Arizona Republican refers to Black Americans as 'colored people' in House floor debate

MicroWave@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 596 points –
Arizona Republican refers to Black Americans 'colored people' on House floor
nbcnews.com

Rep. Eli Crane used the derogatory phrase in describing his proposed amendment to a military bill. Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty asked that his words be stricken from the record.

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Referring to all non-white people as a single entity is bigotry in of itself.

To be fair, when talking about issues involving more than one group vs systemic racism that uniquely benefits white people above all other groups, then it's pointless to try and specify every group that isn't white and is harmed in some way by systemic racism separately. If you want to discuss a common issue shared by various other groups, then using shorthand to refer to those groups as a collective isn't inherently bigoted. What matters is the history of the term you use and whether said collective generally prefers it or not. A lot of non-white folks use poc/woc/etc and like that it's a unifying term that implies solidarity with other non-white groups. Some non-white folks don't like the term, and that's fine, but it's still considered better than "coloured people" because "coloured people" actually has a history of bigoted use, hence why it's viewed as offensive.

I get kind of annoyed at how non-black people are selectively included or excluded from "people of color".
When someone is trying to sound inclusive, anyone who isn't white is a "person of color".
But the second we try to assert some rights we suddenly basically white people.