Why The Phrase “People of Color” Must be Expunged: Just Look at The 2021 Nobel Laureates
Will you ever find a more complete, authentic and non-synthetic compilation of the reality of all of humanity’s innate intellectual productivity and possibilities?
Will you continue to refer to a large segment of humankind as “People of Color” even as you look at these photos? Who they represent and what got them to this point in their lives?
The fruits of labor of these amazing servants of God and humankind, whose roots are all over the globe, were not produced by their skin color, but by that crown jewel of creation between their ears, their brains. And yes, all these brains have the same color !!! That is who they are; their BRAINS.
The Will of Alfred Nobel
No one drives home the thrust of this article better than the humane colossus himself, Alfred Nobel; Alfred Nobel’s will — NobelPrize.org
His third and last will which he signed on November 27, 1895 at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris dictated as follows:
“All of my remaining realizable assets are to be disbursed as follows: the capital, converted to safe securities by my executors, is to constitute a fund, the interest on which is to be distributed annually as prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”. It concludes: “It is my express wish that when awarding the prizes, no consideration be given to nationality, but that the prize be awarded to the worthiest person, whether or not they are Scandinavian.”
By willing most of his fortune to those persons of any nationality, not persons of no color or persons of color “who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”, Mr. Nobel reminds us that people are their brains not their skin color.
There is no such thing as “People of Color”. Just as there is no such thing as “People of no Color”.
The task to expunge this phrase from our lexicon should begin and be championed by bold souls willing to swim against the tide.
To some people, the theme of this article may sound inconsequential, and the world may even call it trivial.
Of course there are weighty issues confronting us now. The COVID-19 pandemic, the catastrophic effects of climate change, cyber security threats and conflicts around the world.
Nonetheless, the problem of the “color divide” The "Color Line" Today is of supreme importance. Why? Because it is the unseen and sub-conscious element that drives the superiority complex within populations.
Unfortunately, generations have, and still anchor their perceptions and relationships with other segments of the human race on superficial physical characteristics which have nothing to do with the essence of human beings.
Society has by and large accepted and transferred a social construct, “Race”— based largely on skin color and superficial physical features — to the essence of the “Being” of a large segment of human populations.
The phrase “People of Color” has rubber stamped assumptions which are often based on false premises, bias, stereotypes and negative connotations of particular members human populations.
To the staunch aficionados of the phrase, “People of Color”: What exactly are the exclusive characteristics of these people that are so compelling as to package their entire “Being” into the color of their skin?
Are these characteristics related to their hearts, minds, soul or character?
Have you noticed that almost in all instances, when these three words “People of Color” are uttered, the context almost always involves a triplet; Insufficiency of economic independence, insufficiency of productivity and insufficiency of competitiveness on the global stage.
It would be naive for any thinker or writer to deny the fact that Africa and in particular, Sub-Saharan Africa and several nations and communities in the African Diaspora exemplify the above stated insufficiencies.
There are of course other nations in Central America, South East Asia and a few other places that fall into the same category.
The crucial question is: Why are these nations and communities in this mess? Is it because of their black and brown skin color or are other fundamentals in play?
When you explain away changeable parameters — the above stated trio of insufficiencies — by inserting an unchangeable superficial physical feature — skin color — and that insertion becomes ‘gospel truth’, then you have done an indelible damage to the minds and psyche of the affected population.
Why is that?
Because every time you utter the phrase; “People of Color”, the people believe what they see — their skin color — to be their essence, and what they cannot see — their brains — marvelously protected in their skulls remain invisible to them.
Please permit me to put on my hat as someone who knows just a few things about the human body and in particular the human brain.
I submit unequivocally that the predicament of these populations has absolutely nothing to do with their skin color. Every person in these communities has peculiar gift(s) freely granted by our Creator.
Those gifts, already present at birth, have been freely uploaded into that mysterious organ — the brain — inside the skull.
In Africa and the nations of the Diaspora, the poverty has to do with mammoth corruption, self-centered leadership and failure of the leaders to provide opportunities for the people to optimize the output of their brains.
In other settings with African descendants, there are complex issues in play, not the least of which are historical injustices.
Which Constituency Should Champion Abolition of The Phrase “People of Color”?
Logic would dictate that the main proponents for vanquishing the phrase “People of Color” should be the populations referenced by the phrase.
After all, in the arena of human groupings and classification, there has always been intense feelings and conjured up reasons for justification of superiority of one particular group over others.
This is shown clearly in the classification of Carolus Linnaeus and Johann Friedrich Blumenbach; Scientific classifications of race.
More than 200 years after Linnaeus’ and Blumenbach’s classifications and the remarkable advances in science, one would think the scientific community would lead the fight for this abolition. But will this happen? Most likely not. At least not in this epoch.
Ramin Skibba captured this in the Smithsonian magazine in May 2019, in an article titled: The Disturbing Resilience of Scientific Racism | Science
In the article, he references famous words of the American sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois: “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.” He then states; “His words were borne out, in part, by science”.
Now please let’s be clear. I am not painting the scientific community with the wide brush of racism. Far from it. But the truth is that science has failed to lead in this arena.
In her book, Superior: The Return of Race Science, published in May 2019, Angela Saini convincingly argues that the “problem of the color line” is very much alive today in 21st-century science.
Thus, in the current climate of political correctness, we cannot rely on scientists to lead the fight for expunging the phrase “People of Color”.
Also, given the state of our politics, it would probably be unrealistic to expect politicians to seriously address this topic.
The hope is that one day, politicians will realize the absurdity of the phrase and hence refrain from it. Those at the helm of our governing institutions at the federal, state and local levels have to lead this effort.
What about business leaders especially in the big corporations? Not likely. Many of them have other priorities.
What about the clergy?
They have the moral high ground and they must employ it to the fullest.
Therefore, they should stop using the phrase in all their engagements with their parishioners and congregation.
When the Apostle Paul picked those six categories in Galatians 3:28 to remind the multicultural generation of his day of what unity in diversity should be for believers, notice the concrete nature of the pairings.
The Apostle made no references to any superficial physical characteristics. What a great example for us in our troubled world today.
The Bible verse is also a reminder that at the heart of the Moral Framework are two biblical commands: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.
It is almost impossible to live in faithful obedience to these commands if you perceive your neighbors or box them into a lower or inferior category based entirely on their skin color.
What about the Media?
They have a significant role to play in this transformation which I predict will, and must happen no matter how many years, decades or even centuries it takes.
In asking the media to participate in this herculean task, those who choose to do so will certainly be laboring against the tide in their industry.
But is’nt the courage to venture outside the ‘box’ how all meaningful transformations occur?
Hardly can one listen to a newscast on the major networks including cable news shows without hearing the phrase “People of Color” at some point. The phrase is also often used in print media.
The landmark Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia (1967) unanimously declared anti-miscegenation laws (laws banning interracial marriages) to be unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court, by declaring Virginia’s anti-miscegenation law unconstitutional, dealt a major blow to segregation.
In order to sustain the force of that blow to discrimination, and others like it, and to move it from the legalistic realm to the moral and even scientific realm, the campaign to expunge the phrase “People of Color” must commence in earnest.
The anchors at ABC, CBS, NBC, CNBC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, and in particular those who belong to the so called “People of Color” category must lead this charge.
What about the referenced population?
Ultimately, the positive impact of ceasing from referring to people as “People of Color” will be felt in every day activities and relationships with neighbors, co-workers, supervisors and even government officials.
Because usage of the phrase is so pervasive and considered so benign, it would take a concerted effort to eliminate it from everyday language inside and outside the USA.
However, as more people come to focus on the intended and unintended implications of the phrase during discussions at the dinner table, sports bars, classrooms, webinars, podcasts, in movies, etc., hopefully the debate will gather steam.
Celebrities including movie stars, sports superstars and iconic musicians have a major role to play in this quest because of their tremendous influence especially on the young population.
Finally, as you think about this issue, the question is this:
Do the photos of the 2021 Nobel laurates not affirm that all humankind represent the image of God, a Sovereign who, as far as we know, has no color and no color preference?
