For years its been all about white people and black people. Now we seem to hear a lot about brown people refering to a host of ethnicities that don’t qualify to be white or black. Everything’s cool. But we hear very little of the red and yellow people like we used to in the 50s. We could call them brown people, but no one seems to.
Is it pejorative to apply a colour to East Asians and American aboriginals ?
Yes it is, and I can certainly understand why, but I admit that secretly, like you, I wish it weren’t so. I remember as a child of four or five my delight at learning that the world wasn’t just black and white but full of colorful people as well. I also remember being disappointed that the so-called “yellow” people were just plain old tan.
Of course, I’m not really white, and none of my black friends were really black, so I shouldn’t have been too surprised. We’re pretty much all shades of brown, really. Red and yellow and white and brown and black are so much more interesting. It was like being on Sesame Street!
I was also disappointed to learn that I shouldn’t use “yellow” to describe my two (beige-colored) Vietnamese preschool friends. I wasn’t much older, though, when I read a book (Escape From Witch Mountain, I think) that described the protagonists as “olive-skinned.” That opened up a whole new range of hues! I couldn’t wait to make friends with a green kid!
Calling Asians “yellow” brings to the mind the pejorative phrase “yellow peril” (or it does to my mind). I think Asians would object mostly because many of them think being white and pale is the ideal.
Some love for blue people, please.
Yes to it being perjorative referring to people as red or yellow. I think because of “yellow peril” and “redskins” and similar clearly outdated and offensive terms.
I also think referring to people as “brown” seems demeaning but I can’t quite put my finger on why.
I only hate it because I like being able to sing “Jesus Love the Little Children.” I even went to the trouble of adding brown to cover everyone else who was left out. “Red, brown, yellow, black, and white/They are precious in His sight.”
I can’t seem to come up with another way to cover the same idea.
“Brown” is used as a self-labelling term in the US though. Usually for latinos that don’t see themselves as “white” or “black.”
I’m in China PRC, so I suppose that they’re all red yellow people. Except that they’re not really red these days, and they’re really only as yellow as my Mexican wife, whom I’d describe as nicely morena.