Person of color

A person of color (plural: people of color, sometimes persons of color) is an American term referring to someone who is not white. Since the 2010s, it has been used in other parts of the English-speaking world.

In the United States, people of color include African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, mixed-race Americans, and non-white Latinos. It can also refer to people of non-white ancestry outside of the US.

The term "colored" was the older word for people of color in American English, but later came to be only used for "Negroes"[1] (an outdated and offensive word for black people). It is now considered racist.[2] In South Africa, "Coloreds" refers to multiple mixed-race ethnic groups, and is sometimes applied to other groups in Southern Africa, such as the Basters of Namibia.

References

  1. Trigger, Bruce G. (1978). Northeast. Smithsonian Institution. p. 290. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  2. Butterly, Amelia (January 27, 2015). "Warning: Why using the term 'coloured' [sic] is offensive". BBC Newsbeat. Retrieved September 25, 2019.