The Question and Answer Board

[Bob Zumbrunnen]

Ross Perot used the word "they" when speaking about the Black Community at a NAACP conference and lost the entire black vote

Actually, the phrase, which he used *repeatedly* was "you people".

I shuddered when I heard that. Didn't really imply racism in my opinion, but it did show him as a person who'd grown up in an older culture and hadn't paying much attention lately. At a time that racial distinctions were (appropriately) becoming more blurry and less meaningful, he used "enlightened separatist" language. He also solidly had my vote until that happened.