What Exactly Does the Phrase “People of Color” Mean?
Sub-Title: The Seemingly Immutable Human Color Caste
Leaders including Presidents, Vice Presidents, State Governors, members of Congress, judges in courts, professors in various disciplines, pastors, media moguls, CEOs of small and multibillion dollar corporations, sports and entertainment celebrities and ‘regular’ people use this phrase — “People of color”.
But do People of color really exist? If they do, are the others “People of no color” — Colorless People?
We live in a strongly partitioned world. Partitioned along multiple lines — class line, cultural line, gender line, ideology line, language line, religious line, and yes, very deeply along skin color (race)line.
Perhaps the most scientifically baseless and most toxic line is the skin color line.
A line which divides human beings individually and into groups along false stereotypes and superficial characteristics with profound negative and sometimes lethal consequences.
A line which packs billions of very complex systems — human bodies — into a superficial socially convenient box: “People of color”.
Best selling author Isabel Wilkerson in her book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents put it this way:
