queerhairyvag:

POC/WOC is a legitimate term in the USA because it was started by women who wanted their own space and identity away from white people. the issue though is because America is such a powerful country whose cultures is forced into every corner of the rest of the world, people think it makes sense to call those who aren’t white in other countries (especially in countries where the majority population aren’t white, like AfricaN and AsiaN regions) ‘people of color’

that term makes no sense when it leaves US borders because it’s a term specific to  US’ history and politics when it comes to race and ethnicity. There are other terms people from other regions describe themselves when it comes to race-politics so calling them ‘poc/woc’ is just americanizing them. It’s somewhat ethnocentric.  I guess that’s why im uncomfortable with calling myself a poc or feeling part of the term ‘lgbt’.  It’s far too american-centric for me. American politics are so forced onto other countries, I can visit my local library and not find a single women-equality book that’s about the Irish. Just american. Just american feminism and ideologies and just…ugh. no.

That’s not American people’s fault of course. we blog the stuff that concerns our lives and country. unfortunately, countries that aren’t the US always talk about stuff concerning the US far too much. I just want my blog to reflect more stuff happening in Ireland, Nigeria, the UK and some AfricaN countries. 

I think this sort of thing comes from the perception that race transcends simple nationality. From the American perspective, it’s more important to them that they are of whatever ethnicity they are, than it matters that they are American. 

In the global context, this is different. National and sub-national culture has a much more comprehensive effect on a person’s sense of identity than race does. So American publications generalize that a race might act a certain way, but this is not true in the wider context. 

White people in America are not the same as white people in Europe. Asians in America are not the same as Asians in Asia. Black people in America are not the same as people from Africa. And so on. 

But it’s just that there’s so much great literature being written in America, and there’s so little being written about other contexts. It’s just good to bear in mind that they are not the same.