"person of color"

[mizznicole]

I’m wondering about the phrase “person of color”. Several of you said this is an offensive thing to say. However, I have definitely heard of liberal-leaning groups using this type of wording to promote themselves, especially organizations for “women of color”. Did it fall out of favor? Is there a certain way of using it that’s wrong? Just curious. Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut

P.S Here are some links of groups that use this phrase so you know what I’m talking about.

coloredgirls.org/
womenofcolor.net/
womenofcolornetwork.org/

 

[Eucharisted]

Person of color is a political correct term. I tend to use terms like white man or woman, black man or woman, etc. You shouldn’t be offended by the color of your skin.

 

[SeekerJen]

I’m not offended by the color of my skin when I use “person of color” to describe myself. Neither is my father. Perhaps we should choose how we describe ourselves, not tell other people how we think they should describe themselves.

 

[mizznicole]

Well that’s just it - I thought this was a PC term…but on the post below several said it ought not be said. I’m really just curious about it from a linguistic point of view.

 

[4Squarebaby]

It is a political term used to link all nonwhite people into a interest group bloc. Like all racial terms it is as much political as biological so in one country an Arab will be a person of color but in another country that same Arab will be white.

 

[ack]

Here’s a New York Times article (20 years old) describing the origins and (former) meaning of the term:

query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE2DD153CF933A15752C1A96E948260&sec=&spon=

Apparently, “person of color” was once the “preferred” way to refer to non-whites, but a poster on another thread just said that it is now offensive?

I remember hearing the term used in the 90s, but not so much now.

 

[KCtheMommy]

Why are you bringing this up?

I don’t get it – the thread where it was mentioned would have sufficed. This thread is not necessary – in my opinion.

 

[MamaZona]

I’m wondering about the phrase “person of color”. Several of you said this is an offensive thing to say. However, I have definitely heard of liberal-leaning groups using this type of wording to promote themselves, especially organizations for “women of color”. Did it fall out of favor? Is there a certain way of using it that’s wrong? Just curious. Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut

P.S Here are some links of groups that use this phrase so you know what I’m talking about.

coloredgirls.org/
womenofcolor.net/
womenofcolornetwork.org/

You know, it’s funny, I never taught my kids to describe someone as black or white. I don’t refer to people as “the black man” or “the white person”. My kids describe people as having a dark complexion and dark hair, but not as “black” or anything like that.

I don’t describe people that way. It’s just kind of a habit. I’m not saying that makes me good or bad, I just don’t think of it that way. I tend to think of skin color the way I would eye color or hair color.

My son actually got a bad grade on a reading comprehension test over it once. I went in to a conference with the teacher and she said he missed the point of the passage because he wouldn’t answer that the boy in the passage met another black boy at the library.

In the passage, a little boy went to the library and saw a boy “just like him”…my son answered the boy met another child in the library around the same age. He refused to answer using anything that identified the presumed race of the child.

When describing his friend to me once, who has some African-American heritage in his family tree, my son described him as “the boy with the curly dark hair and dark complexion”. I don’t think it really occurs to him to do otherwise. I’m really proud of that. Maybe that’s stupid, but I am.

Really, this makes sense to me, because someone can look “black” but come from East India, Africa, Jamaica, Central America, or be a mixture of several different ethnicities (African, Spanish, etc).

It’s just skin pigmentation. If people want to be defined by it, I guess that’s okay, but I’ve taught my kids to identify individual traits rather than race. We’re human beings before we’re anything else, anyway.

 

[ELKnight]

My son actually got a bad grade on a reading comprehension test over it once. I went in to a conference with the teacher and she said he missed the point of the passage because he wouldn’t answer that the boy in the passage met another black boy at the library.

In the passage, a little boy went to the library and saw a boy “just like him”…my son answered the boy met another child in the library around the same age. He refused to answer using anything that identified the presumed race of the child.

It doesn’t sound right that an 8 year old’s school books are discussing racial issues anyways. It’s too complex. Good for him for not getting pulled into that.

I think the PC term for different races changes every decade or so. Eventually there will be so many bi-racial and multi-racial people that people won’t be described by race but by light, medium, or dark complexion (much like curly hair or brown eyes). Probably not in my life time, but I am still pretty young.

It’s hard for me to understand why people are always making such a big deal about race. I have never met anyone who has had a problem with people because of their skin color.

 

[OutinChgoburbs]

I tried the PC way.

My younger kids call people by color, but because “black” people are not black, and because they are girls, other people are chocolate colored, coffee with cream colored, coffee colored, sorta reddish, and sorta yellowish. I am beige. They are pinky-peach.

 

[pamnbam]

I have no problem if organizations refer to themselves as “[insert person] of color,” as it’s a way to describe descendants of rich histories. Some organizations call themselves such to attract many members from diverse ethnic groups. I know that was the case in my “Women of Color” club in college.

Personally, though, I prefer to be called “black.” Some people of ethnic minorities prefer to be personally called something other than a “person of color.” Once the world refers to all minorites as a “person of color,” each ethnic group loses a bit of their individuality. Instead, someone may prefer to be called Korean-American or Hispanic-American, even though they are technically “persons of color.”

I feel if someone absolutely must address another based on ethnic background, just ask the person first to see what that particular person may prefer.

 

[Feanaro_s_Wife]

**Thanks for this thread Mizznicole:thumbsup:

And a big thank you to MamaZona for describing with such detail how to teach our children to view people of different races/ethnic backgrounds.

I actually just brought this topic up to hubby the other night because I was wondering how to address the issue with Lily when it comes up. In my city growing up there were not a lot of black people. I went to school with one that I can remember. There were probably a few more in high school but I’m not sure. But hubby grew up in a city with a large black population and had many black friends.

To me, saying “black” just sounds wrong somehow. So I asked what he called his best friend (and what the guy preferred) and he said…black.**

 

[mizznicole]

Why are you bringing this up?

I don’t get it – the thread where it was mentioned would have sufficed. This thread is not necessary – in my opinion.

Coz I didn’t see your other responses before I asked this question, and you weren’t the only one that brought it up. I didn’t want to hijack the other thread, and I thought it was interesting. It’s not a loaded question. I never use the phrase myself. It’s really just trying to understand the cultural use of language.

 

[noclevername]

You missed the point of the orignal thread. People weren’t offended by the term “person of color”, they were offended because the OP used that term to describe her kid’s girlfriend when the girlfriend’s color was irrelevant for what she wanted to talk about. When someone uses that term unnecessisarily, it is offensive. In the original post, there was no need for the OP to mention skin color at all.

 

[MamaZona]

It doesn’t sound right that an 8 year old’s school books are discussing racial issues anyways. It’s too complex. Good for him for not getting pulled into that.

I think the PC term for different races changes every decade or so. Eventually there will be so many bi-racial and multi-racial people that people won’t be described by race but by light, medium, or dark complexion (much like curly hair or brown eyes). Probably not in my life time, but I am still pretty young.

It’s hard for me to understand why people are always making such a big deal about race. I have never met anyone who has had a problem with people because of their skin color.

My son understood it, he just wouldn’t go there I know race is a big thing, and it should be discussed, but I really think we all need to work on removing the weight of “race” from my son’s generation and younger. My son knows all about Martin Luther King. We’ve read books on the topic, etc., and discussed the concept of “race”. But, I’ve stressed we are human beings first and foremost. All the other things are just aspects and attributes–parts of the whole person. But the whole is much more than the sum of those parts.

His friend has a mother with some African heritage, but also Hispanic and European/Caucasian. To call him “black” would be about as accurate the people who think I’m Scandanavian or Irish because of my skin tone and hair…when in fact I’m American and, true to form, have no clue who is in my boney pile.

Growing up I had a “black” friend who had blonde hair and blue eyes. She was considered “black” because her dad was “black” but her mom wasn’t and they weren’t even originally from this country.

It’s like with these people on the news that yammer on and on about Obama being the first “black” president. Black because his dad was black? Why not “white”? His mom was “white” doesn’t she count?

How about we just make things easy and just call him President like all the other people we’ve elected in the past?

Sheesh.

I hope, by the time my grandkids come into this world, people are so mixed up and melded together that we can’t sort it out anymore.

 

[MamaZona]

**Thanks for this thread Mizznicole:thumbsup:

And a big thank you to MamaZona for describing with such detail how to teach our children to view people of different races/ethnic backgrounds.

I actually just brought this topic up to hubby the other night because I was wondering how to address the issue with Lily when it comes up. In my city growing up there were not a lot of black people. I went to school with one that I can remember. There were probably a few more in high school but I’m not sure. But hubby grew up in a city with a large black population and had many black friends.

To me, saying “black” just sounds wrong somehow. So I asked what he called his best friend (and what the guy preferred) and he said…black.**

Thanks, I spent a lot of time growing up on the east coast near D.C. I get that some people self identify as part of the black race, culture. I just don’t think we should make a big deal out of it otherwise, though. Kind of like, if someone wants to call themself Latino or Hispanic or Chicano or Mexican…that’s fine, but I’m not going to go around identifying someone that way, myself. It’s not my place. I guess that’s where I’m going with that.

You don’t want to accidentally call a Puertorican a Chicano or Mexican or vice versa. You’ll tick someone off royally. People have pride in their heritage, they should be able to identify the way they want rather than people taking a guess at it and labeling them. Like calling someone “black” who has white, hispanic, and African heritage.

 

[SeekerJen]

People have pride in their heritage, they should be able to identify the way they want rather than people taking a guess at it and labeling them. Like calling someone “black” who has white, hispanic, and African heritage.

But if that person chooses to call him- or herself “black”, is it your place to criticize that person? If not- that’s what you did in your previous post regarding P-E Obama. He chooses to identify as black. His skin color means that someone meeting him for the first time will probably assume that he is black. He is married to a black woman and has two daughters who are identified as black. 50 years ago someone like him would not have been even allowed to vote in some regions of the country, let alone run for office. So THAT’s why people are making a big deal about a black president. We all know that his mother was white. But every single president-elect up to this point has been white. He is the first president-elect with a minority racial background. THAT is the big deal.

I’m biracial myself. Mom is as white as they come, Dad’s parents were both Mexican immigrants. When I have to fill out a form, if I can only check one race box, I check “other”. If I can check more than one, I tick off both “white” and “latino”. However, when people look at me oddly and then ask “so- what ARE you?”, I usually respond with “Mexican-American” because 1) it’s true, 2) it signifies that I don’t want to hear the racist comments about “those others” because even though my skin is light, I’m NOT all white and I’m NOT in cahoots WRT denigrating other races (you’d be amazed at how often this comes up), 3) it’s fun to overturn the stereotypes. I’m neither lazy nor uneducated. Maybe some of my relatives are undereducated, but that’s because they were working so hard that schooling took a back seat. And yes, we are here legally.

 

[Just_wondering]

I tried the PC way.

My younger kids call people by color, but because “black” people are not black, and because they are girls, other people are chocolate colored, coffee with cream colored, coffee colored, sorta reddish, and sorta yellowish. I am beige. They are pinky-peach.

I understand your kids, 'Burbs. If I have to describe someone’s skin colour, I like to describe it accurately. My aunt likes to be called “black”. She’s really the colour of dark chocolate. Her older child is also “black”, and her younger child is mixed race. He has lovely latte-coloured skin and light brown hair. He does not like to be called black, white, or brown. He is just himself. I remember learning at the age of five or six, at Christmas time, that my cousin was black. I remember telling her as if it was a great discovery I’d made: “Guess what, R? You’re black!” She dissolved into peals of laughter and told me she knew that already. I demanded to know how she knew she was black, if her skin was brown. Kids.

I grew up in an area where there are very few black people. Lots of other immigrants from a variety of countries - India, Pakistan, Japan, China, Korea, the Philippines, wherever… - and people were just people most of the time. When we had to identify people by their heritage, it usually went like this: “Well, I was talking to a girl - I think she’s Indian, but maybe middle eastern. Gorgeous eyes, anyway - and she said…” or “You know that guy that just moved in down the street - Asian guy, on the tall side, might be Japanese?”

What’s so hard about just identifying people from where they come from? Although, come to think of it, it’s probably easier in a place where most people are recent immigrants. If you’ve been in the country for generations, it’d probably be irritating to be called “African” rather than just plain American, as if you hadn’t earned it yet.

 

[shannyk]

I think people really over think this stuff honestly.

I’m white and I don’t have a problem being called that.

I’ve never met a black person who minded being called black, my nearest and dearest friend won’t allow me to call him anything but. He doesn’t like people doing semantic gymnastics to appear politically correct.

I’ve never met a hispanic person who minded being called hispanic, but then they will usually elaborate on their specific origin, mexico, sounth america somewhere, you get the jist.

Person of color, I think it harkens back to ‘colored’ is why people feel squeamish about it, maybe. I can see the need to use it for an organization i guess, but for individuals describing each other, I don’t see a need for it.

WHN NOT say someone is black? Is there something wrong with being black? When we say black here in the US we know what we mean, we mean someone of african american descent. What is wrong with that?

Using a word to describe how someone looks is not stating that that is the whole of what and who they are, it’s just a descriptor.

 

[MamaZona]

But if that person chooses to call him- or herself “black”, is it your place to criticize that person? If not- that’s what you did in your previous post regarding P-E Obama. He chooses to identify as black. His skin color means that someone meeting him for the first time will probably assume that he is black. He is married to a black woman and has two daughters who are identified as black. 50 years ago someone like him would not have been even allowed to vote in some regions of the country, let alone run for office. So THAT’s why people are making a big deal about a black president. We all know that his mother was white. But every single president-elect up to this point has been white. He is the first president-elect with a minority racial background. THAT is the big deal.

I’m biracial myself. Mom is as white as they come, Dad’s parents were both Mexican immigrants. When I have to fill out a form, if I can only check one race box, I check “other”. If I can check more than one, I tick off both “white” and “latino”. However, when people look at me oddly and then ask “so- what ARE you?”, I usually respond with “Mexican-American” because 1) it’s true, 2) it signifies that I don’t want to hear the racist comments about “those others” because even though my skin is light, I’m NOT all white and I’m NOT in cahoots WRT denigrating other races (you’d be amazed at how often this comes up), 3) it’s fun to overturn the stereotypes. I’m neither lazy nor uneducated. Maybe some of my relatives are undereducated, but that’s because they were working so hard that schooling took a back seat. And yes, we are here legally.

Nah, I don’t have a problem with people self-identifying and I understand the historical significance, but I just wish it wasn’t such a focal point or made some big controversial point. I’d say the same if it were a woman and they were making a big thing out of gender.

Please don’t take me the wrong way. I really love people. I just love people in general. I’m really sappy that way. I’m not trying to be PC. I just wish we didn’t have barriers between us of any sort. I think of everyone as a brother or sister. I think it comes from not really having family beyond the one I’ve made for myself.

My oldest, dearest friend comes from a family of illegals. I think they’re wonderfully warm people. I’m glad they snuck over the border cuz I never would’ve met her.

We do over think these things, though. I tie my own intestines in knots over this stuff because I want people to know I really do genuinely care about their feelings and where they came from.