On this Black Friday, try being kind to all persons of color and minorities. Share asmile, and make an offer to help as a special gesture.
Whether you rise a white horse or a back ass, we've all bled red. People of Color means a racial group that you have identified as different from the white race or Caucasian.
Two and a half years into the pandemic, it continues to happen. COVID-related hateful incidents in New York, where anti-Asian hate crimes have spiked by 361 percent last year. In California, home to more than 6 million Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, 28 percent of whom have witnessed or experienced a hate incident.
Language is an essential element to seek understanding among people. Changes in the words and phrases we use to describe each other can reflect the progress we can make toward the path to a world where everyone feels respected.
A Google search comparing the frequency of the use of "colored people," "minorities" and "people of color" delivers interesting results. The use of the phrase "colored people" peaked in 1970.
For "minorities," the top-ranked year was 1997. Since then, the term has steadily declined but continues to significantly outstrip the use of "people of color," which reached its apex a few years ago.
A little more research into early sources turns up "An Act to Prohibit the Importation of Slaves into any Port or Place Within the Jurisdiction of the United States" signed in 1807, which applied to "any negro, mulatto, or person of color" — indicating that the term was well-enough established to be used in the text of the legislation.
"People of color explicitly suggests a social relationship among racial and ethnic minority groups. ... [It is] is a term most often used outside of traditional academic circles, often infused by activist frameworks, but it is slowly replacing terms such as racial and ethnic minorities. ... In the United States, in particular, there is a trajectory to the term — from more derogatory terms such as negroes, to colored, to people of color. ... People of color is, however it is viewed, a political term, but it is also a term that allows for a more complex set of identity for the individual — a relational one that is in constant flux." Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society
Keep in mind that tomorrow is Small Business Saturday and should be the first place for everyone to shop small year-round.
However, if you decide not to participate, then keep your hate in check and just stay home, to enjoy some Black Russians. This is a simple, two-part cocktail combining vodka and Kahlúa, a coffee liqueur that's made with rum, sugar, and arabica coffee. Cheers!