zlacker

> Not much, but the shared experience they have is as a basis of the color of their skin is what is visualized when calling them a person of color. And historically, that has been a big deal (e.g. anti-miscegnation laws in the US and huge amounts of racial discrimination in India's colonized past) – big enough that a lot of people think it's important enough to have a shared label.

Suppose a new, professional class / university-educated immigrant, arrives in the US from China tomorrow. Should they expect to be discriminated against in the US because of their color of skin specifically? I can imagine they might have good reason to fear being discriminated against becasue of concerns they might have links with the Chinese government – but, suppose they were instead a Taiwanese immigrant, or Singaporean or Malaysian Chinese? In any event, being discriminated against because of concerns about foreign government links is not discrimination on the basis of skin color specifically, any more than the Russian-American refused a security clearance because her brother has a job in the Kremlin is such a case. And, I'm sure they might be exposed to various stereotypes and misunderstandings that immigrants have to endure, dumb jokes, people mocking their accent or infelicities with the English language – but an immigrant from a European country might endure just as many stereotypes and misunderstandings – which suggests that none of those issues are due to their skin color specifically either. And how much relevance will anti-miscegenation laws, that were overturned over 50 years ago, have to the lived experience of a new immigrant arriving tomorrow?

Does a new Chinese immigrant have the same skin color as an African-American? Do Xi Jinping and Barack Obama have the same skin color? Do all "white" people have the same skin color? A Southern Italian and a Norwegian can look as far apart in skin tone as Xi and Obama do.