8 ms·

Excuse my ignorance but do Asians "count" as people of color? I thought that usually referred to Latinos and African Americans? I know that university admissi

Excuse my ignorance but do Asians "count" as people of color? I thought that usually referred to Latinos and African Americans? I know that university admissions PoC don't include Asians, in fact most admissions standards are stacked against them.

kelukelugames 11y ago
Yes, I am a person of color. The dictionary definition of people of color is any non whites. Edit: There is a long explanation of why Asians are sometimes excluded. The short answer is racism against Asians.
- puredemo 11y ago
  It sounds like you're saying it's fine to be racist against whites, but offensive to do the same thing to your personal "in-group." Little ironic, lol.
  - Analemma_ 11y ago
    You're doing the exact thing that WalterBright complained about above (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10859674 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10859674). Of course that is not what the poster meant.
    - kelukelugames 11y ago
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_color https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_color He thinks I'm racist for quoting wikipedia. I've met people like him at work. Overly sensitive people is exactly why I don't want to write about race issues.
      - puredemo 11y ago
        >He thinks I'm racist for quoting wikipedia. I mean, I think you buy into and identify with a concept that is explicitly, by definition anti-white.. Is that not racist? -- >This is exactly why I don't want to write about race issues. Because everyone needs to agree with you about them 100%?
        kelukelugames 11y ago
        I can't be racist because my girlfriend is white. :P
    - puredemo 11y ago
      If I wanted to take it super literally, I'd ask why Pink people aren't considered "People of Color." ;)
  - delecti 11y ago
    Often, when people are referring to racism, they're referring specifically to Institutional racism. As a general rule (because everything is naturally full of gray areas) it's considered to be impossible for whites to experience institutional racism in countries where we're the majority. So while a PoC could certainly be bigoted against whites, it wouldn't be accurate to say that they're inflicting institutional racism on them.
    - 13thLetter 11y ago
      " As a general rule (because everything is naturally full of gray areas) it's considered to be impossible for whites to experience institutional racism in countries where we're the majority." Sorry, what? Considered by whom? Because we should have a word with these people about how unimaginative they are. For one thing, there are plenty of ways a member of group X could experience institutional racism in an X-majority country. Perhaps they live in a Y-dominated region of the country, or work for a Y-owned company, or group Y has more political/economic/cultural power in society despite being a minority, or they work for an organization whose policy is to hire and promote Y preferentially. More generally, I don't see the purpose of desperately insisting that institutional racism can never affect group X. To say that group X can be harmed certainly doesn't mean that group Y isn't harmed more. It's a weird and pointless linguistic game that harms the purpose of achieving equality of opportunity by gratuitously driving away allies.
      - delecti 11y ago
        I know it's lazy to just link to a Wikipedia article on the subject, but I'm going to anyway, because I'm too lazy to address all the things in your post when you can do your own research. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism The fact is, the occasional inconvenience on whites in America (as a convenient example) from occasional pockets of bigoted blacks is fundamentally different from the regular impact on blacks from the institutionalized racist tendencies in society.
        13thLetter 11y ago
- merpnderp 11y ago
  Asians haven't faced horrible racism in the US? Asians have and still do face racism in the states.
geofft 11y ago
The usual term I hear in university admissions contexts is "underrepresented minorities," which is generally taken to not include Asians. There are contexts where Asians are underrepresented; political representation comes to mind. In those places "people of color" makes more sense.

kelukelugames 11y ago

Yes, I am a person of color. The dictionary definition of people of color is any non whites. Edit: There is a long explanation of why Asians are sometimes excluded. The short answer is racism against Asians.

puredemo 11y ago
It sounds like you're saying it's fine to be racist against whites, but offensive to do the same thing to your personal "in-group." Little ironic, lol.
- Analemma_ 11y ago
  You're doing the exact thing that WalterBright complained about above (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10859674 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10859674). Of course that is not what the poster meant.
  - kelukelugames 11y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_color https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_color He thinks I'm racist for quoting wikipedia. I've met people like him at work. Overly sensitive people is exactly why I don't want to write about race issues.
    - puredemo 11y ago
      >He thinks I'm racist for quoting wikipedia. I mean, I think you buy into and identify with a concept that is explicitly, by definition anti-white.. Is that not racist? -- >This is exactly why I don't want to write about race issues. Because everyone needs to agree with you about them 100%?
      - kelukelugames 11y ago
        I can't be racist because my girlfriend is white. :P
  - puredemo 11y ago
    If I wanted to take it super literally, I'd ask why Pink people aren't considered "People of Color." ;)
- delecti 11y ago
  Often, when people are referring to racism, they're referring specifically to Institutional racism. As a general rule (because everything is naturally full of gray areas) it's considered to be impossible for whites to experience institutional racism in countries where we're the majority. So while a PoC could certainly be bigoted against whites, it wouldn't be accurate to say that they're inflicting institutional racism on them.
  - 13thLetter 11y ago
    " As a general rule (because everything is naturally full of gray areas) it's considered to be impossible for whites to experience institutional racism in countries where we're the majority." Sorry, what? Considered by whom? Because we should have a word with these people about how unimaginative they are. For one thing, there are plenty of ways a member of group X could experience institutional racism in an X-majority country. Perhaps they live in a Y-dominated region of the country, or work for a Y-owned company, or group Y has more political/economic/cultural power in society despite being a minority, or they work for an organization whose policy is to hire and promote Y preferentially. More generally, I don't see the purpose of desperately insisting that institutional racism can never affect group X. To say that group X can be harmed certainly doesn't mean that group Y isn't harmed more. It's a weird and pointless linguistic game that harms the purpose of achieving equality of opportunity by gratuitously driving away allies.
    - delecti 11y ago
      I know it's lazy to just link to a Wikipedia article on the subject, but I'm going to anyway, because I'm too lazy to address all the things in your post when you can do your own research. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism The fact is, the occasional inconvenience on whites in America (as a convenient example) from occasional pockets of bigoted blacks is fundamentally different from the regular impact on blacks from the institutionalized racist tendencies in society.
      - 13thLetter 11y ago
merpnderp 11y ago
Asians haven't faced horrible racism in the US? Asians have and still do face racism in the states.

geofft 11y ago

The usual term I hear in university admissions contexts is "underrepresented minorities," which is generally taken to not include Asians. There are contexts where Asians are underrepresented; political representation comes to mind. In those places "people of color" makes more sense.