* 11th ed., dates "African-American" to 1855 (this is pushed back a year from the date of 1856 given in the 10th ed.) and "Afro-American" to 1853.

Raymond S. Wise
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
E-mail: mplsray @ yahoo . com

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[nq:1]'In fact the most prestigious of all coloured national organisations - the NAACP - the National Association for the Advancement ... of its conventions, a resolution damning and blasting Mencken as a "bigot", "fascist" and, I believe, the new villain: "racist".'[/nq]
Mencken was unquestionably a racist. He believed that the worst race in America consisted of the poor southern whites. He argued that blacks were superior to them because they had so much of the blood of the old southern white aristrocracy in them. The essay in which he put forward that theory found some favor among rebellious southern undergraduates. It stimulated a number of legislators to call for his lynching. If there have to be racists, I vote for Mr Mencken's kind.
Joe Fineman (Email Removed)

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[nq:2]'In fact the most prestigious of all coloured national organisations ... a "bigot", "fascist" and, I believe, the new villain: "racist".'[/nq]
[nq:1]Mencken was unquestionably a racist. He believed that the worst race in America consisted of the poor southern whites. He ... number of legislators to call for his lynching. If there have to be racists, I vote for Mr Mencken's kind.[/nq]
Then the kind of racist you prefer would also say:

The Jews could be put down very plausibly as the most unpleasant race ever heard of. As commonly encountered they lack many of the qualities that mark the civilized man: courage, dignity, incorruptibility, ease, confidence. They have vanity without pride, voluptuousness without taste, and learning without wisdom. Their fortitude, such as it is, is wasted upon puerile objects, and their charity is mainly a form of display.
HLM

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[nq:1]Mencken was unquestionably a racist. He believed that the worst race in America consisted of the poor southern whites. He ... kind. -That is an excellent example of what Australians mean by the term "rat bag" or a "rat bag theory".[/nq]
Richard Bollard
Canberra, Australia

Mencken condemned as racist

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