POC: A useful term for Whites, but not for

[emmaverybo]

political discussions when making assumptions about positions, allegiances, and voting behaviors across non-white voting groups. And not so much for people of many different non-white identities. I wouldn’t use it with friends, would you?

https://slate.com/human-interest/2019/02/people-of-color-phrase-history-racism.html

[Triloon]

1. I'm mystified at how anyone can accept this term.

When I hear POC I only see images of water fountains and urinals labeled Whites and Coloreds.
No, thanks.

[abqtommy]

2. I think there are better terms than POC, but then POC

is not the most objectionable word than can be used to describe ethnic and cultural differences.
"Race" is certainly not a word I use, given that there is only one "race" and that's the human race.
Given words of hate speech that are used to describe all groups of people, POC just might show that some progress is being made, even if it's slow progress.

[FakeNoose]

3. I thought POC was the term that non-white people preferred

I'm old enough that I can remember when white people got re-educated to use "black" rather than "Negro." And I can also remember when we were asked to use "African-American" rather than "black." OK now it's the 21st century and we're using the term POC or people of color, and I thought it's because that's what they want to be called.

Boy I must be really confused.

[skypilot]

5. I'm a 54 year old black man...

...and, frankly, I'm getting a bit tired of all this. For me, "black" works just fine. I am old enough to remember when it was being proclaimed that "Black is beautiful". I honestly don't know how we got from that to finding the term "black" offensive. In fact, WHO ARE the people who find it offensive?

As for POC, I always assumed it was a phrase that was coined to refer to ethnic groups including but not limited to black people. I don't have a problem with it.

[FakeNoose]

7. That's good to know

... and I mean it sincerely.

I try not to offend anyone and I treat everyone with equal dignity and friendliness.

[Rollo]

4. I'm not quite sure what the point is...

If it is that "POC" is too generic, then by the same token, "White" could also be an overly broad definition. For there are many ethnicities of "white people", with quite a variety of skin tone as well.

To me, I find "people of color" to be somewhat offensive term, because it hearkens back to the older "colored people" which itself has become a somewhat pejorative term, albeit less offensive than some other terms that have ceased to be acceptable. I suppose it is useful to refer to those of non-European ethnic origin, without drilling down to "African", "Asian", "Native American", "Hispanic", etc. But frankly while we should all know and value our beginnings, perhaps we dwell too much on race, and our goal should be to, as Obama once said, help develop a "post-racial society".

The debate in this case got started because former Starbucks CEO Howard Shultz suggested that the term "billionaires" should instead be replaced with "people of means" in discussions of the undue influence wealth has on our society. In his case it could be argued he prefers the "POM" phrase because it spreads out the blame. Or it could be that he wishes all those, not just billionaires, to try not to use their wealth to unduly influence our policies. Good luck with that one.

If you look at evolution, we are all descended from Africans, so in a sense we are all people of color.

[Mosby]

6. the author makes some good points.

The lack of specificity of the term is being misused.