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These days, the term “Caucasian” is found everywhere, from news reports and police bulletins to daily conversation. It’s widely considered the politically correct way to refer to white people.

But “Caucasian” is an erroneous term. And, although many people use it to avoid sounding racist, the continued usage of this term actually perpetuates racism and Eurocentrism.

Here’s five reasons why it’s time that we stopped using the term “Caucasian”, when we really mean “white”.

1. It’s “highly unlikely” that white people came out of the Caucasus region in Eurasia.

2. In the 18th century, German anthropologist Friedrich Blumenbach devised a flawed classification system that divided humans into five races—Caucasian (white), Mongolian (yellow), Malayan (brown), Ethiopian (black), and American (red). Blumenbach believed that the Caucasian race was the “most beautiful” and oldest, ideas that support white supremacy. While Blumenbach’s four other racial terms are considered obsolete, “Caucasian” has sadly survived.

3. People of Indian descent technically fall under the category of “Caucasian”, but they aren’t considered white (and have historically been denied the same rights as white people in Canada and other countries). The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed the distinction in a 1923 ruling, which denied U.S. citizenship to Indian-American writer Bhagat Singh Thind.

4. Usage of the pseudoscientific term “Caucasian” reinforces the erroneous notion that there is a scientific basis for racial hierarchies.

5. If the term falls out of usage, we won’t have to hear stupid jokes about white people putting the “cock” in “Caucasian” anymore.