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.

    • DengXixian [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      If anything, Americans are probably some of the more tolerant people in the world when it comes to race.

      This is not an opinion based in reality.

      • Lundi [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        yeah, maybe your reality. Are you black or dark skinned? If not shut the fuck up.

        • DengXixian [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          Holy shit, lick some police state boot harder.

          We just went through 2 years of seeing why Americans are not “tolerant” of race.

                • DengXixian [he/him]
                  ·
                  3 years ago

                  I’m not going to debate whether or not Americans are fucking racist with you.

                  :amerikkka:

                  • Lundi [none/use name]
                    ·
                    3 years ago

                    This is childish and absolutely insensitive. Like, yes, i agree, death to America, but this is a thread about race and the person I was replying to talked about personal experiences. You're being an asshole.

      • Lundi [none/use name]
        ·
        3 years ago

        The public harassment is much worse in other countries. Being "honest" about racism is much better than whatever the fuck kind of gaslighting delusional bullshit Europeans like to push.

        • DengXixian [he/him]
          ·
          3 years ago

          This is like saying an “honest” nazi is better. It just lets you know which fascist you need to kill next.

          :fash-bash:

          You do not have to hand it to Amerikkka.

    • drinkinglakewater [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Not sure you're interpreting race in the same way as it exists generally in "the West". Ethnic supremacy and colorism exist basically everywhere, but the notion of race that originates from Euro-settler colonialism is a specific form of discrimination that goes beyond ethnicity and color.