is asking a black man to dance a "jig" racist?

[RZM]

27. Hard to tell

I think the using 'jig' to refer to a black person is pretty well outdated at this point. I don't think you hear it much at all anymore. I'll bet a lot of younger kids who would recognize other words as racial slurs might not actually associate jig with that. Of course this woman isn't a young kid, but I'm not so sure she intended it to be a racial slur.

There is the racist association of making a black person dance for white people's amusement though. Again, that's pretty much outdated at this point, but the legacies of minstrel shows, etc. are still out there. And on DU as well, BTW:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=38215

My guess is that she probably didn't mean it like that. But not being in her head, I don't know that for sure. It's certainly possible she was trying to be racist in a sly, underhanded manner. I give it a 25-35 percent chance that she fully intended it to be a racial insult, meaning I wouldn't put my money on it, but it's still quite possible.