Why you should not use the term “POC” for non-Americans and why it’s offensive
There is something I see a lot in the English-speaking internet these days. This is a term that almost all Anglophones surely know, and that’s the term “POC”. The term “POC” generally means “Person of Color”. As Wikipedia says very well:
The term “person of color” (plural: people of color, persons of color; sometimes abbreviated POC) is used primarily in the United States to describe any person who is not white. The term encompasses all non-white people, emphasizing common experiences of systemic racism. The term may also be used with other collective categories of people such as “communities of color”, “men of color” (MOC), and “women of color” (WOC).
Before I emigrated to the United States and before I discovered the English-speaking Internet, I did not know that term at all. It is a word that does not exist in Japanese and the French meaning is somewhat different. So I was pretty puzzled. This is a term that I see a lot on Twitter and especially on Tumblr, so I got used to it over time, and I understood that this American term just meant all non-white people. It is a term that makes sense, because the US is a society very based on “race”. So even if it was something unusual for me, I didn’t think much of it because I understood that it was a term that came from elsewhere. If the Americans want to use it, let them do it. Who cares.
This term, however, becomes problematic when it is used to talk about things that are not American. So we come back to the recurring problem of Americentrism, which is omnipresent on almost all platforms on the web.
To give a bit of perspective, I am what Americans would call a “POC” or even a “WOC” (Woman of Color). I’m mixed white-Asian, and I have very Eurasian traits. I am therefore considered in America as a person of color. And when I lived in America, that term did not bother me at all when Americans talked about me that way.
However, it’s disturbing when you talk about me like that outside of America. It’s disturbing when I see Americans imposing this idea on the rest of the world unconsciously or not. Sorry USAmericans, but the world = / = USA. And so you cannot import this term elsewhere just because. In fact, it is even something particularly offensive.
American society is very segregationist in itself. It is a society where individuals are separated by their “race” (a concept once again very American) in almost everything. Because of America’s history (waves of immigration, slavery, segregation, etc.), Americans are constantly separated by their “race”. We therefore hear the terms “white”, “Asian-American”, “African American”, “Native American”, “Latin American”, “Hispanic” … And frankly, even if those terms are a little too outdated for my tastes, Americans have every right to use them in their country. After all, their country, their rules.
As I just said, it’s okay when it’s their country. But outside of the US, I’m sorry but these terms are particularly offensive. Non-American societies are not race-based, and they do not have the same history. Using terms like “POC” on other societies that are absolutely not built like the US is Americentrism. And Americentrism is just Imperialism of ideology.
Using “POC” to talk about Chinese in China makes no sense because Chinese society is NOT based on race. This is not a question of “Whites” VS “POC”. A Chinese from China is not a “POC”. A Chinese is a Chinese, with his own ethnicity (and there are more than 50 in China, with very different cultures, histories and religions).
Similarly, in one of my native countries, Japan, using the term “POC” makes no sense. Japanese people from Japan are not “POCs”. They are Japanese. “POC” is a vague term for talking about non-white people in the US. Using that in the rest of the world does not make sense. ZERO SENS.
Japan is a very homogeneous country, but there are still minorities. For example, Koreans Zainichi (在日). Zainichi Koreans are “POCs” as well if you see things through an American POV, just like Japanese people. But in Japan, the two are not interchangeable, the two are just not part of the same category. Why is that ? Because Japan is not a society based on race, but on ethnicity. In Japan, you can’t group Japanese people and Japanese-Korean (Zainichi Korean) in the same bag because it does not work like that.
Similarly, I am also French. In France, society is not based on race either. To be honest, the concept of “race” does not even exist in French society for several reasons. Thus, French society is not based on race, but on nationality. While Japanese society is more based on ethnicity (for historical reasons), French society is based on nationality (for historical reasons as well). Thus, the term “POC” in France makes absolutely no sense.
Technically, in France, there is a translation to “POC” : “Personne de couleur". But the term has a different meaning from the American term. For French people, “personne de couleur”, just means black people in a classy way. So it does not have the same meaning as in America, and no one will use it in the American sense either. I currently live in France, and frankly, if someone calls me a “POC” in France, then I would be upset. Because I am not a “person of color”. I am just a French-Japanese woman and that’s how I am seen in French society. That’s MY identity.
Whether you like it or not, Americans need to keep in mind that most societies are not based on race. If that were the case, then Europeans would not have killed each other for thousands of years (after all, they all are “white”, right?). If that were the case, then Asians would not have had conflict after conflict for centuries - conflicts that continue today. If the rest of the world was like America, then ethnic and tribal tensions in Africa would not exist, and we would not have had so many genocides and massacres between Africans.
All that to say that: I do not care if you use the term “POC” in America, to talk about American minorities. On the other hand, do not use this term elsewhere to talk about non-American people. Stop imposing your social structure on those of others. Doing that is being Americentrist, and Americentrism is pure imperialism, admit it or not.
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