The term "person of colour"

"Ethnic minorities" in the white sense of the word actually constitute a global majority. That's why (no matter what you feel about "person of colour") it's usually a bad idea to say it, because racial issues negatively affect the vast majority of people.

It's basically a somewhat crude way of separating whites from non-whites in a way that doesn't establish white as a default.

White is not a majority, and that is one of the many reasons why LGBT rights aren't directly comparable to racial rights (and even worse makes it seem like all LGBT people are white)

I don't like it, but I don't really know another term that encompasses the idea it expresses.

 

It depends on how you define western, and also how you define white. Often, people define western as majority white.

In any case, in the larger scale of the world, the west is not a self-sufficient bubble. It relies heavily on the majority of the world for labour and goods, which makes race a global issue connected with many other things.

 

Describing people as 'coloured' is actually very outdated in UK and is considered less PC than 'black' 'asian' 'hispanic' etc or for a catch all term 'ethnic minorities'.

Essentially I agree with what you say, only that you're wrong in that 'person of colour' is the preferred term; it's not, you very rarely hear that in the UK.

I disagree. It's absurd to collect a chinese kid and a black kid in the same demographic, just for being non white. I'd say it does establish being white as the norm, as if you're anything but you're thrown in with every other non white despite there being a massive diversity in background with 'coloureds'.

'Ethnic minorities' goes much further than talking about just colour (you could be white and an ethnic minority in the UK) and includes within it distinct ethnicities rather than just lumping them together.

 

It's odd to me, since the term "colored" is often used as a demeaning term by old people. Usually those who were alive during the 30s. I.e "look at that colored boy".

My grandma used it to mainly refer to black people.

 

PoC is basically a fancy way to say "colored person", and it also implies that there are just whites and non-whites. Yeah, I can't say I really get it, either.

 

I typically say black white Hispanic Asian ECT
But eh.

 

Calling someone a "colored" person is an old-fashioned and now considered derogatory term.

Calling someone a "person of color" is the latest PC term for any non-white person, it seems to change every few years. It's used mostly by white people who want to prove how progressive and non-racist they are. It is a silly term though, since, as you note, white people have color too. And it does re-enforce white as the norm, you're either just a regular person, i.e. white, or you're a person of color.

 

I have honestly not heard this in common speech, and it sounds extremely antiquated. What's wrong with calling a certain race by its normal name? Black, white, Indian, Hispanic, etc. It's not racist to acknowledge people are different, but IMO it sort of is to separate whites from everybody else.

^^So basically I agree totally with Rakkaus lol.

 

I dont care if you are white, tan, black, blue, or purple to me you are a human. although if you are purple or blue you should probably go to the hospital as might not be breathing well.

 

I see it a ton on tumblr. It's probably where it came from.

 

"People of color" is an academic term. It is to black, Latin, Asian as "queer" is to LGBT. It's basically an umbrella expression meant to describe an aggregation of marginalized groups of individuals.

I don't really think we need to call it a "PC" term. It's not as if it's being imposed from the outside. And I don't think it's really up to us to be suggesting people ought not use the phrase, given that some African American academics use it to discuss race in a way that's inclusive not only of black Americans but also other ethnic groups experiencing racism. The whole point is to avoid erasure of people by reducing them to "black."

 

It should be "people who lack color" since white is technically all colors and darker skin means they reflect less light.

 

"People of color" is definitely the PC term that's in fashion these days with the American liberal intelligentsia who take themselves oh-so-seriously, I see it all the time on the pages of The Nation, Mother Jones, and The New Republic.

(PC could even stand for "people of color"! )

People are free to use the phrase, and other people are free to point out that it is a silly phrase.

"LGBT" and "queer" exist because it is acknowledged that we are a minority who are outside the norm of the human race. Nobody disputes that heterosexual, cisgender people are the 'norm', while we are a small distinct minority group. And while there is a multitude of diversity within the LGBTQ community, we are all ultimately united by having a non-normative sexual orientation and/or gender identity. The only thing that unites a black African person, a Chinese person, a Pakistani person, and a Mexican person...is the fact that they are not white.

"People of color" implies that white people constitute the norm. You are grouping together a whole bunch of distinct groups with nothing in common with each other unless you define them all by the fact that they are non-white.

An equivalent would be to refer to gay people as "people of sexual orientations", as if straight people did not have sexual orientations. Straight people have orientations, they're just different orientations. White people have colors, they're just different colors. PoC is a silly phrase.

 

This is very true.

I think PoC just means who can "pass" as white and is seen as one by society. By law and treaty, at least in the United States, people of North African and Middle Eastern descent are considered "White" but may be phenotypically seen as a PoC. The "appearance" of a person (i.e. phenotype) is what historically has been used as the basis for discrimination and the term basically tries to lump all of those people who may be subject to discrimination under a general umbrella.

However, I suspect this term may be more prevalent in areas where the "white" population is heterogeneous and discrimination has usually been in the sense of "white" vs "others" (i.e. "persons of color") because discrimination on the basis of ethnicity has occurred in areas where the "white" population is a more homogenous ethnicity and has been discriminatory towards another ethnicity that would be lumped under the "white" umbrella.

 

Nothing is politically correct when it gets called "politically correct." That phrase itself is so stupid it needs to go away. No term or discourse that marginalized people have used for themselves or asked others to use has ever become politically correct. That's what it is to be marginalized. You are politically incorrect, in all your humanity, all of the time, until you cease to be marginalized.

That some liberal and actual left academics sometimes use the term, and other people can then call it "PC" is itself a demonstration of contestation where we can call doubt on the idea of "political correctness" as a concept at all.

How do First Amendment violations happen between individuals discussing things? Did you feel censored when I said "I don't think people should say it's PC?" If so, I guess I'm a little concerned that I would be interpreted in this way. And I have to think you must have felt censored if you felt the need to say "people are free to use the phrase and others to criticize it." Yes, obviously. Where did I put that in question?

I'm a well-known asshole, so you're free to disagree, but I think what unites LGBTWTFBBQ people is our experience of gender-based oppression, whether it be sexism, heterosexism, or cissexism (to the degree these are any different than sexism, but that's a whole other treatise for later). I reason, by analogy, that what unites non-white people is the experience of racism. My aim here, in defending "people of color" as a phrase is not to reduce anyone. Precisely the opposite--I'm trying to acknowledge the multitude. There are many different kinds of non-white people. There are also many different kinds of people who aren't cisgender heterosexuals. Nobody gets pissed off that we say LGBTWTFBBQ or queer, saying "the only thing that unites L, G, B, T and WTFBBQ people is that they are not straight."

I didn't invent the term. I just read and listen to the work of anti-racist activists and academics who aren't white. It's a term they use, and I'm just gonna go ahead and respect their judgement. I'm gonna go ahead and give them credit for having thought things through.