"Person of color" puts the personhood before the non-whiteness. "Colored people" does the opposite. The difference is subtle, and in most cases, I would argue

"Person of color" puts the personhood before the non-whiteness. "Colored people" does the opposite. The difference is subtle, and in most cases, I would argue that "colored people" was just the term of the times and did not intend to imply inferiority. Give it another ~20 years for the people who made "people of color" the popular term to have their children come of age and they'll decide that "people of color" is offensive for some reason.