By CSJ Executive Director Dan Brown, MCC

Some say that terms like 'nonwhite' should be avoided, as they can seem to privilege Whiteness, putting that front and center. Others, including some well-known journalists who are Black, Asian and Hispanic use 'nonwhite' and/or write that they don't find it problematic. What are your thoughts about this? What would you be willing to share?

A few months ago, I told another coach about the significant value I found in participating in a large, diverse learning group of coaches. In describing the group's composition, I used the catchall 'nonwhite,' instead of being specific about the various racial identities represented.

My colleague, who identifies as a White woman, paused our conversation and remarked, 'I am concerned about the term nonwhite because it centers whiteness as the standard.'

When my colleague questioned my use of 'nonwhite,' it stopped me in my tracks. Her concern — that the word puts Whiteness at the center — reminded me that the language we choose isn't only about description. It carries weight and can influence whether people feel seen or unseen. The words we use can reinforce old ways of thinking, even if we don't mean for them to. When we're thoughtful about our words, we take a step toward making our coaching spaces more welcoming and respectful for everyone.

And it's not always obvious which terms are most respectful or inclusive, and to whom.

As someone who cares deeply about social justice issues, I immediately got curious. That curiosity resulted in this essay, which explores the definition, usage, and history of 'nonwhite,' explains how it differs from related terms, and offers prompts and questions for coaches and supervisors to reflect upon. My hope is that addressing this topic will first offer reassurance that few of us are alone in wrestling with language and, second, raise awareness about language's reinforcement of racial hierarchy.

I'd like to invite you into this exploration along with me by offering the following reflection questions:

Can you recall a time when you used a term that might have unintentionally centered one group over another? What did you learn from that experience, and how did it influence your language choices moving forward?

Welcome to an ongoing debate

To begin, opinions on the use of 'nonwhite' diverge, with some focusing on its exclusionary framing and others on its utility for describing anyone not White without assuming a shared identity. And some analytical writers, demographers and researchers apparently lean on it for efficiency.

Critics point out that 'nonwhite' is a negation-based descriptor, a binary term that defines a group by what it is not. As my coach colleague noted, this positioning treats being White as the norm and other races as 'other,' reinforcing hierarchy and exclusion.

Aleah Bacquie Vaughn, executive director of Circle for Justice Innovations in Brooklyn, N.Y., from 2003 to 2023, advocates the same argument regarding 'nonwhite' in a compelling letter to the editor published in The New York Times on April 1, 1990:

I am not 'nonwhite'; nor are my friends of Bahamian, Cape Verdean, Colombian, Cuban, Dominican, Jamaican, Japanese, Korean, Panamanian, Puerto Rican, or Trinidadian descent. I, a woman of African descent, an African American if you will, would never be so presumptuous as to characterize 'whites' as 'nonblack'.

'Whiteness' is not the standard of humanity against which every other racial and ethnic population of the world should be measured. Using the term 'nonwhite' promotes an 'us and them' mentality, a subliminal separation of people into two groups, white and everyone else. Identity is not 'non' anything. It is a positive self-affirmation, not a negative exclusionary basis of comparison.

On the other hand, John McWhorter, a Black linguist and author, contends that the term 'nonwhite' serves a practical purpose: it allows him to refer to anyone who is not White without implying a single, unified identity among diverse groups. During an NPR interview in September 2020, McWhorter explained his reasoning for using the term.

During the same NPR podcast, Black cohost Glen Demby directly expressed his dislike for the term, stating, 'Oh, I just hate it. I hate it.' He illustrated his viewpoint by describing a hypothetical scenario in which he and three other Black friends are relaxing together. 'We're all in a room. We're kicking it. You know what I mean? We're four nonwhites. Really? That's what we're doing? Ew.'

Comparative Analysis of 'People of color' vs. 'Nonwhite' in the Times Articles

It has been a world-changing thirty-five years since the Times published Aleah Bacquie Vaughn's letter to the editor. Curious about 'nonwhite's' present-day usage and how that might inform my own thinking, I decided that the Times, being a widely read, relatively liberal publication, offered a data-rich starting point for my inquiry. As it happens, since George Floyd's death in May 2020, the Times has published 1,372 articles using the term 'nonwhite,' a good many fewer than the 3,468 articles that have referenced 'people of color.' Could this quantitative difference reflect a societal preference in terminology?

Analysis of The New York Times articles from June 2020 to September 2025 reveals meaningful differences in how the terms 'people of color' and 'nonwhite' are distributed across multiple article categories. For me, this highlights how crucial context is in determining what 'right' usage looks like.

Overall, 'people of color' during that five-year period was employed by writers at the Times nearly three times as often as 'nonwhite,' and within a broader frame of reference. 'People of color' appeared more frequently in Lifestyle & Human Interest and Arts & Culture stories, suggesting greater use in circumstances emphasizing identity, community, and cultural expression. By contrast, 'nonwhite' more commonly showed up in Hard News and Opinion coverage, reflecting perhaps its analytic utility as a sharper, more technical descriptor in policy, politics, and debate.

Even though 'nonwhite' has some practical utility, does its continued use just keep old social divisions alive? Personally, I think my seeing and hearing it so often may have contributed to using it myself without questioning it. I now bear in mind that the term originated in the U.S. in 1864, as racial labels became increasingly used for exclusionary purposes.

Where do we look for guidance?

My search included what our coaching bodies have to say, but it began with a recent article in the Times' Opinions & Commentary section. The author, Yale professor Daniel Martinez HoSang, studies racism in politics, culture, and the law. His July 24, 2025, essay carries 'nonwhite' in the headline and throughout the article.

Leading U.S. publications have moved increasingly toward prioritizing the use of precise, identity-based language. According to newsroom leadership at the Times, care should be taken 'to avoid implying that white is the default'; the use of 'specific' identity descriptions is 'generally best.' The Associated Press likewise directs journalists to 'avoid broad generalizations and labels' and instead to employ 'precise language.' The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker have moved toward identity-based terminology in coverage.

Recommendations

So where does all this leave us?

For coaches and supervisors, wrestling with language when it comes to describing race and ethnicity — even as phrases and vocabulary change in response to the cultural moment — is a required and worthy struggle.

Here are some scenarios, questions and prompts that may be helpful to you:

1. Consider the potential impact of negation-based descriptors

Human nature draws lines between 'us' and 'them,' so it's easy to slip into othering — even without realizing it. For example, imagine this exchange during a workshop on social-identity coaching:

A participant expresses their belief that labels are reductive, saying, 'I don't see color, I just see clients, whether they are White or not. When can we get back to the work of coaching human beings?'

Another responds: 'We do coach human beings, but saying, whether they are White or not mistakenly treats whiteness as the standard for comparison. This can make people feel othered. Let's identify our clients specifically — such as Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian, Middle Eastern or multiracial — instead of using whiteness as a reference point. This will help us understand and value all identities and coach our clients more effectively.'

Other related descriptors of the same linguistic structure as 'nonwhite' are 'non-native,' 'non-Western,' and the list goes on. Raising one's own awareness of the potential impact of their use can be an important first step.

2. Absent universal agreement around terminology

What might you think about when it comes to group-specific identifiers (such as Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic)?

The gender-neutral term 'Latinx' remains contested. Only 4% of Hispanic or Latino adults in the U.S. use 'Latinx' to describe themselves, while in academic discourse, 'Latinx' and 'Latine' are increasingly found. Of those who know the term Latinx, 75% oppose using it to describe the Hispanic or Latino population. Those who embrace Latinx are young; almost two-thirds are Millennials, Zoomers (Gen Z) or younger.

While common, 'Hispanic' is not universally popular. Lopez's study found that while 52% of U.S. Latinos overall prefer 'Hispanic,' this varies by region, age, generational status, and country of family origin. When in doubt, it is often helpful to simply ask a person how they prefer to be identified.

3. Explore the language of social identity with colleagues

CSJ offers a group-supervision program suitable for this purpose as well as monthly public Dialogues, and similar opportunities are available elsewhere.

In conclusion...

In closing, I leave you with this quote for reflection. Karen E. and Barbara J. Fields, in their superb book Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life, write that although race is a social construct,

'racism, unlike race, is not a fiction, an illusion, a superstition or a hoax. It is a crime against humanity.'

Let us know your thoughts about the usage of terms like 'nonwhite'. How much does it matter to you (or not), and why?

Dan Brown, MCC, is executive director and board chair of Coaching for Social Justice. Prior to becoming a coach, he was a publisher and journalist for 28 years.

Author's Note: This essay was written and edited with some assistance from Microsoft Copilot, and the main research tools were Perplexity AI, ChatGPT, Google Search, and Python.

For additional exploration on this and DEIJB-related topics, we invite you to consider our program, Social Justice in Coaching: Transforming Yourself & Your Practice Through Group Supervision.