"People of color" was; Re: Whom Hispanics call "Hispanic" -- or not

[Baker, John]

        When "person of color" first became popular, back in the early
1980s, the idea was that it applied on a world stage and was reflective
more generally of the conflicts between the wealthy North and the poorer
but more populous South.  So, no, a Chinese person of this worldview
would not refer to whites as "persons of color"; that term refers to
Asians, Africans, Latin Americans, African-Americans, etc.  I probably
should have put "minority" in quotes in my original post, since part of
the point is that persons of color are not really in the minority.

        With Asia becoming more ascendant, I'm not sure if Chinese or
Japanese people would still consider themselves persons of color (or,
indeed, if Japanese people ever did, since Japan was riding pretty high
in the early 1980s).


John Baker


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Joel S. Berson
Sent: Thursday, May 28, 2009 9:25 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "People of color" was; Re: Whom Hispanics call "Hispanic"
-- or not

At 5/27/2009 05:59 PM, Baker, John wrote:
>        I think that's pretty standard.  I understand "person of color"
>to refer to any racial or ethnic minority.

Do the "yellow races" in China, Japan, etc., refer to the minority
whites as "persons of color"?

Joel

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