AIBU to ask how "coloured" and "of colour" differ?

[JohnAndMichaelsSister]

I've hesitated all day before posting this, because it's a sensitive subject and I don't want to offend anyone. But I need to know the answer, so as not to unintentionally offend anyone in future!

I turned on the radio this morning (Today on Radio 4) to hear that the FA chairman Greg Clarke has had to resign for using the term “coloured footballers”. Then Dame Heather Rabbatts, in talking about it, used the phrase “person of colour”.

How can “coloured” be offensive and “of colour” not be?

To me, logically, both seem offensive. Both imply that to be white is “the norm”, and lump together everyone else in the world who is of any other colour as somehow departing from this “norm”.

And any physicist will tell you that white is formed by combining all the colours of the spectrum, while black is an absence of colour. So actually it's white people who are coloured!

Yet for a while now we have been told that “... of colour” is the correct term for everyone who isn't white.

I'm in the UK, but I know that in the US the main organisation that campaigns for the rights of black people is called The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

So I'm totally confused. I'd like some guidance (especially from black British people - I'm white) on what is offensive and what isn't.

YANBU = “coloured” and “of colour” are as offensive or inoffensive as each other.
YABU = there really is some difference between the two terms.

I don’t like coloured because people who use it seem to use it in a very nasty way. I also don’t like “person/people of colour” because I think it sounds patronising and I hate BAME with a passion for the ideology that all races that are non-white can be lumped together and spoken about as a shared experience, as if someone from Uganda has much in common and experience as someone from China.

I was of the understanding that coloured and of colour was patronising and offensive. The race is 'black' the ethnicity is 'black' I've been told by colleagues and friends who happen to be black that they refer to themselves as 'black' coloured is a term devised by white people to Pussy foot around because they're too scared to use the word 'black' and in doing so actually come across as ignorant and more racist. I'm willing to be corrected.

But I need to know the answer, so as not to unintentionally offend anyone in future!

Best way to not do this is to ask each individual you meet how they'd like to be addressed. You can take the majority of what you get here and apply it to everyone you meet and you'd still offend someone.

Personally, I think both are crap.

Not offensive though...just inaccurate.

I don’t know OP, but I hope I don’t sound facetious to say I long for the day when it’s not even necessary to use any term to describe people on the basis of their race, ethnicity or skin colour.

I would be interested to know the answer too.

I wouldn’t take what the states do as applying to the UK though. They use words there relating to disability as slang for stupidity without seeing offence (words starting with R and S). But find the word “twat” completely offensive.

Also agree with 'BAME', being utterly ridiculous. Trying to be pc but actually being more racist by lumping all non whites in the same 'pile' all clumped together. Absolutely no individuality there whatsoever. I don't know why we're so obsessed with measuring everybody in terms of the shade of their skin. It causes far more division.

@Lazt I think that day might be approaching.... my DD is 8 and it blew her mind a couple of days ago when I explained what a racist was. She just couldn’t see why a person’s skin would be reason to treat them differently!

I long for the day when it’s not even necessary to use any term to describe people on the basis of their race, ethnicity or skin colour

That sounds lovely but it's a bit 'I don't see colour'. If we don't have words to describe race, ethicity, skin colour, religion, disability, sex then we lack the words to describe what unites oppressed people.

Coloured is an old hangover term from a much more racist era so a no no for that reason alone.
I think the reason that 'of colour' is ok is a bit like how using person first language for describing people with disabilities. (Person with autism vs autistic person).

I'm brown.
I dont know what the PC term is, it seems to change every fee years, but I hate being called BAME with a passion.

It's historical context though isn't it. On the face of it both words mean the same, but coloureds is the phrase that was used in a derogatory way when black people were treated as lesser so that word carries a lot of hurt for people in a way that of colour doesn't.

Race may be black but ethnicity isn't black unless it's American ethnicity - Black Americans/ADOS, etc.

Race is a term used to lump everyone of different ethnicities with similar skin colour. Don't know what white and black have to do with where people come from or their heritage.

I’m not white, I find ‘coloured’ offensive

I prefer black, Asian etc... ‘of colour’ is ok,- up its rather American but designed with positive intent (whereas ‘coloured’ denotes ‘inferior to whites’)

It’s a bit like “disabled person” and “person with a disability”. “Disabled person” makes it all about the disability, while “person with a disability” puts the person at the centre.

Also, “coloured people” has been used as a pejorative term (No Coloureds, No Irish, No Dogs), whereas “people of colour” is more recent, and hasn’t been ruined by the racists (yet).

The word “coloured” is offensive because of the historical context in which it was used. It was often heard and seen amid the Jim Crow era in the US, which segregated races. During this time blackface minstrel shows were considered to be entertainment.

Dr Katie Donington, senior lecturer in history at London South Bank University, says: “The phrase ‘coloured’ brings to mind the social wrongs of segregation, subjugation and prejudice. We have seen them emblazoned on benches, water fountains and bus seats to mark out difference and to put people in their place.”

It was often used as a racial slur.

Experts say the word “coloured” has been considered unacceptable in the UK since the 1960s and 1970s as language evolved and it became commonplace to say black. However, it may still be used today among some older generations who believe saying black sounds impolite. It is also still used in South Africa.

Mr Bhandari, of Kick It Out, says the term is “outdated” and “should remain consigned to the dustbin of history”.

Used to be “black” was offensive because the N word is actually a play on the word black in Spanish. So, coloured people became preferred term...this was when the NAACP being formed in US. Then later, coloured people became offensive because it lumped all nonwhites together. So black came back into fashion.
And that’s ok. Each generation gets to decide how they want to be called. It’s up to everyone to stay current.

@Lazt

I don’t know OP, but I hope I don’t sound facetious to say I long for the day when it’s not even necessary to use any term to describe people on the basis of their race, ethnicity or skin colour.

That’s never going to happen because it’s a factor in appearance. Would you describe someone by saying they were blonde? Tall? Then describing skin colour is perfectly sensible.

I can understand your point of view. I think BAME is another term coined by white people (I'm white myself) to avoid causing offence and actually end up causing. I think you can tell the secret racists by the ones too scared to say facts comfortably like 'black' 'Asian' they're all Pussy footing around with 'erm that erm lady with the erm... Long hair. The er.... That lovely really pretty coloured lady'.... You mean the black lady sat there?

You don't need words to describe race. It's meaningless. You can say someone's actual skin colour and treat them as the individual they are.

Funny how some people who so "want to see race" have issues and take offence when someone points out their actual skin colour.

I think the 8 year old is on to something - I can't imagine for a second she doesn't see actual colour of skin. She just doesn't see race. Kudos.

That was, meant to be to @Rudolphian

I don’t know OP, but I hope I don’t sound facetious to say I long for the day when it’s not even necessary to use any term to describe people on the basis of their race, ethnicity or skin colour.

I agree absolutely but sadly I don’t see that day coming anytime soon.

Best way to not do this is to ask each individual you meet how they'd like to be addressed
Sorry but this made me laugh, thinking of addressing someone in regard to their colour:
'Hello white person' or 'Hello person of colour'.
😂😂😂

“Person of colour” centres “person”. It is also a term that was offered up by the demographic to which it refers. It also implies (in my opinion) that the person might be a member of any one of many ethnic groups but they recognise themselves as part of a broader group - those historically labelled by others as ‘not white’.

“Coloured” has a long and - ahem - colourful history. It has been used as a noun, for example “coloureds”. As an adjective, it is a label one applies, and that can make it feel offensive and reductive.

These are guesses. I’m a white person.

SavourSenorita. I do so agree - i do hesitate to use the word "black" in case it upsets someone or is thought offensive. I dislike the idea of hurting someone's feelings but also hate having to measure every word so carefully when i speak.