Norway may have it's first colored minister ... and she's a woman too!

Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen, born on Martinique in the Carribean, has been a long time public servant and has worked in several organizations, among them SMED (Centre against ethnic discrimination) and in the UDI, the state org for immigration. She withdrew from her position as leader of UDI in 2006 after a 'scandal' broke in the Norw. media, in which the UDI had granted 197 refugees from northern Iraq a permanent stay in Norway, although they supposedly didn't had the right to get a permanent stay. This was blown into a media storm by the more or less racist Norw. press, and she was forced to resign.

Now it seems she's back, and may lend the Labour/Socialist Left govt. a sorely needed bit of humanitarian credibility if she becomes the new Minister for integration. Not without the press turning against her, of course, just as they have turned against the L/SL govt. from their inauguration in 2005.
The headline reads:
"The scandal boss probably becomes minister for intergration"
http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2007/10/18/515418.html

That's odd.

Did I miss something? Did this term become acceptable when I wasn't looking?

I have not heard it since I was a kid in the '50s.

Norway has been an all white society up until the 70's, and that the mutli culture that exists in the US is much younger here.

I will of course apologize if this term means anything offensive here :-)

And why the negative response to positive news? :-)

This will send important signals and I have waited a long time for immigrants to also be included in the top layer of politics, on minister level.

Here it is a fairly offensive term. Positive news or not, if someone were to use that term speaking or writing to someone in the US, it would be considered very offensive. Not on the level of the N word, but also nowhere near acceptable on day to day usage.

I'm sorry to have offended people. What is the correct term to use?
It's a difficult matter, I know.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

:eyes:

Even CNN calls Blacks from France African Americans:

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0511/06/snn.01.html

Of course we must demand everyone in world to use our vernacular. :eyes:

I was looking for that video but could not find it. Thanks for posting it.

I mean I was always under the impression that (colored) was one of those terms that my bigoted grandparents used that would make everyone around them not from their generation cringe whenever they said it.

and may not be aware of our current vernacular. Please don't look up the work black in German, latin, or Spanish or you may fall out of your chair.

Check the poster's profile.

Not a PC thing, but just a odd term. When I hear "colored," think of those black and white outlines that kids color with green and purple Crayolas.

Anyhoo, good for her!

I stand corrected :-)

Is there a "Ministry of Integration" for her to administer?

We could learn a lot from Norway.

It's called the dept. for labour and integration. A lot of Europeans are on the move as a result of the EU free market, and is also working in Norway, so I guess it's practical.

We could learn a lot from the US as well. Especially me, it appears ;-)

the photo is obviously only partly oppressed! /sarcasm

:-)

:shrug:

:applause: :party: :thumbsup:

Americans can be very touchy about language. But if you're writing in English, black is always good.


And hopeful congratulations to Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen!


:toast:

I didn't realize this was an touchy term in the US. I'll be sure to take note of that ;-)

By now it's official, by the way! She's the new minister for integration, and also labour if they don't shift around on the dept. structure. In total, three ministers was changed this time.

Good on her! And good luck with the new job!


Here are all ministers, upper row comes in, lower row goes out.


On edit:
She is the new minsiter for equal opportunities, not integration. Norw.: "likestilling". The media speculation was wrong in that respect.

He's the new minister for the environment, Erik Solheim. It's interesting seen in the light of Gore's Nobel prize that the govt. put's this man in the very important position. He is from the Socialist Left, and is an experienced peace negotiator from the conflict in Sri Lanka. You can tell that the Nobel award also has implications for Norw. homeland politics.

Instead of "colored person" say
"person of color".

See the huge difference?


Bleah.... sometimes keeping up with what is PC is a pain. On the other hand, I don't like offending people so I try...

Actually I prefer the term "person" to "black person" or "African-American person" or whatever.

I agree. Don't usually mention that myself, and instead mention people by what they do or their achievements. Only this was kind of a milestone in Norw. politics, so I planted my big feet in the salad ;-)

and only have their narrow frame of reference to see each situation. I welcome your posts from another part of the world. It's certainly a bit of fresh air between the usual, heated threads. I'm sure you'll see more people comment on it without reading all the previous replies.

Tusen takk

I appreciate being allowed to participate here, although this board of course is mostly about US politics. Which I comment freely, so I don't mind some zinging comments when being offensive, even when not intentional. It is a DU thing.
It turned out well, the debate ;-) Thanks again.

First, thanks for the news, mogster. Its is, indeed, good news and, as you say, a milestone in Norway.

I was ready to be all huffy and puffy about your use of 'colored' to describe her. First I went to your link to see if the term was used there. The article is in Norwegian, so, clearly, that told me nothing.

Then I read the other comments about the use of the term 'colored' and see that you didn't know how it might be taken and you accepted the comments gracefully. Well done and good for you!

I hope this gets seen by many others on DU who act with a knee jerk and shoot off their mouths before they realize what is REALLY being said. In your mind the term 'colored' was a neutral descriptor. To find fault with that would be silly and, in fact, counterproductive.

Thanks, I appreciated that.

Don't worry, I see the err and when people post references to the 50's, it's enough to take some self-criticism. And this is a community where it is possible to do it :-)
People will be people no matter, and I've jumped to conclusions myself in some instances on this board. It turned out OK, although some unfortunate use of words. The term does not carry so much negative value here.
Peace to you :-)

"Directorate of Immigration" is the translation of Utlendingsdirektoratet offered by Aftenposten.

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1253660.ece

She's more qualified to be President of the USA than duhbya is.

She would probably think of that as a difficult job to handle, though ;-)

She was a decent person doing a good job, and I did not agree to her being forced to leave, at all. We should help people, especially from Iraq and Afghanistan. We have no right to go to war with people, but when we do we should at least keep a refuge open for those trying to escape from it. See this post about an episode this summer. The Labour/Soialist Left govt. should up their effort on the humanitarian side, and Ramin-Osmundsen's post as minister is a good sign.