I did some ego-surfing the other day, and in the process, saw some critique of my use of the terms "Persons of Color" and "Readers of Color" -- someone even said they found the terms "despicable".
So I thought I should probably post about why I started using these terms; they were new to me as well, as of a couple of months ago, but they were the accepted terminology used by the majority of writers during the Cultural Appropriation Debate that then spiraled into RaceFail 09, so I used the terms I was presented with.
Here's a good explanation, from the The American Heritage® Book of English Usage:
Dissatisfaction with the implications of nonwhite as a racial label has contributed to the revival of the phrase person of color or similar terms, such as woman of color, based on the same construction. In effect, person of color stands nonwhite on its head, substituting a positive for a negative. Furthermore, the almost exclusive association in American English of colored with black—that is, with Americans of African descent—does not carry over to terms formed with “of color.” Indeed, the somewhat artificial sound of person of color serves to emphasize that something other than colored person is probably intended, so that when Jesse Jackson proclaims that “These are profound tendencies which strike at the middle class as well as the poor, at whites as well as people of color,” he is encouraging his audience to think more inclusively than if he had juxtaposed white with black. In this light, the term person of color and its related forms are welcome additions to the vocabulary of race and ethnicity.
There's plenty of discussion in regards to this, so I'm keeping my ears open, and trying to be more aware of preferred terminology going forward, as well.
Hm. I want to read those "despicable" comments now. Most of the blogs I read that are written by non-white folks, especially the ones that talk about racism, pretty much exclusively use the terms "person of color," "women of color," etc. When I've come across comm enters "calling out" the term, it's been white folks who haven't encountered it before or who aren't comfortable with it.
Aside from just the inevitable individual variations in what people prefer to be called, I think at least some of the difference is due to US vs. overseas terminology. I am pretty sure that "people of color" is much more acceptable in the US than in, say, Britain, where it's more likely to be associated with "colored" and therefore offensive.
(Disclaimer: This is the observation of a very, very white person who's been reading a lot of antiracist discussions over the last couple of years. Someone please correct me if I'm spreading misinformation ...)