OtherWise, or, Inclusive Terminology by James B. Nicola

An erstwhile “colored person” explains why
more recent labels do not satisfy

Please don’t call me Of Color, which

is assonant with The Other,

which I am not. I’m only rich

of hue to you, my brother.

Nor shall I call you White which rhymes

with bright, might, right, and light.

You’re nowhere white, and oftentimes

so far from right or bright.

Call me Of Worldwide Ancestry,

then: accurate and true.

What’s more, while it refers to me,

it might as well mean you.

Or would you now prefer to be

called ashen, pale, off-pink…?

Then you’d be the minority,

though. Rightly so, you think?

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