Inform me, pls

[highlyeccentric]

Americans and persons better informed than I:

What is the "war on drugs", exactly?
Why am I seeing the occasional reference to the "war on drugs" in RaceFail posts, usually with the implication that said "war on drugs" is a specific and negative policy against the black community? Is there a particular race angle to its application, or is it something which negatively impacts low socio-economic groups, including a high percentage of the black community?

~

Next:

Is 'people of colour' really the PC term?
Is it PC anywhere outside of the States? Because it sounds racist to me, and my gut says it wouldn't go down well in Australia if you reffered to anyone as a person of colour.
Who IS considered a 'person of colour' in the States? Is an Italian-American considered a 'person of colour'? An immigrant from the Middle East? The Hispanic community?

Comments

[kayloulee.livejournal.com]

I dunno enough about the 'war on drugs' to inform you about it, but on PoC I think I can help. It is really the PC term, and I don't know if it's used in, say, the UK but here it's not used so much, I don't think. I get the impression that 'non-white' is used here more, but I could totally be wrong. An Italian-American is not a person of colour, being white European, but people originally from the Middle East or with Middle Eastern heritage are, and so is the Hispanic community.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

An Italian-American is not a person of colour, being white European

That's not an automatic definition - someone or a cultural shift at some point has to define what's 'white European'. I refer you to post WWII migration and the relaxation of the White Australia Policy, when someone had to DECIDE that southern and eastern Europeans could be white if they tried.

[kayloulee.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's true, but I wasn't going so much for historical definitions as what PoC means right now. I should be able to tell you vaguely when that change was, but my high school history is failing me. I bet you though that originally the change in who was considered white in Australia had a lot to do with, as you said, post-WWII immigration (migration? emigration? I need to check dictionaries) and the Snowy River Scheme.

[highlyeccentric.livejournal.com]

Yahuh. Anyway, i asked because it's becoming increasingly evident that the US's attitudes to race don't match up to ours. Who WE think is "white" (ick) doesn't necessarily mean the same people in the states.

[kayloulee.livejournal.com]

I'd kind of gathered that from reading RaceFail - some Antipodeans (not sure who now) commented that some things just didn't apply/needed tweaking to be relevant and useful for people outside of the US.