My boss used a racial slur in rapid succession yesterday.

HR ?

er...

Shugga said:

HR ?

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could backfire though

Tar baby? Never heard that before.

What is the meaning of tar baby?

Wow...I hope someone was recording.

"too PC" is usually code for "I want to be able to talk like a racist/asshole/racist asshole without consequences."

Song of the South is hot trash though. You gotta be a special kind of racist to enjoy that.

If it's a one off incident just stay out of it and do your job. If this is a regular thing go to HR.

That's how I'd handle it, anyway

ask your boss what else she finds too PC in the world today

Karasseram said:

Tar baby? Never heard that before.

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EchoChamber said:

What is the meaning of tar baby?

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Tar baby was an old story adapted into Song of the South. This is the first I'm hearing it as a racial slur as well, I assume it's about referring to black people

Edit: Song of the South was a Disney live action film that got a lot of backlash due to its representation of black people so yeah, that's what the slur is directed towards. Just looked this up on Wikipedia as I've never heard it either.

Spork4000 said:

Correct, it's a racial slur mostly used against black children.

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Figured as much.

Yeah they used to play that film here in Ireland when I was kid. It is indeed incredibly racist. Your boss sounds like a tosser.

Spork4000 said:

Hello resetera, I feel like I really need to talk about this, in my office yesterday somehow the subject of children's films came up and my direct superior mentioned how she loved Disney's "Song of the South." When asked about the plot she only explained the "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby" portion. In this explanation she used the phrase "tar baby" atleast 30 times and complained about how she Hate's the the world is "too PC" for it to be rereleased. I really couldn't believe what was happening. I really don't know why I'm bringing this up but I have to tell someone, I mean what should I do?

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Cmon tae fuck.....

GO TO FUCKING HR!!!!

Isn't the character actually called "tar baby"?

I just looked up Tar Baby on Wikipedia and I don't think it's racist OP

it's worth mentioning that "tar-baby" is the official name of the fable on which disney is basing this part of the film

hydrophilic attack said:

could backfire though

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That's why you document everything. Retaliation in response to going to HR for discriminatory behavior opens them up to lawsuits.

Spork4000 said:

Hello resetera, I feel like I really need to talk about this, in my office yesterday somehow the subject of children's films came up and my direct superior mentioned how she loved Disney's "Song of the South." When asked about the plot she only explained the "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby" portion. In this explanation she used the phrase "tar baby" atleast 30 times and complained about how she Hate's the the world is "too PC" for it to be rereleased. I really couldn't believe what was happening. I really don't know why I'm bringing this up but I have to tell someone, I mean what should I do?

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Record next time so you have evidence, leak to media if they don't do anything about it.

Jessie said:

Song of the South is hot trash though. You gotta be a special kind of racist to enjoy that.

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My dad loved that movie when I was younger (I can still recite the songs from it). Either my dad was blind or didn't care about the racism in it. Eventually we talked about it when I was older and he was completely oblivious that it could be racist which I was stunned by.

He must have done some research online after the fact because my mom told me a couple weeks later he threw away his copy

sephi22 said:

I just looked up Tar Baby on Wikipedia and I don't think it's racist OP

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I guess that settles it then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar-Baby

Here's the wiki page since a lot of people probably have no idea what this term is

EchoChamber said:

What is the meaning of tar baby?

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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_Baby_(comics)

hippopotamus said:

Isn't the character actually called "tar baby"?

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Yeah this, if she's explaining the plot then what else is she going to call the character?

People need to start mentioning where they live when post stories like this.

I hear it used quite a bit by my in laws. I don't consider them racist.

tar ba·by
noun
informal

1. 1.
   a difficult problem that is only aggravated by attempts to solve it.

Johnny956 said:

My dad loved that movie when I was younger (I can still recite the songs from it). Either my dad was blind or didn't care about the racism in it. Eventually we talked about it when I was older and he was completely oblivious that it could be racist which I was stunned by.

He must have done some research online after the fact because my mom told me a couple weeks later he threw away his copy

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Surprised at your Dad's obliviousness, but shout out to him for correcting the issue promptly.

Karasseram said:

Tar baby? Never heard that before.

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Much like the Scots have many words for rain, or Inuit have many words for snow, Americans have a thousand archaic slurs that all mean 'black person'.

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah!

Context matters.

acheron_xl said:

Much like the Scots have many words for rain, or Inuit have many words for snow, Americans have a thousand archaic slurs that all mean 'black person'.

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rofl

Spork4000 said:

Hello resetera, I feel like I really need to talk about this, in my office yesterday somehow the subject of children's films came up and my direct superior mentioned how she loved Disney's "Song of the South." When asked about the plot she only explained the "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby" portion. In this explanation she used the phrase "tar baby" atleast 30 times and complained about how she Hate's the the world is "too PC" for it to be rereleased. I really couldn't believe what was happening. I really don't know why I'm bringing this up but I have to tell someone, I mean what should I do?

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Document. Document. Document. Go to HR if you can, especially if the racial slurs get more explicit.

The phrase I've bolded is one that white people use to be racist with plausible deniability, and as you can see in this very thread, it works wonders on other white people.

I had never heard the term before, nor knew anything about "Song of the South". The original art of the baby looks a lot like Black face, but the roots seem to be in African folklore.

The situation isn't helped by the author of the original works being a white man who worked on a plantation... But I imagine there were very few opportunities for enslaved people to record the myths and lore of their homeland. So something is possibly better than nothing, assuming we understand that the interpretation and representation will be coloured by the artists position, prejudice and ignorance (which were not insignificant wrt to the subject matter at that time).

As is often the case in these situations, I think it best to defer to the interpretations of the offended party, especially when they are also the subject.

Given that OPs boss made the PC comment, my guess is she knew the term had racially offensive connotations and pushed on anyway. So OP best be on their guard and report if the issue repeats.

Thats an incredibly racist term where im from.

(Grew up in the south)

The context she used Tar Baby was in reference to a character in the film, not as a racial slur.

tsampikos said:

Thats an incredibly racist term where im from.

(Grew up in the south)

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I also live in the south but have never heard it used in a racist context.

She sounds like a real diamond OP.

Going to HR is all you can do. It may backfire and bring retaliation so be prepared for that.

Stouffers said:

I also live in the south but have never heard it used in a racist context.

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It's an old school racial slur, been a long time since I've heard anybody use it in a racist context.

litebrite said:

The context she used Tar Baby was in reference to a character in the film, not as a racial slur.

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The name itself in a racial slur he ce why they won't rerelease the film. That's semantics

Grew up in Illinois. I've heard the term before but not in a racist context.

My public speaking class teacher used it to refer to the podium. He said try to never touch the podium because it acts like a tar baby. As in. Once you touch it you'll never let go because it'll be stuck to you and you'll spend the rest of your speech without letting go.

I never thought of it as racist. But I wouldn't be surprised if it has that kind of origin.

Stouffers said:

I also live in the south but have never heard it used in a racist context.

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Im shocked there is any other context.

Like... Im so aghast I do not believe you or anyone else who says that if they are familiar with the phrase.

Is this thread a social experiment?

I haven't heard about Tar Baby and Brer Rabbit in forever.

I liked the cartoon growing up and hearing the story

DigitalOp said:

The name itself in a racial slur he ce why they won't rerelease the film. That's semantics

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Tar Baby is part of the African American folk tale Br'er Rabbit that Song of the South was retelling.

Never knew it was racist, but then again, I'm still not sure how to use it in a sentence.

litebrite said:

The context she used Tar Baby was in reference to a character in the film, not as a racial slur.

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"So, I saw Django Unchained the other day and really enjoyed, but the way they say nigger every single second can be a bit grating. Every line is nigger this, nigger that, nigger, nigger, nigger."

Hey, why is everyone looking at me like that? I'm just using the word in the context of the movie...

It's a weird one, given the phrase's origins in African folklore. If enough people recognise something as a racist slur, though, then I guess it starts to become one. And the "world is too PC" line is always a red flag for me.

BossAttack said:

"So, I saw Django Unchained the other day and really enjoyed, but the way they say nigger every single second can be a bit grating. Every line is nigger this, nigger that, nigger, nigger, nigger."

Hey, why is everyone looking at me like that? I'm just using the word in the context of the movie...

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You're the racist thinking I'm racist for saying the n-word!

BossAttack said:

"So, I saw Django Unchained the other day and really enjoyed, but the way they say nigger every single second can be a bit grating. Every line is nigger this, nigger that, nigger, nigger, nigger."

Hey, why is everyone looking at me like that? I'm just using the word in the context of the movie...

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It is not the same, because everybody knows how explosive saying the N bomb can be, no matter the context.

Your coworker is suspect as hell, but I wouldn't have thought tar-baby was a slur. Never saw the movie but have read the story in a book where the tar baby was literally a baby made of tar.

Not going to try to defend the use of it outside of that story or anything, just didn't know it had that meaning.