There’s a lot of other news today…
…and I’m going out now, so I’ll just briefly mention a couple of things.
The first is an update on Erica Thomas, who accused a guy in the supermarket of telling her to go back where she came from (a la Trump, supposedly). Not only does he turn out to be an avid Trump-hater and person of Cuban descent (we already knew that), but she apparently got who said what to who kind of mixed up.
And speaking of mixed up—strictly in biological terms, Rashida Tlaib is no more a “woman of color” than I am (someone pointed this out the other day but I can’t find the link right now). However, as I’ve written before, “of color” sounds like a biological term but it is strictly a political term, defined by the left in a hierarchy of intersectional oppression to mean anyone who can use the race card to either exonerate him/herself or accuse any critic of racism. Such people include black people, Hispanic people (unless you’re a “white Hispanic” like George Zimmerman who didn’t act in the proper leftist manner), native Americans, and people of Palestinian and other middle eastern descent (that’s Tlaib). Absolutely excluded: Jews and Asians.
And . . . AOC is not a woman of color either. Puerto Ricans consider themselves to be white, which they are. Spaniards. AOC is whiter than I am. SOOO tired of this despicable labeling.
Asians are sometimes allowed to be POC: if they are expressing proper leftist sentiments and/or bashing white people. Jews, never.
y81:
Actually, Jews from Ethiopia are allowed to be temporarily black if they are complaining about discrimination in Israel.
No, AOC is not a person of color. Sweet bejeebus i can get darker than her.
Is this a contest?
Because if it is the Swedish girls bodygaurding at the pool i used to go swimming at win.
I’m waiting for neo to jump on the Bonfire of the Trannities.
It could only happen to a Harvard professor. Hilarious. This guy hooked up with a bisexual woman raising children with a trans male-to-female, then managed to lose his house to the ultra-woke couple. Briefly. Fortunately his wife put the house in her name.
It’s too complicated and delicious to explain further. But read on, dear reader, read on.
https://www.thecut.com/2019/07/bruce-hay-paternity-trap-maria-pia-shuman-mischa-haider.html
The trans scammer is a commentator of some renown:
https://www.theguardian.com/profile/mischa-haider
Also how is Rashida Tlaib a “Woman Of Color” TM?j i have seen containers of Cool Whip less white than her.
According to the most recent scientific estimates, based on genetic research, the population of Puerto Rico is, on average, around 15% Taino (indigenous), 20% black African, and 65% European (mostly Iberian). Obviously, there are some Puerto Ricans whose phenotype is black (by U.S. standards), more who are white (by U.S. standards) and some who are basically white but appear, at the same time, to be somewhat exotic. The game of intersectionality, of course, is played differently and has nothing to do with science, reason, common sense, or fairness.
Indeed. Apparently race is becoming like sex: it’s a social construct. Anyone can be a “person of color” as long as that victimhood storyline benefits the Left.
I feel the need to comment. I really like white girls. I like brown girls. I like black girls. If there were blue girls i have no doubt i would like them too.
“Because if it is the Swedish girls bodygaurding at the pool i used to go swimming at win.”
Go on…
I once read a story about a white male who visited Africa and he was asked if he was black. He was surprised to hear that and told his guests that he was white. His host said, “we get these Americans here who say they are black but they look white to us”.
Didn’t the English once refer to Arabs as “blackamoors”?
She got things “mixed up” the way Jussie Smullet got things “mixed up.”
Steve57:
Have you not ever heard the song, “When Sunny Gets Blue?
Neo:
Regarding your comment about Ethiopian Jews, an interesting thing about race is the people who are indigenous to Africa to claim not to be “black” because they lack attributes like crinkly hair or broad noses.
When I lived in Africa, I heard Ethiopians (not just Ethiopian Jews) insist they were not black. Somalis, too. Pygmies I knew insisted they were not black. The Fulanis of northern Nigeria and Cameroon insist they are not black. And on and on it goes.
And when I lived in India I heard people define grades of skin color with a precision that I could never hope to understand or repeat.
These things are more social and cultural than physical.
F:
Those people are all correct, actually. They are not members of what anthropologists consider the Negro race. It’s about more than skin color.
Neo. Thanks for the tip, always good to hear a Johnny Mathis song.
I utterly loathe the term “person of color”. First off, white is a color (albeit without a ‘hue’) and, in any case, no one’s skin is literally ‘white’, except (arguably) albinos. If we’re just talking about skin tone, we are all ‘people of color’.
Second, skin tone is a very arbitrary trait of a person’s racial makeup. I have black (now greying) hair and an olive complexion, due to my predominantly Bulgarian and Greek ancestry. My skin tone is as dark, or darker, than many so called ‘people of color’. Yet, by almost all classifications, I am Caucasian (i.e. ‘white’), which is what I’ve always considered myself.
“People of color” is an arbitrary and umbrella term used by leftists to set up a binary, Manichean duality against the “evil” white people. Both terms encompass an extraordinarily diverse group of people who cannot, and should not, be so easily pigeonholed.
Oh no, neo just used the colonial, repressive, slave master term “negro”. What’s next, darkie?
Let’s see if I can remember all the labels: Negros, Coloreds, Blacks, African-Americans, and now People of Color (POC). And that is just in my lifetime. Sometimes I just feel so weary of it all…
Would someone explain how “colored people” is a horrible racist term (except when referring to the NAACP), but flip the words around and throw an “of” in the middle, and it becomes the holy grail of woke-ness?
Since we’re naming lily-white “persons of color,” I have to ask: Was anyone else here surprised to learn that Kamala Harris describes herself as having African ancestry? I have seen black-Irish housewives in Atlanta who looked more sub-Saharan.
Yet I suppose Harris would call the gorgeous (and more classically “African” looking) Candace Owens an “oreo,” or some silly smear like that.
What a strange world.
I think people of color means everyone except Europeans, even if some of the “POC” or people of color, are actually technically Caucasian. Like say Persians and Arabs like Rashida Tlaib – technically Caucasian but not European. But this “POC” term is lumping a hell of a lot of people into one pot, like most of the world, and most of them have little in common with each other and some * want * little to do with each other. Yes, it is a politicized term and from the left and I remember it first being used in the early 80’s for an anthology of writing called “This Bridge Called My Back”, writings by “Radical Women of Color”. The editors couldn’t decide whether to use “third world women” which was another term in vogue on the left for non-white women or — what. It became obvious that the women in the book were not “third world” for the most part but all US citizens so the third world moniker was wrong. Even so, I remember the far left at the time (as I was associated with it), using the term “third world people” to mean what are now “POC”. So the term “POC” came out of that. It can and does mean Asians. Of course, many Asians, Native Americans (my mother), and various not European people do not consider themselves “POC” and want nothing to do with that term. As a mixed heritage person who is (by DNA tests) 63% European and 37% Native American (Blackfoot from my mother’s side), I don’t like it. But I dislike it mainly because it lumps a lot of people together who are so different and it does it for political purposes. Very leftist term and it is kind of a shock to hear it on the intercom at a Walgreens store when shopping (at least in the Bay Area) and on mainstream TV.
And yes, as someone here noted Jews are not generally POC though I have seen the term used for Sephardic or Mizrahi Jews.
The term “POC” is basically bullshit. And a weapon to use against anyone to the right and frankly, on white people — including Jews. And particularly on white people who don’t tow the left wing line. It is all about manipulation and power.
And “hi” here I am again Neo!
“…white is a color…”
Actually, “white” is ALL colors (if you spin around fast enough).
(As in: “There go all those crazy white folks, spinning around like out-of-control Dervishes”?)
On the other hand, someone noticed quite a while ago, that “white” people are often more pinkish, or some version of off-white (“off-white folks”?) or buff or beige or taupe.
And what color is “weather-beaten”?
All a bit confusing.
The truth is that it’s the ideologues who decide who is white. (And who isn’t.)
Was anyone else here surprised to learn that Kamala Harris describes herself as having African ancestry?
Her father is from Jamaica — he provided information about his background here: https://www.jamaicaglobalonline.com/kamala-harris-jamaican-heritage/
“Of color” is a leftist honorific like “-san” in Japanese. It can be used after people, women (but not men), communities, students, scholars, etc. It must never be used with words that have a negative meaning, e.g., after criminals.
Tony W:
I like your last comment: “not after criminals.” As in Al Sharpton: Scam Artist of Color. Good one.
Neo:
Yes, you are right about the differentiation between Bantus and non-Bantus on the African continent.
It reminds me of the witticism in the recent post-colonial era regarding people who had managed to win a scholarship to study in UK: “they’re not Bantus, they’re ‘been-to’s’. Cause they’ve ‘been to’ school in the UK.” Unkind, but meaningful if you lived there.
Finally, my youngest daughter, who was born in Cameroun, tried to join a college “Afro-American Club.” Uh-uh. That didn’t work, even though she pointed out she had a closer tie to Africa than anyone else in the club.
Mr. Nathanson,
You forgot Afro-American.
Liberty Wolf:
Hello again! Always good to see you.
It seems there has been a subtle movement to make the very European language of “Spanish” into a “native” language of The Americas and anyone speaking it is a POC.
According to genetics, the historical record, and both the Quran and the Torah, Jews and Arabs are cousins. If Rashida Tlaib and Linda Sarsour are brown, can Jews be beige?
BTW, saying the Mizrachi/Sephardi Jews are “of color” while Ashkenazi Jews are “white” is cheek-by-jowl with the Jew-hating myth that Ashkenazi Jews are all descended from the Khazars, not actual Hebrews. The genetic truth is that Ashkenazi and Mizrachi Jews are more closely related to each other than they are to any other groups.
Johann Amadeus Metesky:
I said that Ethiopian Jews (I did not use the more general term “Sephardi” nor “Mizrachi”) are considered people of color only by the left when they want to use such Jews to accuse Israelis of discrimination. I was speaking only of Jews who emigrated to Israel from Ethiopia, and only of their political categorization rather than their racial makeup.
And a previous commenter mentioned that some people use the phrase “people of color” to refer to Sephardi or Mizrahi. This is a political characterization as well.
In fact, however, if you are going to talk about biology and genetics, Ashkenazi Jews are very much a cross between European and Middle Eastern ancestry, with the group they most resemble being Palestinians. See this.
In personal terms, I have been struck every time I see photos of Palestinian children, who look so much like I did as a child it is uncanny.