5 ms·

> PoC > White folks I just want to mention that one of the worst aspects of all this is trying to sort people according to (here apparently a binary) label. T

> PoC > White folks I just want to mention that one of the worst aspects of all this is trying to sort people according to (here apparently a binary) label. There is not really such thing as either of these categories - it's stereotyping of the worst kind, and takes us back many generations

Swizec 4y ago
I’ll never forget a coworker explaining to me that in America she’s PoC, but back home she’s white. That really blew my mind.
- consumer451 4y ago
  > I’ll never forget a coworker explaining to me that in America she’s PoC, but back home she’s white. That really blew my mind. I think that's a huge and extremely valuable lesson. That's because there is no such thing as "white" ethnicity. It is a word used to categorize us vs other. This is not my theory, afaik it's a fact. A fact which seems to upset a lot people. Based on previous conversations, it appears to be the most controversial knowledge which I posses. The generally accepted "white" ethnic groups have changed over time. Irish people were once not "white" in the USA. Neither were Slavic people. These two groups have the some of the lightest colored skin known to man. No one is white. Some people pass for white.
  - Swizec 4y ago
    On that topic, there’s a fascinating essay by Benjamin Franklin explaining how Germans aren’t sufficiently white* and shouldn’t be allowed in America in such vast numbers. https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?psid=85&smtID=3 https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?psid=85&... > What is perhaps most striking about Franklin's essay today is his sophisticated use of "social science" data to convince the British ministry to alter its colonial policies. Particularly jarring, however, is Franklin's plea that America be maintained as an entirely Anglo-Saxon society. *This was probably a few centuries before one would use the word “white” in this context. Too many pale folk who don’t qualify. It was more about calling out ethnicities directly as people still do in Europe.
oh_sigh 4y ago
It gets even worse, where people are pushing for BIPoC instead of just people of color, indicating that black and indigenous are of primary import, and the rest of the non whites are relegated to "other people of color"
- colpabar 4y ago
  The goal of the bipoc label is to exclude asians from diversity stuff.
  - _wolfie_ 4y ago
    Yellow is not a color? I always assumed that Asians are included in PoC.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - AdrianB1 4y ago
      What we learned in school decades ago is no longer considered correct by some people. Also logic is not a strong point of DEI people, for them math is racist [0] and logic is the basis of most math, so it is also racist. Also white is a color and white people are not even white, but pink [1]. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29650790 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29650790 [1]https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Pink_skin https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Pink_skin
      - colpabar 4y ago
        Technically, white is all colors.
    - f6v 4y ago
      It seems that some Asians are already over-represented in certain fields, like sciences. I heard somewhere that being Chinese makes your chances of admission worse.
    - 4y ago
bjt2n3904 4y ago
Oh heck, let's not even address that saying "people of color" is respectful, but "colored people" is racist.
- CharlesW 4y ago
  I'm assuming good faith, and that you truly don't understand the difference. I'd be curious to know if it's because you're old enough to remember when "colored" was "fine", or too young to have an understanding of the racist usage of "colored". https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/dahleen-glanton/ct-dahleen-glanton-colored-email-reading-list-20200304-utx7geiwm5hupa3t7w6xr3xqn4-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/dahleen-glanton/ct-da... "While the distinctions can be complicated, the information is readily available for anyone willing to seek it out. That means reading and having meaningful conversations with people of different races."
  - rayiner 4y ago
    Sorry, both are racist--they're just two almost identical ways to say "not white." It's a term that gets used primarily by white people--most black people consider themselves black, not "poc," most Guatemalans consider themselves as such, not "poc," etc.--to erase all the differences and distinct interests between all these groups and reduce them to really the only think they have in common: that they're not white.
    - geraldwhen 4y ago
      That’s similar to how “Asian” is used. Ask a Vietnamese person if they would include themselves in a group of Chinese people. Asia is half of earths population, so “Asian” cannot possibly mean anything.
  - marknutter 4y ago
    Yet the NAACP...
    - ChickenNugger 4y ago
flippinburgers 4y ago
Didn't you get the memo? We cannot "move forward" until we properly asses people based the the fantastically shallow marker that is skin color!

Swizec 4y ago

I’ll never forget a coworker explaining to me that in America she’s PoC, but back home she’s white. That really blew my mind.

consumer451 4y ago
> I’ll never forget a coworker explaining to me that in America she’s PoC, but back home she’s white. That really blew my mind. I think that's a huge and extremely valuable lesson. That's because there is no such thing as "white" ethnicity. It is a word used to categorize us vs other. This is not my theory, afaik it's a fact. A fact which seems to upset a lot people. Based on previous conversations, it appears to be the most controversial knowledge which I posses. The generally accepted "white" ethnic groups have changed over time. Irish people were once not "white" in the USA. Neither were Slavic people. These two groups have the some of the lightest colored skin known to man. No one is white. Some people pass for white.
- Swizec 4y ago
  On that topic, there’s a fascinating essay by Benjamin Franklin explaining how Germans aren’t sufficiently white* and shouldn’t be allowed in America in such vast numbers. https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?psid=85&smtID=3 https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?psid=85&... > What is perhaps most striking about Franklin's essay today is his sophisticated use of "social science" data to convince the British ministry to alter its colonial policies. Particularly jarring, however, is Franklin's plea that America be maintained as an entirely Anglo-Saxon society. *This was probably a few centuries before one would use the word “white” in this context. Too many pale folk who don’t qualify. It was more about calling out ethnicities directly as people still do in Europe.

oh_sigh 4y ago

It gets even worse, where people are pushing for BIPoC instead of just people of color, indicating that black and indigenous are of primary import, and the rest of the non whites are relegated to "other people of color"

colpabar 4y ago
The goal of the bipoc label is to exclude asians from diversity stuff.
- _wolfie_ 4y ago
  Yellow is not a color? I always assumed that Asians are included in PoC.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - AdrianB1 4y ago
    What we learned in school decades ago is no longer considered correct by some people. Also logic is not a strong point of DEI people, for them math is racist [0] and logic is the basis of most math, so it is also racist. Also white is a color and white people are not even white, but pink [1]. [0]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29650790 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29650790 [1]https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Pink_skin https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Pink_skin
    - colpabar 4y ago
      Technically, white is all colors.
  - f6v 4y ago
    It seems that some Asians are already over-represented in certain fields, like sciences. I heard somewhere that being Chinese makes your chances of admission worse.
  - 4y ago

bjt2n3904 4y ago

Oh heck, let's not even address that saying "people of color" is respectful, but "colored people" is racist.

CharlesW 4y ago
I'm assuming good faith, and that you truly don't understand the difference. I'd be curious to know if it's because you're old enough to remember when "colored" was "fine", or too young to have an understanding of the racist usage of "colored". https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/dahleen-glanton/ct-dahleen-glanton-colored-email-reading-list-20200304-utx7geiwm5hupa3t7w6xr3xqn4-story.html https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/dahleen-glanton/ct-da... "While the distinctions can be complicated, the information is readily available for anyone willing to seek it out. That means reading and having meaningful conversations with people of different races."
- rayiner 4y ago
  Sorry, both are racist--they're just two almost identical ways to say "not white." It's a term that gets used primarily by white people--most black people consider themselves black, not "poc," most Guatemalans consider themselves as such, not "poc," etc.--to erase all the differences and distinct interests between all these groups and reduce them to really the only think they have in common: that they're not white.
  - geraldwhen 4y ago
    That’s similar to how “Asian” is used. Ask a Vietnamese person if they would include themselves in a group of Chinese people. Asia is half of earths population, so “Asian” cannot possibly mean anything.
- marknutter 4y ago
  Yet the NAACP...
  - ChickenNugger 4y ago

flippinburgers 4y ago

Didn't you get the memo? We cannot "move forward" until we properly asses people based the the fantastically shallow marker that is skin color!