The term "person of color" (plural: people of color, persons of color; sometimes abbreviated POC) is today primarily used in the United States to describe any person who is not considered white, including in various points in US history, African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans and others. The term emphasizes common experiences of systemic racism. The term may also be used with other collective categories of people such as "communities of color", "men of color" (MOC), and "women of color" (WOC). The term "colored" was originally equivalent in use to the term person of color, but usage of the appellation "colored" in the Southern United States gradually came to be restricted to "negroes", and is now considered a racial pejorative.