The Democrats are always coming up with snappy new terms to describe their political antics. “Medicare for All,” “Public Option,” “Democratic Socialism” and “Progressives” are samples of current nomenclature. The terms typically replace a prior term that has failed to capture public acceptance. The press simply follows suit, never questioning the new terms and phrases as they become commonly used by the press. Soon the rest of us are forced to use terms du jour or we are scorned. It is not clear who came up with the term “People of Color,” but there is not a more deceitful and manipulative term than this.
The term basically divides everyone into two groups – White people and everyone else. It treats each group as if it were homogenized. The usage of “people of color” has been traced back as far as 1796. That was really when there were two non-white groups: Blacks and Native Americans. Today that has radically changed.
It is foolish to state that all Whites are just that – people of the same ilk. There are many White Americans with whom I have zero in common. There are many Jewish White Americans I believe live on another planet which Is not part of this solar system. In addition, the fact that there are European Jews (Ashkenazi) and Sephardic Jews who are non-white doesn’t even put all Jews in the same place, but the people who use these terms group all Jews as White.
While Hispanics are often grouped with Blacks politically, they seem to have different political leanings. Hispanic men voted for Trump twice as frequently as Black men and Hispanic women voted for Trump four times as often as Black women. These groups have little in common. While many Black (and some Whites too) were out looting and rioting this past summer, you did not see a lot of Hispanics jumping on board. Part of it is so many Hispanics have a European (White) heritage. Recently a large population of Colombians relocated to Miami as their country was riddled with drug wars. This group has little in common with people here from Central America. Likewise, Cubans have little to do with the Puerto Ricans. Then there are the Dominicans. While they arrived from Spanish speaking countries, these groups have as much in common as the English do with Bulgarians. And they have little in common with Blacks and Asians.
Then there are the Asians. People of Asian extraction gravely dislike being grouped with everyone else that might have a similar look. My friend Michelle Steel, who recently was elected to Congress, told of how some members of the press addressed her as if she were Chinese despite being of Korean heritage and also speaking Japanese. The Koreans do not like the Chinese and certainly the Taiwanese have no affection for mainland Chinese. Then there are the Asians from Thailand, Vietnam, India, Laos and Singapore. Gosh knows the people of Hong Kong who are Chinese do not like the mainland Chinese. They are all “People of Color” who are supposed to all think alike. Not even close.
Not even all Blacks think alike. American-born Blacks are distinctly different from Blacks who have immigrated from Africa in recent generations. It became well known recently that Nigerian Americans are a particularly successful group. Why would they relate to a Black American who thinks the country really started in 1619? In fact, African American immigrants act just like every other immigrant group. They want to succeed in America and not be grouped by “well-meaning liberals” as people of color.
These groups realize this hoopla about “people of color” is nothing more than an attempt by white liberals to appease their self-imposed feelings of guilt or “privilege.” These groups want the government out of their way so they can earn a living, get ahead, raise their children and make sure the next generation is more successful than they are. That is why as a whole immigrants are more successful than native-born Americans and have a higher home ownership rate.
The supposed “people of color” realize that the average American does not really care about their skin shade or native country. They realize we ask they only do two things: Learn to speak English and become an American citizen. Experience shows that these people appreciate this country at a higher level than native-born Americans. They have seen what life is like elsewhere and how fortunate we are here.
People of Color do not exist. It is a stupid and insulting term. There are only two kinds of Americans: ones who love this country and understand what a gift it is to live here, and those who do not.