More importantly, why the hell has that obnoxious little titbit of Tumblr Social Justice Warrior speak that is "People of Colour" somehow caught on around here?
It's an inclusive term for anyone who's not white.
I know full well what it means. However, it's not only overly flowery and rather redundant, since you can just say "not white", but it's also quite silly, considering that there are plenty of non-whites around who're just as pale, if not more so, than most Europeans.
Reminded of a tumblr rant I saw where someone ranted about Americans trying to apply American racial politics: white vs non-white, to the rest of the world, where things are much more complex. Eg: how to apply 'white' in Europe.
Plus, PoC feeds the "us vs them" mentality, so... not a good thing. And while it may be inclusive, it also lumps together litterally hundreds of racial backgrounds and cultures, basically saying "you're not white, and that's the only thing that matters! Who cares if you're an inuit, or an australian aboriginal, or a métisse from La Réunion? What matters the most is that you're not one of the white ones!"
So... yeah. A problematic term, to say the least. Perhaps not as much in the US, I don't know, but outside of it, it feels a bit like we're approaching racism from the other side, if you get my meaning.
