Hello hello,
And just like that, it’s October… 😲! 7 months into the pandemic, 4 months since George Floyd’s murder, 2 months of unprecedented wildfires here in CA. It’s simultaneously comforting and unnerving the way time keeps marching on no matter what’s happening around us.
This week, there was a really interesting episode of the Code Switch podcast that focused on the use of the term People of Color (aka POC) and the emergence of the new acronym BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). Here’s a Link to the Episode! People have very different associations with the term POC. Some love it because it creates an inclusive community, and others hate it because it lumps many unique groups into one broad category. My husband and I were just talking about the use of language in the context of identifying race, and our general conclusion was that it makes no sense (duh! because race is a made up concept!!).
For example, the use of the term “people of color” implies white people have no color. Visit Minnesota in the dead of winter and you’ll see some real pale white folks (myself included!); however, I have yet to see a colorless person. In her book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, Beverly Daniel Tatum, PhD, wittily suggests it would be more accurate to say “people of more color”. 🙂 🙂 POMC anyone? And why do we refer to people of color as ‘minorities’ despite the fact that non-whites are the majority group across the globe?? And now that I’ve used it, how about the term “non-whites”? Referring to someone by pointing out what they are not. Tatum again offers a great analogy in her book by asking why don’t we just refer to women as “non-men”?
I think it’s easy to underestimate the use of language in identifying someone’s race, but our language perpetuates our thoughts and beliefs which indicate our intent. In the case of race, the original intent was to control other human beings by upholding this ‘otherness’ of non-whites in order to justify historical (*ahem* and present day) atrocities. There’s no magical solution given each individual’s lived experience, associations, and preferences. As with everything, our language will continue to evolve to meet the needs of our society. I just hope that evolution is towards one of specificity which highlights an individual or group in a positive way!
Until next time,
Jessica