>Is it a racist term?

No but it would be if you or your teacher said "Nigger Sheep"
Sheep/People...what's the correlation? I would ask the teacher if she thought Black people were sheep or animals. The whole subject she brought up is suspect.

I keep hearing and reading about white folks comparing Black people to animals. TV Guide compared Tiger Woods to the race horse "Secretariat" and other people to thoroughbreds (athletes). Once a older white lady admired my painting of Black/African dancers and right after told me she liked to collect monkeys. Come on!

>Because
>today in English class my
>teacher was talking about the
>biblical origin of the term
>"black sheep" and defined as
>someone who goes against what
>everybody else is doing, and
>usually it is wrong.

Black people are often at the bottom of the social totem pole. Some Black people are against the white supremacist system and are against the mainstream, standard social groups. Other than that there is not correlation between black sheep and Black people.

>She then proceeded to say that
>"people of color" are often
>offended by this term because
>it says that they are
>doing something wrong and going
>astray.

I don't mind being called the black sheep of a social group because I follow the beat of my own drummer and I reject the mainstream as much as I can. My path and my color are two different things. I choose to go my own way but I do not choose my color.

"Doing something wrong or going astray" is only perception. Some white people think it's alright that Black people are seen as threats or lower on the totem pole. Is this perception true? No.

>First I thought about the group
>Black Sheep and wondered if
>they would use the term
>for their name even if
>it was somewhat derogatory, or
>if it didn't exist and
>they just used it to
>describe their unique-ness.

What's derogatory about going against the grain if that means freedom or peace from mental or social oppression/conditioning?

I agree that your teacher doesn't know about Black people, our heritage or culture. The sad thing is that there are many so-called educators out there that are misinformed or ignorant. They're just maintaining the system that perpetuates racism whether they are conscious of it or not.

>Anyways, I'd like to have some
>information for a rebuttal to
>my teacher and to be
>educated about the term in
>general, as well.

The only way to combat racism is to be aware and that means exposing oneself to another group's way of life or studying about them in books written by people who were/are involved in improving the system or destroying it (racism) for Black people.

There is just too much information out there for people to remain in a mental cave, oblivious to the world around them.


"Know thyself"

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you". So we may boldly say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
-- Hebrews 13:5,6

"There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path"
--Morpheus in "The Matrix"

"It's our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities"- Dumbledore to Harry Potter "Chamber of Secrets"

<--- Blame this lady for Nutty.