First, with our language we make the world. Second, linguistics won’t save the planet, but it helps us out on the way. Ok.
If we’re discussing ethnicity, geographic origin, skin color, let’s not get bogged down by the above ethnocentrist phrase. I know, I know. Lots of people on our side use it. It was coined by the good guys. MLK used it. It dates back to before the 1700s, etc. Ok, ok. But hear me out:
This phrase was not brought into popular usage to communicate whether a person or group of people have a color or not. It’s only about one particular color. That color is brown. Dice it up anyway you want. Darken it, redden it, add some yellow. The color is brown the world ‘round.
It’s the language of a divided culture that still sees pink/beige skin as the default setting for humanity.
As a man with brown skin, I refuse to be grouped against Northern Europeans by my own language. I don’t believe that I was born with any indelible attribute that they don’t have. If they don’t have a color, no one does.
