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From: Elsa Marston <elsa.marston_at_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 14:14:35 -0500
My second and last post today, as our discussion on diversity winds down. I have found it of great interest and am saving a number of particularly thoughtful and helpful contributions--such as Christine's and Debbie's lists of what they DO want.
But like Ebony, who wrote today of her reactions to the conversation, I also feel a significant measure of disappointment. That's because the whole Arab/Muslim world has been almost totally ignored in a month of discussion. One reason, it appears, is that Arabs and Muslims don't count as "People of Color." Arabs, Turks,Afghans, Iranians, Berbers, Pakistanis, and others--they all should be regarded as "White"--like Finns, Poles, Scots, etc. Therefore they're not objects of interest. They're invisible.
I'll have to say that I object to the whole "People of Color" terminology. I think I understand the reason why it has been adopted so widely (being
"colored" used to be Bad, and now it's Good--a mindset that I have no quarrel with in itself). But to take one human attribute--appearance, specifically skin color--as the defining criterion for deciding whether a people are worth our attention is not a helpful way to look at the world, in my opinion.
Like the perennial itch to find a better term for "nonfiction," I wish we could find a way to refer to the breadth and variety of the human family without having to resort to this "people of color" scheme. I agree, it's a challenge, troubling and difficult; and I don't think another "Non" word, such as "non-European" is the answer, either.
So that's my rant. I wish the discussion could have been more inclusive. We're more able to learn from each other if we don't--for some seemingly arbitrary reason--leave some people out.
Elsa www.elsamarston.com
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 14:14:35 -0500
My second and last post today, as our discussion on diversity winds down. I have found it of great interest and am saving a number of particularly thoughtful and helpful contributions--such as Christine's and Debbie's lists of what they DO want.
But like Ebony, who wrote today of her reactions to the conversation, I also feel a significant measure of disappointment. That's because the whole Arab/Muslim world has been almost totally ignored in a month of discussion. One reason, it appears, is that Arabs and Muslims don't count as "People of Color." Arabs, Turks,Afghans, Iranians, Berbers, Pakistanis, and others--they all should be regarded as "White"--like Finns, Poles, Scots, etc. Therefore they're not objects of interest. They're invisible.
I'll have to say that I object to the whole "People of Color" terminology. I think I understand the reason why it has been adopted so widely (being
"colored" used to be Bad, and now it's Good--a mindset that I have no quarrel with in itself). But to take one human attribute--appearance, specifically skin color--as the defining criterion for deciding whether a people are worth our attention is not a helpful way to look at the world, in my opinion.
Like the perennial itch to find a better term for "nonfiction," I wish we could find a way to refer to the breadth and variety of the human family without having to resort to this "people of color" scheme. I agree, it's a challenge, troubling and difficult; and I don't think another "Non" word, such as "non-European" is the answer, either.
So that's my rant. I wish the discussion could have been more inclusive. We're more able to learn from each other if we don't--for some seemingly arbitrary reason--leave some people out.
Elsa www.elsamarston.com
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Received on Fri 28 Feb 2014 01:14:54 PM CST
