Word: colorations
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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This attempt at a minority alliance is symbolized best by the coining of the term "people of color," an all-inclusive term to describe anyone who is not Caucasian. Yet this example shows why attempts at multi-racial unity often weaken the effectiveness of each minority's activism...
...term "people of color" is intended as a substitute for partisan names like "Black," "Asian" and "Latino," which emphasize the differences between different minority communities. It attempts to encapsulate the fact that all of these minority groups face discrimination and trouble with integration into mainstream culture...
This term is objectionable for both linguistic and social reasons. The phrase is only definable in opposition to another term, "white." It presupposes the existence of a monolithic white group and then defines everyone who does not fall into this category as people of color...
Long ago, Blacks were called "colored people," as if normal people were white and Blacks were merely white people with a little coloring. In the same sense, "people of color" perpetuates ethnocentrism by continuing to place "white people" as the central group to which all others are compared. Words like Black or Latino emphasize that different minorities have as much independent reality as whites. Rather than defining one group in terms of another, each group's integrity should be recognized and appreciated...
Participants also argued about what constitutes racism. Choo drew a distinction between "tactless" joking and racism, but others said they consider all derogatory remarks about color or origin "racist...