This petition was submitted during the 2017-2019 parliament
Rejected petition Remove the terms "Black" and "White" from race identification.
One of the earliest uses of "black" and "white" as metaphors for race was used in the 17th century when French Doctor François Bernier, an early proponent of scientific racism, divided up humanity based on facial appearance and body type
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They're opposites and ironically all race-related stereotypes associated with them are too.The connotations of these words compound positive and negative notions e.g. good,evil,weddings,funerals,white/black magic.The symbolic representations and emotions we identify with these words subconsciously effect us
Peoples natural quest to define themselves has lead to endless comparisons and historical/present tension.There are only two races defined by colours, this creates the high and low end of the race hierarchy paradigm
Every race is unique and has no opposite.Our racial identity should be defined by our continent of origin (European/African/Asian etc),not colours.This reduces ignorance by connecting people to countries, languages and cultures; things we love, share and have in common
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not directly responsible for.
The UK Government or Parliament aren't responsible for controlling what words people use.
You could start a new petition asking for the UK Government and Parliament to use different terms in its own documents, if that's what you want to happen.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.