People of Color? I'm a Color!

Why it is impossible to be 100% politically correct 100% of the time.

Those who read my blog on a regular basis will remember that I am in a class at Columbia called "Race and Ethnic Relations". My professor, who is a perfectly nice man, spends the majority of the 90 minute class period trying desperately to stay politically correct - even though he urged us to say what was on our minds, regardless of political correctness, without fear of persecution. It occurred to me just today that his terrible need to be unoffensive 100% of the time was borderline offensive.

I find myself cringing in disgust every time he says "people of color". He says it in hopes that he won't be singling out anyone but he is actually singling out those of us who never expected to be left in the cold. I guess that's what we get for being white Americans. And he's right, white isn't a color. It's very definition is the absence of color. But when I look at myself in the mirror, I am not actually white in the sense that I have no color. I am a color!

I know I'm wrong for being offended by this. I'm white. I'm supposed to hate myself because of what my predecessors did. But why spend all that time and energy hating myself for something I didn't do when I can turn it towards the future to make positive changes on the world. I guess my point is, why try so hard to be all inclusive (and end up hurting someone's feelings) when you can just be straight forward in your explanation. Tell it how it is. If you're honest and to the point, people will understand and thank you for it. Don't waste everyone's time by trying to be politically correct.

And those are my thoughts for the day.

Lauren

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