Person / People of color (minorities, kids, Americans, thought)

[Neutre]

Hi!

How prevalent is the term person/people of color?

Do you personally still use it?

Thank you!


Neutre

[macmeal]

This is a repeat of an earlier post. The term "person of color", as far as I know, came into use during the upheavals of the 1960's. It has 're-emerged' several times, always 'fading from use' after awhile because of its inherent silliness.

Basically, "person of color" says more about what a person is NOT..(i.e., they're not white), rather than what they ARE. It's a negative term, used when the speaker is stretching to make a point.

"People of Color" describes no group, no philopsophy, no culture, and no agenda. Try as you will, you'll never find a "people of color restaurant", or hear a "people of color" musical album, or learn of how "people of color" celebrate a holiday. "People of Color" is no more an accurate label for ANYBODY, than "people who are over 5'8" "....or "People who hate broccoli"..or "people who like dancing".

Obviously, ALL of these labels describe people who do exist...but just as obviously, no conclusions can be drawn from these labels, because they're too broad, too vague, and too inexact to be of any practical use...

To sum it all up..no, I DON'T use the term. It's silly. (My wife, who's 'of color', agrees. She ALSO finds 'native American' hopelessly 'stuffy', and prefers to call herself an "Indian". I've heard my grown kids talk about 'native Americans', but ALWAYS when they're being 'silly' together. Otherwise, it's always 'Indian')...

[Neutre]

I never really thought about it, but "Native American" does sound silly indeed, because everybody who was born and grew up in America is a native American.


I find the way Canadians say First Nations and Visible Minorities quite nice.

[Benicar]

No, I don't use it. Macmeal summed it quite nicely. We all have color; otherwise the so-called ‘white’ people would be invisible.

[Neutre]

Originally Posted by Benicar

We all have color; otherwise the so-called ‘white’ people would be invisible.

You're right. Even 'white' is a color.

[MiamiRob]

who still says that?

[Neutre]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were still some people who think saying "people of color" is more polite than "non whites".

A dear German friend of mine used the term "colored" to avoid saying "black".
I jokingly asked her if she, being white, was "transparent".
Well, she was trying to be polite but ended up sounding funny.

[Yeledaf]

I tend to think of myself as a rosy pink color. Most of my black friends are a nice dark chocolate, with a few mochas mixed in. My Asian wife is the color of the sand on a caribbean island on a sunny day...