Do you think referring to people as people of colour is offensive ?

[Lardlizard]

Heard a bit of a row on Jeremy vine today, a back lady was objecting to being called person of call by jasmine
The caller said don’t call me a person of colour
I am not a person of colour I black

So I’m wondering if this is offensive
As it always reminded me of daybjn tbebild day’s when people said thjngs like coloured people
I don’t know just something never seemed quite right about the expression to me

Is it one of those phrases which is acceptable in USA, but not so much here in the UK? I heard a Congress woman today describe herself as a woman of colour, but I think the preferred term here is black. A m ready to be corrected on this, though.

Yes, I’m asian, not a person of colour.

I always thought black people referred to themselves as black, and brown people referred to themselves as brown. I'm perfectly happy to use whatever term is acceptable but it changes, and you never know which term is currently correct.

I hate it.

It might as well be 'non white' and we shouldn't describe people by what they're not.

Maybe don't mention your skin colour at all

As long as white people are happy to be referred to as ‘colourless’.

I write statements a lot for work and have to use descriptions of people. We always use black, asian, white british, etc as we need to be as specific as we can. In over 10 years I have never had anyone of any ethnic origin be offended by those simple, descriptive terms.

It’s a shitty way to ‘other’ people. I’m white and it makes me cringe when I hear people say it.

Yeh sounds American. I remember Halle Berry referred to herself as a woman of colour at the oscars a few years ago and I thought that was unacceptable.

I saw a similar item on Jeremy vine a few
Months ago which stated that whilst referring to people as 'coloured' is offensive, using the term 'people of colour' is not. Baffled me! Feels a bit like semantics and whilst I totally get why describing anyone as 'coloured' is offensive, I'm struggling to see how they really differ. Surely both offensive?

I think black is less widely accepted in the US by black people because it's been so widely used as a slur over there. I once had a (white) American argue with me, online, for using the turn to refer to a black Brit, insisting I should say "African American". It was a struggle to get this person to understand that the person concered was not American so no, they are not "African American."

It seems to me that, for example, the four congresswomen are referring to themselves as women of colour rather than listing their colours/ethnicities or saying they are non-white which doesn't sound as positive.

I personally don't mind. Except when it comes to explaining to dc why we are classified as black and not brown as we are technically brown. His cousin is mixed not yellow. His Asian freind, even though he is not brown and very fair is classified as brown. I was unable to convince him we are light skinned black people and not brown.

It all confuses me because even amongst white people we are not white, I mean I’m ethnically white yet my skin is light brown as I’m quite tanned right now. Black people aren’t black they are brown skinned so are Asian people. Was trying to explain this to DS the other day and tying myself up in knots, ended up telling him different people are different colours as it was all to do with melanin in your skin protecting you from the sun, some people stayed near the equator and kept their dark skin some people moved away and didn’t need it anymore. If only it was that simple?

I hear it a lot (in Canada) and it always sounds ridiculous to me. Right up there with referring to someone as ‘Asian’, as if there is only one country in Asia. I don’t know why a person of colour has become a thing - arguably racist, as if everyone who isn't white all belong to the same group.

If you are a well-meaning person who isn’t quite sure what is this week’s ‘correct’ terminology for describing people of a particular ethnicity, don’t worry. It will change soon, it always does.

Yes, it's US terminology. POC/WOC all accepted terms.

Must admit, it does baffle me a little too considering that "coloured" is a racial slur.

Of course it isn’t. It’s just a US term which is far less used here. And the people who exclaim about how difficult it is to keep up with the ‘currently PC term’ should really take their heads out of their ass.

POC is usually used in a similar way as BAME, to describe non-white people as a collective. It’s not designed to be used to describe individuals unless they choose to use it

I think it is the "collective" point, you're right, Teddy - to get away from white as a default.

Just call them their race? Black, Asian, mixed race, Maori. If you want to be super PC say BAME.

They're not coloured in the UK. PoC is OK in America I think but they're not blue, so they're not coloured. Their race isn't a swear word to be avoided.

My friends sometimes say brown if they're super mixed.

Although I usually use Asian vs South Asian for those denominations as where I'm from Asian means East Asian whereas where I live now it usually means Pakistani/Bangladeshi/Indian

I'm currently in America and watching CNN and have noticed with all the racist trump stuff a lot of references to women of colour which I already knew was used in America more but also references to brown people. Which we don't use in the UK. Not that I've heard before.

I don’t like it. We need to get away from the ‘colour/white’ label classification full stop imo.

As pp have said, it’s American terminology that is gradually seeping into British language, possibly more amongst young people, my teenage niece being a case in point.

POC is usually used in a similar way as BAME, to describe non-white people as a collective. It’s not designed to be used to describe individuals unless they choose to use it

Yes, this. It's a form of collective bureaucratic shorthand like BAME.