HomeAsian AmericansPresident Obama Signs Bill Banning the Terms Oriental & Negro
Don't Be Fooled by Gift Card Scams

President Obama Signs Bill Banning the Terms Oriental & Negro

Grace Meng
Rep Grace Meng (D-NY)

By Ed Diokno

Without fanfare, President Obama signed the bill that would ban the use of the word “Oriental” in federal legislation.

“The term ‘Oriental’ has no place in federal law and at long last this insulting and outdated term will be gone for good,” the author of the bill, Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.), said in a statement.

RELATED: ‘Oriental’ reinforces the Western point of view

President Barack Obama signed H.R. 4238 on May 20, which amends two federal acts from the ’70s that define “minorities” with terms that are now insensitive or outdated.

Two sections in the U.S. Code written in the 1970s governing public health and civil rights attempted to define minority groups by using the outdated terms.

 

Thanks to the new law, references to the term “Oriental” will be replaced with “Asian American” and the word “Negro” will be changed to “African American.”

 

AsAmNews is an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. You can show your support by liking our Facebook page at  www.facebook.com/asamnews, following us on Twitter, sharing our stories, interning or joining our staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Latest

Worth the Time

Must Read

Regular Features

Latest

Discover more from AsAmNews

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading