How is Michelle Wu a person of color?

[malaise]

Sure this is a major development in Boston given that she;s female and non-Caucasian but person of color?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/03/michelle-wu-boston-mayor-first-woman-person-of-color

[spooky3]

1. I thought Asian-Americans were considered "people of color."

They are considered a protected group under the civil rights laws; maybe that’s one reason.

[AZSkiffyGeek]

2. Asians, Islanders and indigenous are POC as well

POC (and BIPOC) are more inclusive of other ethnicities

[Effete Snob]

3. Can you cite the definition you are using?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_color

The term "person of color" (plural: people of color or persons of color; sometimes abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the United States; however, since the 2010s, it has been adopted elsewhere in the Anglosphere (often as person of colour), including relatively limited usage in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, South Africa, and Singapore.

In the United States, people of color include African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islander Americans, multiracial Americans, and some Latino Americans, though members of these communities may prefer to view themselves through their cultural identities rather than color-related terminology.

[Skittles]

4. I was curious about that too

many Asian folk I know are as pale as me, and I am Scandinavian

[Journeyman]

5. How is anyone a person of color, given we're all varied shades of brown? . . .

Exceptions, of course, made for albinos.

[lapucelle]

6. As per wiki

The term "person of color" (plural: people of color or persons of color; sometimes abbreviated POC) is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the United States; however, since the 2010s, it has been adopted elsewhere in the Anglosphere (often as person of colour), including relatively limited usage in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, South Africa, and Singapore.

In the United States, people of color include African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islander Americans, multiracial Americans, and some Latino Americans, though members of these communities may prefer to view themselves through their cultural identities rather than color-related terminology. The term, as used in the United States, emphasizes common experiences of systemic racism, which some communities have faced

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_color

[Cha]

33. TY!

[hlthe2b]

7. I know Asian Americans have long been considered non-white. Here's what Wikipedia says...

to the extent that is authoritative as a source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_color
The term "person of color" (plural: people of color or persons of color; sometimes abbreviated POC)[1] is primarily used to describe any person who is not considered "white". In its current meaning, the term originated in, and is primarily associated with, the United States; however, since the 2010s, it has been adopted elsewhere in the Anglosphere (often as person of colour), including relatively limited usage in the United Kingdom,[2] Canada,[3] Australia,[4] Ireland,[5] South Africa,[6] and Singapore.[7]

In the United States, people of color include African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islander Americans, multiracial Americans, and some Latino Americans, though members of these communities may prefer to view themselves through their cultural identities rather than color-related terminology. The term, as used in the United States, emphasizes common experiences of systemic racism, which some communities have faced.[8][9] The term may also be used with other collective categories of people such as "communities of color", "men of color" (MOC), "women of color" (WOC),[10] or "librarians of color".[11] The acronym BIPOC refers to black, indigenous, and other people of color and aims to emphasize the historic oppression of black and indigenous people.

So as a Taiwanese American, I guess she would be so considered...

[budkin]

8. Because Asians aren't caucasian

That's it.

[madville]

28. Some Hispanic/Latino people are Caucasian

So they aren’t POC? It’s kind of confusing.

[totodeinhere]

38. According to Wikipedia,

some Latino Americans, though members of these communities may prefer to view themselves through their cultural identities rather than color-related terminology.

[In It to Win It]

9. My understanding of a "person of color" is anyone who is not considered white or Caucasian

[Geechie]

10. How is she not?

She is a member of an ethic group who has experienced systemic racism and oppression by white people.

[LakeArenal]

11. Goes to show how dumb labels get.

To bad we can’t just be humans.

But some won’t let us.

[Chille]

13. Agree nt

[malaise]

19. Dumb labels for sure

[Chille]

12. It's a way

to describe anyone who has physical characteristics that set them a part from white people. Dictionary defines people of color as a person who is not white or of European parentage

[Claustrum]

14. As an Asian, I grew up being taught that my skin color is yellow.

So definitely not white.

[malaise]

21. Is your skin color yellow? No - it is not

Mine is brown but they tell me I'm black. Mind you I am very proud of my African heritage but I think I know colors.

[elleng]

37. and mine AIN't white,

tho my family may have come from one of these places: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia.

[malaise]

40. It's really messed up

[totodeinhere]

39. Calling a person of Asian decent "yellow" is a slur, is it not? n/t

[TygrBright]

15. Depends on how you apply "divide and conquer"...

"More of color than thou" would make her not a person of color trying to take advantage of... something or other, or 'pass' or be exploited by the media that are made uncomfortable by 'real' people of color, and that's one form of divide and conquer.

"Color is about historical oppression and class rather than skin" is another form of divide and conquer, and a pretty effective one.

White protestant cisgender heterosexual able-bodied non-elderly non-poor males who feel their traditional privileges threatened have literally thousands of ways to pit those who are not them against each other, disempowering them and getting them to fight over scraps rather than unite and take down the traditional privileges of white cisgenderhetersexual able-bodied non-elderly non-poor males.

helpfully,
Bright

[DURHAM D]

16. Like you I find this a little weird.

I thought about it and I think someone has decided if you are not European you are a person of color.

That is fucked up.

Going forward I will be a PONC - person of no color.

[malaise]

24. You nailed it

It is fucked up

[dweller]

17. Oh ... ok

✌🏻

[elleng]

18. 'Not white,' I guess.

[malaise]

26. She's Asian-American n/t

[elleng]

27. Yes.

Pretty damn silly. After all, what color are the The Caucasus?

a region spanning Europe and Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea and mainly occupied by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus

[malaise]

29. It's all Effed up

Seriously.

[elleng]

34. Sure is.

[Devil Child]

22. How is she not?

[malaise]

32. TThere is absolutely no one in Asia who would use

that description.

[Generic Brad]

48. My daughter calls herself a person of color all the time

I'm caucasian, my wife is Japanese. That makes our daughter half Asian. She has been referring to herself as a person of color for years. She nearly has her PhD, so I will defer to her to call it correctly.

[Devil Child]

60. Michelle Wu was elected to office in Boston

not Asia. So why side-step with Asia?

Michelle Wu is a person of color and find it very strange there are people invested in denying this.

[JI7]

64. But she isn't IN Asia. She is an Asian who is in the US and a Citizen of the US .

HEr life experience will be different from people actually in Asia .

[muriel_volestrangler]

23. Definitions:

white or less commonly White : of or relating to any of various population groups considered as having light pigmentation of the skin
NOTE: The meaning of white as it relates to population groups has historically been fluid, with people of particular ancestries being excluded for a time before being included, and vice versa. The category has also often functioned as a grouping into which people who are not designated as belonging in some other category are placed. Specific parameters are, however, sometimes set, as in the U.S. 2020 Census, which stipulates that "the category of 'White' includes all individuals who identify with one or more nationalities or ethnic groups originating in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa."

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/white#h1

person of color
: a person whose skin pigmentation is other than and especially darker than what is considered characteristic of people typically defined as white (see WHITE entry 1 sense 2a) : a person who is of a race (see RACE entry 1 sense 1a) other than white or who is of mixed race

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/person%20of%20color

I'm surprised that anyone here didn't include Asian in "people of color". Pretty much the whole point of the term was to mean "non-white", without using a negative term.

[malaise]

25. That's pretty good

and way less offensive and racist than most definitions.

[BGBD]

31. This is a good example

Of how we lose elections. We get caught up in worrying about stuff like this.

[Sympthsical]

35. I do not think this is an argument anyone on our side should be starting

Especially given the rise in anti-Asian attacks over the past two years.

This opens some doors best left very closed and has the potential to create divisions where they are not at all necessary.

My partner is Asian-American. He's pretty brown. His brother was also very brown. His sisters are very, very light. Do we say some siblings from the same parents are PoC, but others are not? Or are we just excising Asians here?

If we start going on about skin color in this way, then we go down a quarrelsome road. Would any very light-skinned Black person really be PoC then?

I find this line of complaint and inquiry troubling.

[malaise]

42. This is not about differences among non-whites

This is about stupid racist descriptions made up by white people. In my entire life I have never seen a white, black or yellow person.

All this shit has to be thrown out.

[Sympthsical]

44. People go with what they're told.

As a white person, I just go along with what terms it seems non-white people want used. Somewhere along the line, PoC because pretty standardized on our own side. In my own community, somewhere along the line, non-white activists started writing articles using "LGBTers of color." I mean, BIPOC just started creeping into the mainstream in the last handful of years. White people aren't the ones who pushed that term.

I know the origins of "people of color" originated early in this hemisphere's modern history to usually denote people of mixed race, but I'm talking about how contemporary usages occurred and have been put to use.

Are you saying just get rid of the whole term? I guess I'm just trying to pin down your thought here so I understand.

[malaise]

50. Maybe I'll never understand color descriptions of fellow human beings

If the European Americans can use their ancestors' nationality with American, why can't everyone else - she's Asian-American.

[Sympthsical]

52. Ok, but do you still want use of PoC or not?

I'm unclear if you're advocating for an abolition of that term, or if you're asking for a more narrowed use of it.

[malaise]

57. I don't use it but that's cultural

It's not something you hear in our part of the planet. We have our own challenges when describing people. On the other hand, not one of the 3billion plus folks in China or other parts of Asia would describe themselves that way.

I give up - I'm too old and tired and fed up.

[JanMichael]

45. I don't think it was made up by white people

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/07/02/people-color-are-protesting-heres-what-you-need-know-about-this-new-identity/

It's not considered negative and not coined by or started by white people.


White people have come up with lots of other shitty things though. Just not this one

[malaise]

53. As a replacement for the yellow, black, brown etc - right?

Where did that come from?

[malaise]

54. As a replacement for the yellow, black, brown etc - right?

Where did that come from?

[Decoy of Fenris]

47. I agree with that.

I admit I've kind of just given up on bothering with anything related to race; People are people, anything else is bigotry at best, racism at worst. Of course, I'm told that that sort of mindset is -also- racist, so damned if you do, damned if you don't. So fuck it.

I'm just glad Boston got what appears to be an eminently qualified and progressive mayor, and I'm sure she'll do a damn fine job.

[malaise]

59. I agree with you

but the Guardians use of POC stunned me.
In your words

I'm just glad Boston got what appears to be an eminently qualified and progressive mayor, and I'm sure she'll do a damn fine job.

[Decoy of Fenris]

61. Eh, "POC" is kind of common use to mean "Nonwhite".

Has been for a while, at least to my understanding. At least from personal experience POC is kind of a title one gives themselves as preference, though, sort of like those new neo-pronouns. I'm of Asian descent, but I've never considered myself Asian, just American, even though I suppose I could qualify as "POC" under modern parlance.

Silly semantics, IMO.

[bluecollar2]

36. She's not anglo/caucasian/white

Therefore she is a "person of color"?

[phylny]

41. I was listening to Dean Obeidallah

a few months ago and either he or a guest on the show stated that even the definition of “white” in the United States has changed through the years. Case in point: Italians who immigrated in the late 1800s/early 1900s were seen as non-white for years (especially those who had their roots where my family is from in Southern Italy/Naples/Sicily).

[malaise]

43. Indeed

In the British territories, the Portuguese weren't originally seen as white either.

[JanMichael]

49. And the Germans in world war II thought Slavs were basically animals.

To be enslaved and murdered.

In America polish jokes were all the rage in early and mid 20th century.

I lived in Poland in the 90s. Whitest group of people I've ever seen in my life. Probably just because there was no one else other than them...very few people of color.

Maybe this hatred actually comes from Protestants because Catholic whites have often been seen less as human at different periods of time by non-catholic majorities.

It's actually probably in economic thing cloaked in religion and ethnicity.

[malaise]

51. Profound point

Maybe this hatred actually comes from Protestants because Catholic whites have often been seen less as human at different periods of time by non-catholic majorities.

Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Irish - very interesting.

[underthematrix]

46. This is a psyop to create division among different PoC groups

Don't fall for it.

[ForgedCrank]

55. The question is a few steps back.

As in, why does it even matter? Why are we classifying people in the first place? It's stupid.

[malaise]

58. Ding ding we have a winner n/t

[SMC22307]

63. And a losing strategy. I think people are getting sick of the labels attached to everyone.

I know I am.

[Locutusofborg]

62. A dictionary definition

Merriam-Webster's
person of color noun
plural people of color also persons of color
Definition of person of color
: a person whose skin pigmentation is other than and especially darker than what is considered characteristic of people typically defined as white (see WHITE entry 1 sense 2a) : a person who is of a race (see RACE entry 1 sense 1a) other than white or who is of mixed race
"People of color account for 43 percent of the active-duty military, but the top ranks are largely white and male."— Helene Cooper
"Because we are so accustomed to talking about race in terms of black and white, we often fail to recognize and contest expressions of racism that target people of color who are not black."Angela Y. Davis
First Known Use of person of color
1778, in the meaning defined above
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/person%20of%20color