Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But afaik, no one has proffered an adequate word to describe "folks that have too much melanin to be considered white". Such a word is not necessary or desirable, because the categorization system it supports is not meaningful or useful.
Of course it's necessary and desirable. The "categorization system" in question already exists, whether it ought to or not. Bipoc have a more difficult socioeconomic situation, because of their skin color. Should "LGBTQ+" as a category not exist, because they are people just like straight people? It is useful and meaningful to talk about the plight and state of, and advocate for, "Group XYZ that has been marginalized…
- Dark-skinned descendant of American slaves, living in the US
- Dark-skinned recent immigrant to US from Africa, whose parents were important government officials, and one of whose distant ancestors sold slaves to Europeans
- Descendant of Navajo Indians
- Descendant of indigenous Hawaiians
- Descendant of Japanese Hawaiians
- Decendant of Japanese immigrants from turn of 20th century, who were interned in a camp during the war
- Japanese immigrant who moved to US in 2005, for university
- Son of migrant Mexican farmworkers
- Descendant of conquistadores whose parents were top executives in a large Mexican corporation
- Lebanese Muslim immigrant
- Lebanese Christian immigrant
- And so on…
What interesting characteristic do these people all have in common, that "white" people don't also share? Absolutely nothing, other than that they don't tick the "non-Hispanic white" box on stupid USian forms.