General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy is the term "people of color" still used?
The way I understand it, every single human is a different shade of brown. There are no people who are literally black, white, etc. Another thing I want to touch on is how it includes both racial groups AND ethnic groups. My favorite example is how Latinos are considered "people of color", even though there are many who look like the average white person, as there are those who are darker-skinned. This is why I don't care for the term "people of color". I just think that it is outdated and somewhat misleading.
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)there are definitely people who qualify as virtually having no pigmentation at all.
Hispanics that look white often aren't discriminated against in person. They are when their name on the resume says Jose Dominguez.
BainsBane
(53,127 posts)I take that personally. I do have some pigmentation. The bitter cold turns me bluish, as you can see in my selfie below.
Pretzel_Warrior
(8,361 posts)BainsBane
(53,127 posts)who tan quite nicely. We also have the largest Somali population in the US.
As for me, I descend from the pasty peoples of the British isles. I'm pale even for a Minnesotan. Essentially I verge on translucent.
WatermelonRat
(340 posts)I once got sunburned on an overcast day...
AverageJoe90
(10,745 posts)My knowledge in this particular regard is admittedly a bit rusty, though; maybe it originated with the black power movement?
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)traveling in various states during segregation. ... being from up north, I recall asking my mother as a little kid what those signs meant when we stopped at gas stations for gas and also motels, etc.
redqueen
(115,108 posts)Frenchie Cat answered the question succinctly in post 8.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)Gman
(24,780 posts)She's so white she's clear. (With apologies to Bill Murray and Larry Bird for stealing their joke). She's that white.
El_Johns
(1,805 posts)''I've seen 'people of color' used in English as early as a 1793 pamphlet about a yellow-fever epidemic,'' reports Prof. Wilson Moses of the Afro-American studies program at Boston University, but the citation is not at hand. ''It was probably used earlier than that, however. It later became an attempt by the free black community to dissociate itself from the Africans, and was replaced during the 1920's, when 'Negro' became the militant word to use. You will probably find 'people of color' rooted in French.''
Gail Anderson, at New York's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, agrees: French-speaking colonies were the first to use 'gens de couleur liberes', which translates as ''free people of color.''
She cites an 1818 pamphlet in English entitled ''Report of the Committee, to Whom was Referred the Memorial of the President and Board of Managers of the American Society for Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States.'' (Who-Whomniks who object to this use of their favorite word can write to the Committee, all of whose members are safely dead.)
Perhaps the association of 'free' with the phrase 'people of color' gave the phrase its positive connotation; speculation aside, today 'people of color' is well received by most blacks while 'colored people' is not.
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/20/magazine/on-language-people-of-color.html
libodem
(19,288 posts)Gens de couleur liberes in the book I just started, Cane River. Odd how you learn a term then start seeing it.
RKP5637
(67,112 posts)FrenchieCat
(68,867 posts)doesn't qualify them as being considered White/Caucasian....
It is a way of putting various ethnic groups who have been historically discriminated against
under one umbrella.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)JustAnotherGen
(32,025 posts)One of my favorites!
LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)Good to see you!
Journeyman
(15,044 posts)can't post the comic itself, but here's the link:
http://www.thecomicstrips.com/store/add.php?iid=85999
enough
(13,270 posts)TeeYiYi
(8,028 posts)TYY
Throd
(7,208 posts)I'm a white guy, but a pretty dark one (black hair, brown eyes, olive skin). Compared to a very blonde, blue eyed guy, would I be a "person of color"? In Ghana or Indonesia, I would be the person of color. Seems like an antiquated term.
M0rpheus
(885 posts)kwassa
(23,340 posts)M0rpheus
(885 posts)Let's just say that I really want this to be sarcasm.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)my, the learning curve is steep around here.
Squinch
(51,083 posts)CheapShotArtist
(333 posts)How smart of you to assume what I am without even seeing me in person.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)BainsBane
(53,127 posts)Maybe someone was maybe posting from Siberia?
JustAnotherGen
(32,025 posts)Damn you M0rpheus!
Post the Eddie Murphy one now!
M0rpheus
(885 posts)I got you covered though.
JustAnotherGen
(32,025 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Then considered the alternative...
So now it's happy time!
M0rpheus
(885 posts)I fixed that for you.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)CreekDog
(46,192 posts)Mail Message
On Fri Feb 28, 2014, 11:52 AM an alert was sent on the following post:
Sigh...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4576751
REASON FOR ALERT
This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.
ALERTER'S COMMENTS
If this poster didn't like my thread, why did they post this here? There is a "trash thread" button.
You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Fri Feb 28, 2014, 12:00 PM, and the Jury voted 0-6 to LEAVE IT.
Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Because talking among people who only agree with you is really, really, really boring, and really, really, really dumb.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Alerting on "SIGH" ?? Not enough for me to form an opinion on here, so leave it for not enough to even form an argument of violation of ToS on.
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Yeesh. This one apparently expects a damned low bar for the necessity of moderation.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: The alerter needs to clarify the reasons for the alert such as a note saying it was "insensitive". I initially considered this post as humorous or whimsical prior to reading the other posts within the thread.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: my response to the alerter:
Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.
Love juror #6
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)M0rpheus
(885 posts)ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)JustAnotherGen
(32,025 posts)M0rpheus
(885 posts)JustAnotherGen
(32,025 posts)Big D animated!
LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)Awesome,awesome gifs.
Number23
(24,544 posts)I really hope there are no more gifs for today. My sides TRULY cannot take it!!
M0rpheus
(885 posts)pintobean
(18,101 posts)Number23
(24,544 posts)And it's still the PERFECT response to this OP.
This thread is really magnificent. I haven't laughed so hard here in a long, long LONG time
Lex
(34,108 posts)so I figure if it's ok with them, it's certainly ok with me. Seems pretty inclusive to me.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)There are a hell of a lot more people with pigmentation than without...
pnwmom
(109,024 posts)And if we're not going to, what term should we use?
Racism is alive and well in America, no matter what terms we use to distinguish between groups.
hunter
(38,349 posts)One even boycotted my Catholic "Mexican" wedding.
A white California thing.
Guys like me didn't marry, in my grandpa's words, "Mexican girls."
Like he should talk... his male ancestors married Catholic Irish "girls" and had to run away to America for that.
Pretend WASPS.
How sad is that?
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)M0rpheus
(885 posts)"People of Color" intentionally does not include everyone.
You can't just appropriate the term because it suits you.
If there were no distinction, then it would just be "people".
M0rpheus, although I admire your attempt to educate...sometimes the work is just too much.
M0rpheus
(885 posts)'Cause there's quite enough *ish in GD today.
The OP is a drive by anyway. He won't be back.
Response to M0rpheus (Reply #34)
Post removed
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)i am a person of color to call me otherwise is racism
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)That's a RW argument. Why in the hell would you bring that here? No, you are not a person of color. You don't get to redefine what words are used for to make yourself feel more comfortable. Cut it out.
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)my dislike of the term has nothing to do with the rightwing.the term is not a good term. i am a person of color. iam not colorless. im sorry if that upsets u
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)right now.
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)a lefty? Heck yeah.
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)See how that works?
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)Answered.
Anyone can post an opinion, just don't expect to not have to defend it. That's how most discussion boards work.
That's no bull...or bulling, or whatever.
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)your opinion. youre part of the tolerance party try acting like it. im done talking to you about this you want to keep going feel free.
part of a discussion board is that people willl say things you dont like if you cant handle that stay off it or better yet just put me on ignore and move on with your life.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)Part of a discussion board (particularly a Democratic message board) is commenting on comments pulled directly from Rush, Glenn, etal. to defend one's myopic vision on racial inequality.
I don't do ignores, and it's apparent that I can handle what you've posted here because I've responded.
Also, punctuation matters.
Have a nice day.
M0rpheus
(885 posts)As a group, we've been called everything under the sun but a child of God specifically because of our color.
We've suffered real consequences as a result of our color.
But when we acknowledge our solidarity with each other with the descriptor "People of Color", it's us that are the racists, because that term doesn't include you?
And... You're serious?
I'm just askin'.
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Absolutely. Regardless of how sub-literate, inaccurate, or petulant it may be.
However, we also must recognize that individuals illustrating such sub-literacy, such inaccuracy, or such petulance are not in fact, denying you in any way your allowance to have an opinion, regardless of the melodramatic martyrdom that distinction may deny you...
M0rpheus
(885 posts)What we call ourselves as a group or individually has nothing to do with you.
Literally, nothing.
The fact that you're upset that you're not included... That's your issue.
All I can do is shake my head and walk away.
JustAnotherGen
(32,025 posts)Gifs are gifts of joy to DU!
redqueen
(115,108 posts)Love love love love love.
That's it, just love.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)Does it not embarrass you to write something like that out?
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)gollygee
(22,336 posts)If your opinion is that you are discriminated against for being white, then you are "allowed" to have it but I'm going to point out that you are completely wrong and that you should be embarrassed to say that where people who actually face discrimination due to race can read it.
leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)White is the absence of color, in the strictest sense of the definition. If you are of the Caucasian persuasion, you are not a person of color. Keep your opinion, if you will. But it would be wrong.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)You might examine your own reasons for disliking the expression so much.
rustbeltvoice
(432 posts)redqueen
(115,108 posts)Bombero1956
(3,539 posts)Melanin enhanced person is too difficult?
RC
(25,592 posts)bozo's that it unnecessarily matters to, or matters way out of proportion to the actual importance.
We are all people, all individuals.
I used to be a people of color at one time, then I got a inside desk job and it faded. My hair is even grey now, instead of the dark brown it used to be.
My land lady (hope that is not a sexists term here) at the time, thought I was an Indian (She was 73 back in the early 80's, so I apologize for her use of the out dated, non-PC term on her behalf).
redqueen
(115,108 posts)it just says so much.
RC
(25,592 posts)I like it that way and so do the women in my life. None of them, including my daughters, would be a good fit for the HoF.
Consistency does have it advantages.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)Wow.
RC
(25,592 posts)I am proud of both of them and support them in what they want and what they are doing.
You sound like you may not know yours all that well. In that case.I feel sorry for you.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)That's sad. I am super proud of my daughter. Proud enough that I actually let her speak for herself. Just WOW.
RC
(25,592 posts)Any slight on one is a slight on all?
My kids are not on DU. They are too busy living their own lives. But I do know both of them plenty well enough to know what they are like and lock-step to someone else's drummer is not on their agenda. I raised them to be independent and to think for themselves.
Sorry if that offend you.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)I spend most of my time here, in GD... The rest in the Sports forum. Care to explain what you mean?
I'm just stunned that a person would dare to speak for their grown children. People find many things that appeal to them on their own, without their parent's input. What one would see in a forum is not what someone else may see. It gets even more sad as this thread goes on.
You can, for your notes, run through my posts. If you are talking about History of Feminism, I think I've posted there a total of 20 times. A blanket assumption is always bad. I called you out strictly on the ick of your post.
RC
(25,592 posts)whatever subject?
There was no Ick there, none, except in your head. You don't know me and you know even less about my kids. I raised them, so I think I know them better than you about how they think. So what is the big deal?
BTY, their mother packed a suitcase and walked off down the street, when they were 3 and 5 years old and left me a note telling me the kids were at the baby sitters. I raised them. I was Mr. Mom. So yes, I know them.
Oh the horror, a man knowing something about raising kids and girls no less.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)Nowhere did I say I knew anything about your children. Whether or not their mother left them has nothing to do with this discussion, which was about race and not feminism. You lumped anyone who dared to question you into a group... and I proved that to be false.
My husband passed away when our kids were 9 and 17. That didn't make me Mrs. Dad, because I can't replace him. Single parents do their jobs, male or female, and all should be lauded for it without silly titles. This has nothing to do with "raising kids" and everything to do with assuming you know everything your children think. And yes, I find that gross. My daughter lives 1100 miles away from me. I would not presume to know everything she thinks.
Why are you changing the conversation?
RC
(25,592 posts)I never said nor inferred I knew everything my kids think.
One daughter in going for her graduate degree in, as she calls it, "Dirt Engineering" in Ft Collins CO. The other lives 20 some miles away from me, so I get to see her.
Why do I have the feeling that if they were boys, this exchange would not be taking place? And why do you care in the first place?
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)You are bringing that up. Just as you made an assumption about me with regard to HOF and "Pile ons." I don't take or keep notes. I come at everyone fresh, and I certainly don't participate in pile ons.
If it somehow matters to this thread, I have both a son and a daughter, and I would never presume to know every thought that would go through either of their heads, nor every action they would take. That's my point. My gender, your gender, our children's gender, and our parenting skills/stories aside.
RC
(25,592 posts)I only alluded to know one opinion of my kids, period. I know my kids. I know how the argumentative attitudes of the people of the HoF. Neither would have a very high opinion of that group. I don't need to ask them, I already know.
There are more that a few people right here on DU that don't have a high opinion of the Hof, either. So what's the problem here? You responded to me, saying I could not possibly know what my own kids would think. If you know your kids, yes you would have a very good idea of what they think on any particular subject.
Enough already of trying to tell people, who you do not know, what they know or not know.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)kids would think/do.
You then, I don't know...for lack of a better word..."accused" me of being a HOFer and a person who piles on, which I proved wasn't quite the case, and I'm sure you did your own checking. No, I love my kids, and I like to think I raised them well. Well enough for me not to have to speak for them. On any subject, because, on a good many, I wouldn't really know exactly what they would say. You then brought up being a single parent (gender doesn't matter in parenting IMO), which had nothing to do with the conversation either. That doesn't sound like a "problem" to me. That sounds like an opinion. But continue to derail a thread on race with whatever hangup you have with a group that neither one of us actively participates in.
RC
(25,592 posts)You jumped in and acted like the HOF do. What am I to think? In fact you still are with your post title.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)I posted a comment; you accused me of "piling on" (when there are still only 2 of us here). I've been clear and concise with you. I have no idea of your history here at DU or with any groups. You appear to have an agenda. I don't need to link to something that's stated all over our conversation here.
BainsBane
(53,127 posts)that hostility to the voices of women and people of color go hand in hand. The common impulse is that only "I" and what "I," the white man, thinks counts. If he says race doesn't matter, you are a bully to disagree with him. And any disagreement with him is part of a great HOF conspiracy to make his life miserable, even when the person disagreeing isn't talking about gender and doesn't post in HOF, as the subthread below reveals.
You have to wonder how such people deal with people who disagree with them offline? Do they decide the person was sent by HOF to make their lives miserable?
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)For example, water fountains for coloreds?
It collectively designated black, mulatto, quadroon, octaroon and all other non-whites, such as Native Americans, half-breeds, etc.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)redqueen
(115,108 posts)26 years later and somehow people are still having issues grasping this.
Sigh.
NJCher
(35,825 posts)It's a difference caused by syntax.
It used to be "colored people," which is indeed antiquated. That was a long time ago.
Then about four years ago, maybe five, I started hearing the term "people of color."
There is a difference, I think. "People of color" refers to a much broader spectrum of people, whereas "colored people" used to refer to African-Americans exclusively.
Think of the difference in the syntax of the book title What Then Must We Do?
Now that's a considerably more elegant than So What Must We Do Now?"
Cher
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)...by what is the difference between "colored people" and "people of color" and how to translate these terms to express a distinction between them.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)There was an attempt to promote the idea that there was a natural solidarity among all non-Europeans. However, various non-European groups don't actually buy into it.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)for a long, long time.
People forget that the Chinese and other Asians were discriminated against in the US and often still are.
And do we need to even imagine the horrors that Native Americans have experienced. That goes way beyond stop and frisk, not that stop and frisk is anything but an abomination. But African-Americans surely remember that other groups have been stereotyped due to the ignorance of Europeans and the color of their skin. Today, in some parts of the country, African-Americans have it better than people who are perceived as being "Mexicans." (Many of them are not, of course, and some of them were here before the Europeans. Never mind.)
Words are just words. The emotions they convey are in the ear of the hearer as well as in the voice of the speaker. It isn't what words are used. It is what is meant by them. And some people of color like to read into words sentiments and feelings that are not intended at all aby the speaker. What words would you use instead of people of color to refer to the many groups who have been abused because of their skin color or appearance.
If you listen to Martin Luther King's speeches or read the writings of Eleanor Roosevelt on race, you will hear and see the word, "Negro." That was the word that conveyed respect to African-Americans when I was a child. We did not hear or use the words "black," (considered to be insulting in my social milieu or African-American. That was a long, long time ago but within my lifetimes. Words are just words. It's the sentiment and action behind the words that mean something. A police officer may use a word you like while stopping you and frisking you. The word doesn't make the discrimination go away. Nor does the phrase "people of color" convey an intent to insult or discriminate.
antiquie
(4,299 posts)Although the term citizens of color was used by Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1963, and other uses date to as early as 1793, people of color did not gain prominence for many years. Influenced by radical theorists like Frantz Fanon, racial justice activists in the U.S. began to use the term people of color in the late 1970s and early 1980s. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was in wide circulation. Both anti-racist activists and academics sought to move understandings of race beyond the black-white binary then prevalent.
According to Stephen Saris, in the United States there are two big racial divides. "First, there is the black-white kind, which is basically anti-black". The second racial divide is the one "between whites and everyone else" with whites being "narrowly construed" and everyone else being called "people of color". Because the term people of color includes vastly different people with only the common distinction of not being white, it draws attention to the fundamental role of racialization in the United States. It acts as "a recognition that certain people are racialized" and serves to emphasize "the importance of coalition" by "making connections between the ways different 'people of color' are racialized." As Joseph Truman explains, the term people of color is attractive because it unites disparate racial and ethnic groups into a larger collective in solidarity with one another.
Furthermore, the term persons of color has been embraced and used to replace the term minority because the term minority could, but not necessarily according to proper context, imply inferiority and disfranchisement. In addition, people of color constitute the majority population in certain U.S. cities, in most countries, and in the world as a whole. However, some people who do not identify as white, as well as people who may be of mixed race, feel alienated by the term, feeling that it places too much emphasis on the color of a person's skin, and that skin color is not what determines race or even ethnicity or heritage.
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)In other words, anyone who isn't white. And being white is as relevant now as it was 60 years ago.
Smarmie Doofus
(14,498 posts)It ( 'POC') is an linguistic atrocity and anachronism that obscures and confuses more than it clarifies.
Are dark complected, curly haired Sicilian Italians "people of color"? "Of *course* not, silly. They're *Europeans*." ( As if that matters; Carribean- Brit's w. ancestry from Barbados are by definition "Europeans." Yet they are inarguably "people of color".
"Ah... but the Sicilians nerved suffered *discrimination.* "
Oh.... really? You sure about that? Maybe you should have known my Irish-American grandmother ( b. Circa 1875, died 1965.)
Let's let "people of color" go the way of "colored people." A well earned, ( Good intentions should count for something.) peaceful death from disuse and a dignified, full-honors burial at sea.
alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)Response to alcibiades_mystery (Reply #36)
Post removed
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)It's a way of talking about people who don't enjoy what DUers seem to be calling white privilege. That's what it means. It includes Native Americans, Asians, North Africans, people from the Pacific Islands, etc.
RC
(25,592 posts)The Straight Story
(48,121 posts)Wolf Frankula
(3,605 posts)and just call them people? Also we could drop the 'white' from 'white people' and just call them people.
Wolf
gollygee
(22,336 posts)Wolf Frankula
(3,605 posts)People are people. To the Martians, we are all Earth apes.
Wolf
NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)African American is the acknowledged acceptable term for black people right ?
What do you call the white people from Africa ? ...........
Are all black people from Africa ? .........
Why is it OK to call someone from Spain-Spanish, but calling people from Mexico-Mexican is insulting and are to referred to as "latino"
In the rush to show how in-offensive they are, people have become bumbling idiots regarding "race designation", the sooner it is no longer calculated what race you belong to, the sooner racism will disappear.
gollygee
(22,336 posts)if language has been used to be hurtful, then kind and compassionate people stop using the language that has become hurtful and start using the language the group that is being discriminated against prefers.
And see the above article about "color blind" ideology and how it's a form of racism. Or google "color blind racism."
NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)Why is it still called "the black Caucus"
"the negro college fund"
"National Association for the Advancement of Colored People"
Just a question, why have none of these entities changed with the times ? Why are they not seen as insulting ? The answer I've been given in the past is "because African American's don't want it changed"..... see the irony ?
gollygee
(22,336 posts)and the groups decided to keep the names instead of going through the process of changing them, and losing recognition value when they did change them.
And it's up to those groups, not you. It is not ironic. It just isn't up to you, or about you, or apparently understood by you.
NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)and again, .......can you answer what are white people from Africa called ? And are all black people from Africa ?
gollygee
(22,336 posts)I am white so it isn't my call. African Americans I know personally seem fine with both black and AA. But I try to be sensitive to what they like to be called. If African Americans I know IRL and here generally seemed to indicate that "black" felt bad to them, I'd stop using it.
The people who are referred to as "black" or "African American" are the people who get to decide.
How is what white people from Africa are called relevant to this?
NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)African American is the accepted term for black people, it's true and you know it.
You just never considered the fact that not all African's are black, now that you know not all African's are black,...you don't care what the white ones are called...what difference does it make, after all they are just more white people.
A black man/woman born in the US, is no more African than I am, yet "African American" is used....why ?
gollygee
(22,336 posts)I am and was aware of the history of colonization in Africa and the fact that there are people of European descent in Africa. However, I don't see how that is relevant to what African Americans are called.
And African Americans are called that because they are at least partly of African descent and that is the part of their history and appearance that causes them to face discrimination.
You can call yourself European American if you want?
Lex
(34,108 posts)That's the way language works. It is often fluid that way.
Your posts on this topic seem intentionally obtuse and race-baiting.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)Lex
(34,108 posts)If Robert says, "I prefer to be called Bob." Then call him Bob. Don't get offended that he doesn't mind if his grandmother calls him Robert.
It's his call, not yours.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)You also missed the point.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)None of you can give me a straight answer, can you ?
It's Ok, ......not many can, and certainly not in view of others right ? It takes a very real look into your own views of other people, and the guilt you carry as a member of society. In personal relationships it's easy to get over this baloney because people are people regardless of color. In groups, you must conform to the pre-approved message and delivery method.
take care.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)And, it was broken down into an easy to understand way. In other words, it's not about you.
NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)That phrase, plopped in a discussion about race, tells me you don't want to discuss the reality of what I'm saying.
like I said, it's not an easy topic, especially when what your peers think is the single most important factor.
take care.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)It's not about you, and you don't get to decide. That simple. Really simple. So simple, in fact, that I find your posts to be deliberately obtuse. See references to that up above.
You take care too.
NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)Why is he called an "African American" by society instead of black.
You missed the point.
Lex
(34,108 posts)YOU missed the point and you don't even know it.
NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)why, and to what end,.... does it even matter what "race" of person you are called ?
On a liberal website, NOBODY even thought of that did they ? I could draw you a picture, but I doubt it would help.
take care.
Lex
(34,108 posts)A person! Just a person! Wow. You are astounding.
NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)Did you flail your arms about after you typed that ? lol
I've got an image in my mind, thanks !
Unless you can put words together in a manner never before assembled, ( or unless you have another theatrical performance) just hang on to that thought. I'm sure someone has already thought of whatever you are about to say...lol
take care.
chrisa
(4,524 posts)You wouldn't call a black citizen of France who has never been to the US "African American." That would be ridiculous.
NM_Birder
(1,591 posts)Now what do you think ?
What would you call a black person from France ?
Is he simply "black" if he/she is from France? And if so, why is it different here in America ?
Not every black person here in the states is from Africa.
Also, why aren't white people from Africa called "African Americans", the whole thing is ridiculous.
libodem
(19,288 posts)But so was Negro. When I read the Covenant which was a long book about Africa, I had to get used to seeing colored used repeatedly. The Apartide was so strict that any mix of blood put you on the outskirts of town in a shanty. It was a horrifying segregation even if you looked white, you were punished by subhuman conditions.
What shall we do about the, NAACP?
treestar
(82,383 posts)it harkens back to while people using that term to describe the non-white.
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)Dr. Oz, Turkish
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Juan Pablo, Argentinian
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Cristina Saralegui, Cuban
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Ana Kasparian, Armenian born in America
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Goli Ameri, Iranian
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Anousheh Ansari, Iranian
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Cleita
(75,480 posts)Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)Saying this as someone who is Black, I never did care for the "people of color" category myself, just because of how inconsistent it is. And cheapshotartist is right--my anthropology teacher did say that everyone is merely a different shade of brown (which is a color). Even the term "minorities" is more fitting than "people of color".
M0rpheus
(885 posts)The whole "White" vs. "Black", "Brown", "Red" and "Yellow" situation here in the U.S. is not one that we've created but, it's the one we have to live with until we come to some mutual understanding.
While "POC" as a term may be problematic due to U.S. definitions of what's white and what's not; it's still an attempt to bring disparate populations together without the extra stigma. I acknowledge the term as one we've chosen to accept, in lieu of the often maligned "minority", for the sake of a generally accurate descriptor when speaking of multiple "non-white" ethnicities.
Jamaal510
(10,893 posts)"The whole "White" vs. "Black", "Brown", "Red" and "Yellow" situation here in the U.S. is not one that we've created but, it's the one we have to live with until we come to some mutual understanding."
I had made the mistake of assuming that people back then were taking anthropology into account, so that was the angle that I looked at it through and I got confused about it like the OP and others apparently did, too. I wish they'd teach this type of stuff in our history classes.
M0rpheus
(885 posts)I admit to more than a little frustration with the OP, based on the days activities in GD, the timing and, placement of the post. His name didn't help me with that impression either. All of that together led me to the impression that the whole OP was disingenuous. My first snarktastic post, was the result. In hindsight, I could have done better, your post made made me realize that.
That said, we would truly benefit from a true telling of history from all sides. The real unvarnished truth...
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)[img][/img]
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CreekDog
(46,192 posts)Lex
(34,108 posts)Or is a zombie? Certainly "CheapShotArtist" as a screen name should give MIRT some pause?
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)just some Rip Van Winkling lately.
TheKentuckian
(25,035 posts)Racism is institutional in this country so the definitions are fairly baked in so it is impossible to tip toe around it.
Nobody is actually "white" either but we pretty much know who is no matter the tone of their skin.
I figure "person of color" retires either when it is updated to something else about as imprecise or when "white" has no applicable meaning.
CreekDog
(46,192 posts)don't you know the color black is simply the absence of color?
Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)redqueen
(115,108 posts)Oh my fucking holy goddess this fucking thread WTF!
That Doonesbury comic is from 1988 and we are having THE EXACT SAME FUCKING ARGUMENT NOW! SERIOUSLY! WTF!
Oh! Oh! Oh! And have this many people just completely forgotten how to use Google? This is not arcane knowledge!
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)redqueen
(115,108 posts)FarCenter
(19,429 posts)johnp3907
(3,735 posts)It was almost worth slogging through this whole idiotic thread just to get to your comment. Almost.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)Now "colored person" is offensive (except in the context of the NAACP) but "person of color" is enlightened. I don't really care and will use whatever term people prefer but it's interesting how certain phrases pass in and out of being politically correct. Similar to how "Negro" (except in the context of the UNCF) has fallen out of favor.
CTyankee
(63,926 posts)I would like to think that we have evolved somewhat from that (mostly bigoted, in my experience) era. It was a different world and thank god it got better, not perfect, but better.
Travelman
(708 posts)you are concerned about THIS? Seriously?
Cripes! I am not about to devote my entire life to trying to either name every possible ethnicity nor am I going to tiptoe around perfectly valid language just to help keep you from getting bent out of shape and deciding that your feelings are hurt.
Good grief.
Response to CheapShotArtist (Original post)
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