I am not white in the sense that "whiteness" is a socially constructed racial classification, but I am "white" in the sense that the color of my skin is white. I'm still not really "white-passing"; you wouldn't look at me and think I'm a white American or a westerner in general.

People will sometimes call me a "person of color". This tends to make me feel uncomfortable because I'm not really marginalized by society in the same way black or brown people are, and to me PoC is a term used mainly to draw attention to that form of marginalization.

It's not that I'm not marginalized at all because of the way I look. When I was younger, I was told to shave my beard any time I flew so I wasn't harassed in the airport for looking too terrorist-y.

Maybe my discomfort with the term PoC being used for me is that it specifically calls out the color aspect, and the color of my skin is white.

So I usually tell people I call myself "non-white" instead. What do you think? Maybe I'm overthinking this. I'd especially like to hear thoughts from black and brown comrades about this: would you call me a person of color? Thanks.

Edit: I'll probably stick to calling myself non-white, but I won't correct anybody if they call me a PoC. Thanks for the thoughts everyone, I appreciate it.

  • CrookedSerpent [she/her]
    ·
    3 years ago

    To this day, I have no idea if I (and all people of east asian decent) are people of color... Like are we "white" if we stay inside for a year then become "poc" when we stay out all year in the sun???

    • drinkinglakewater [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I think because of the way whiteness is prioritized there is a subconscious current that the people with lighter skin are "superior", but the layers of anti-Asian racism in society don't presently allow for them to be seen as equal. It will be interesting to see if the massive influence of Japanese and South Korean media changes anything, but the other ethnicities in East/South-East Asia would still likely be othered.