Seattle Bans Potentially Offensive Words Like 'Citizen' and 'Brown Bag'
State employees in the city of Seattle have been advised that certain terms can be potentially offensive and may no longer be used in official documents and discussions.
The city's Office of Civil Rights instructed city workers in a recent internal memo to refrain from using er terms "citizen" and "brown bag" because some may find the words offensive, according to reports from KOMO.
"Luckily, we've got options," Elliott Bronstein of the Office for Civil Rights wrote in the memo obtained by the station. "For 'citizens,' how about 'residents?'"
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Bronstein, during an interview with Seattle's KIRO Radio, revealed the phrase "brown bag" had been previously used to judge a person based on their skin color.
"For a lot of particularly African-American community members, the phrase brown bag does bring up associations with the past when a brown bag was actually used, I understand, to determine if people's skin color was light enough to allow admission to an event or to come into a party that was being held in a private home," Bronstein said.
According to the memo, city employees should use the terms "lunch-and-learn" or "sack lunch" instead of "brown bag."
Bronstein told KIRO Radio the word "citizen" should be avoided because there are a numerous people who live in Seattle are residents, not citizens.
"They are legal residents of the United States and they are residents of Seattle. They pay taxes and if we use a term like citizens in common use, then it doesn't include a lot of folks," Bronstein said.
Officials said avoiding certain terms and phrases is not unusual and are insisting it is not censorship.
"This is standard language that has been used by test publishers for many years and allows our students to complete practice exams without distraction," a Department of Education spokeswoman said in a statement.
