What’s wrong with colored people?
How is this different from saying people of color lol
Colored people is defining them as the color first, person second. Combined with historical connotations it’s a phrase that when used is almost always in a racist way.
People of Color is a term that has been reappropriated and is more humanizing. It’s also not associated with racists like the other phrase.
It’s a small difference, and to a lot of people they don’t see a difference, but it is there and takes very little to no effort to use the preferred terminology.
And yet those semantics are trivial to change and have real effects on people. It costs you nothing to call people what they’d like to be called.
Semantics matter!!!
Semantics are about the meaning of words, and how the meaning can be changed drastically by minor changes of a sentence or the sequence of words that have similar meaning? Semantics are important, even if the above poster believe they aren’t.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantics
Formal semantics seeks to identify domain-specific mental operations which speakers perform when they compute a sentence’s meaning
That’s exactly the case here? The words have similar meaning, but the sentences do not, both because of the cultural origin, and the sequence of the words actually matter.
Edit: I was originally a bit confused, because the above post uses the word semantics contrary to the meaning. I guess that can be expected for people who just in general don’t get it.
Why are you commenting on an article about American politics in the first place? Surely this has literally nothing to do with your life.
I’m no expert, but I suspect that it’s because “colored people” was a term used by racist groups in the past, especially during segregation in America. Just look for old pictures of signs from that era and you’ll see stuff like “Colored Water Fountain”
As for why “people of color” is acceptable, idk. I guess it’s a broader term that applies to more than just black people, but worded differently to show it’s not a segregation era term.
“Colored” is a term used during segregation explicitly as a racist term, for example, “colored-only” bathrooms and drinking fountains. At best, it’s considered an antiqued term but some still see it as having the same racist meaning.
“People of color” while sounding similar doesn’t carry that same history.
Can someone please explain? I’ve been told I’m supposed to refer to black people as people of color, or people with dark skin.
One outs the color first and has been used by racists for centuries. The other comes from the community and puts the fact that they are a person first.
Without the history of slavery and continued oppression it wouldn’t matter, which is why ‘white people’ is not derogatory on its own.
Thank you for this very concise yet perfectly descriptive explanation, I was a bit confused as a non American about the difference.
