Second Opinion : OTHER MEDIA / RAFU SHIMPO : It’s Easy to See Why It’s Hard to Be Politically Correct

Minorities do not want public officials to use certain words that are defined as derogatory or offensive. Yet sometimes ethnic communities are not even sure what they want to call themselves.

“A Jap is a Jap” was a World War II slogan. But now a white official uttering “Jap” would be labeled racist--no matter the intent of the verbiage.

This unwritten politically correct ordinance suffers when Japanese Americans refer to themselves as Japs. Beyond the defense for “Jap Road,” I have heard of a self-described Jap Patrol and a Happa who described herself as a cross “between a Jap and a Wop--a Jop.”

Thus, within our own ethnic enclaves, PC and racism are hard to decipher. If that’s the case, how can we ethnic minorities provide foolproof guidance to those seeking to be PC? Unless we make laws or guidelines, we only have our own opinions. That being so, perhaps it is wiser to be slower to anger and quicker to question and discuss. Perhaps the 1990s will be known as the decade of PC. Hopefully by the year 2000, we will know what that really means.