There are two kinds of people in the world: Those who categorize others, and those who don’t. Really, though, there may only be one type of person in the world: Those who categorize others. Don’t we all, in some way and to some extent?
After all, isn’t the first thing we notice about a person their gender? Then, perhaps, their age range, their size (tall, height-challenged, svelte, portly), and socioeconomic class (based on the vehicle they’re driving, the clothes they’re wearing, or the jewelry they’ve adorned themselves with).
Another common category we like to use to categorize people is race, or ethnicity. People are described as being either Black, White, Indian (sometimes having to specify “Native American, not East Indian”), Asian, or Hispanic (often simply referred to as being “Mexican,” even though by no means are all Hispanic people from Mexico).
But how can you tell whether someone is of one race or ethnicity simply by looking at them? It seems that what people primarily focus on is skin color. Ethnicities are often viewed as having their own particular hue. These are, supposedly, black, white, red, yellow, and brown.
This categorization, though, is obviously not accurate. How many “black” people have you seen whose skin is actually black? How many “white” people have you seen whose skin is actually white? Etc.
For example, I will show you a picture of my hand:
Which of the above categories would you put me in? Which ethnic group do you think I belong to? Which color would you say I am? At the end of this post, I will divulge my ethnicity, and you can compare your supposition with reality.
When asked to describe the color of my skin, would any of the colors commonly attributed to humans seem to be a match? Actually, I have been told my skin is olive-colored, and for that reason it has sometimes been assumed that I was Italian, or Lebanese, or stem from some other Mediterranean or Middle-Eastern origin.
I submit that my skin is none of those colors. It’s certainly not white. The base or background color of this (web) page is white; the page is quite different than my skin color. Even olive is no match.
Those who categorize by skin color would describe me as white, perhaps noticing that I also have a fair bit of red sprinkled in. As for the “white” part, I am mainly Irish, Portuguese, and Swiss; from the “red” portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, I have Karok, Yurok, Wiyot, and Cherokee blood.
Categorizing people by color is neither accurate nor logical. Just as each person has their own way of talking (their idiolect), each of us is truly unique in appearance, too. We cannot be defined by race, ethnicity, or skin color. And none of us are really black, white, red, yellow, brown—or even olive—anyway.
What color is this cat?