People of Culture, not Color

Race, we know, is a construct. We all agree how the notion of race was created by white supremacists, in the service of white supremacy. We have done nearly all that can be done to eradicate the notion that race is some fixed, natural consequence of human life. Yet, we treat the notion of “color,” the umbrella term categorizing groups of peoples from historically marginalized cultures over the past 10,000 years of history, as if this meaning was not also created by white (light) supremacists, in the service of white (light) supremacy. We let the derogatory term colored people transform into the laudable term people of color without barely batting an eye. A few voices, some earnestly and others clownishly, highlighted the absurdity of the term, given the struggle our Jim Crow and Civil Rights ancestors endured so that people could claim their diverse identities proudly and powerfully. Movements who inherited Boricua and Creek and birthed Afro-American and Chicano. Yet, the most earnest of those voices could not stall the inevitability of this shift to people of color. Why not? Because of the most inconvenient ism: colorism. The term “people of color” gives light supremacists what they most want, a world in which:

Status = 1/Melanin

The game was rigged from the start because levels.

Or more specifically levels within groups. Historically marginalized cultures differ in the degree to which the phenotypes of so-called “representative” or “prototypical” members resembled the prototypical member of the so-called “majority” group, the colonizers. And an easy-to-observe, difficult-to-fake phenotypic expression is skin tone, However, within these cultural groups one immediately encounters variation in skin color, with about as large a range as one would imagine existing between groups. When it comes to skin color, the difference between Black and white Americans on average is not more extreme than the difference between Draymond and Steph. Allowing the word “color” to remain imbued with a meaning tied to a social hierarchy based on the color of people’s skin not only lets light supremacists off the hook but also allows colorism to operate more invisibly and largely unimpeded despite humanity’s progressive march toward the universal recognition of human rights.

Hence, we reject this term. We instead insist that POC represent people of culture.

Which cultures? Historically marginalized cultures.

One might ask incredulously, “Is it not ridiculous to use the word culture to represent something other than all cultures?” Of course it is, we say, but it is no more ridiculous than the current custom of using the word color to represent something other than all colors. People have not been known to shy away from ridiculous, imperfect language. But we have also proven capable to be intentional with the use of language (for example, see the heightened awareness many of us now display regarding the use of pronouns).

The transition from people of color to people of culture is not an invitation to deplete the term of value; we are not advocating for some homogenized, melting pot, color-blind vision of America. Quite the opposite. It is meant to draw attention to and elevate the facets of our lived experience that define group membership: our traditions, our shared pains and triumphs, our distinct stories of oppression, the distinct ways in which our ideas and innovations have shaped the world over time. It is also designed to name and shame the scourge of colorism, one of the last barriers that prevents society from being fully inclusive.

BIPOC include Black, Indigenous, and People of Culture. BIWOC include Black, Indigenous, Women of Culture. Yes, we are retaining Black. Retaining, because it has already been reclaimed. It had been rescued and reprogrammed by Sisters Baker and Brothers Carmichael, Brothers Murphy and Sisters Hill. Unlike Black, unlike Brown, there is no redemptive path for "color." Because color will always divide. At a minimum, color divides those who are perceived to have it from those who do not. And in that way, color always serves the white (light) supremacist worldview.

People of culture gives us our best opportunity to take back color and return it to its truest, most guileless meaning: differences in hue and luminance tied to the presence of melanin in the skin. This is the meaning, divorced from white supremacy, that best allows diversity to be celebrated. In using people of culture, we celebrate that which truly differentiates us: our cultures. Color is not the source of flavor; culture is. Stripping social hierarchical meaning from the term "color" illuminates the path to inclusion, by dethroning the idea that light is right.

Copyright Lawrence Williams 2023