It's pretty standard in the US, due to our history, for colored people to just feel out of place in 9/10 white environment.
But it goes beyond that, and is most likely true for French blacks as well, that if you're the only one who is distinctly visually different, you feel out of place.
It's not something you can really explain to white males, but at least female devs tend to have somewhat of a similar experience. Just the sense of not belonging by virtue of being the one who clearly isn't like the others. Imagine yourself trying to work in a software studio in an arab country. Everyone is way darker than you, just, everyone, at work, on the street, and so on. They talk about different TV shows and they frown on anything bacon, and they wear these odd dresses you never feel comfy in because you like your jeans.
They're louder than you, they tend to argue way more, because it's just part of the culture to do that, and it makes you uncomfortable. And also, you keep hearing about these white Christian terrorists, that look like you, that they wish would just get shot.
Isn't it interesting how "people of color" is a common self-designation for (most frequently) black people, whereas "colored people", literally synonymous, is considered offensive? Of course there are valid historical reasons for it, but many people (probably including GP) don't know about them.
Well, the GP uses "our" in reference US history, and I've never met a single American under the age of 40 who doesn't know that most people consider "colored person" offensive, even if they thought it was a stupid reason.
Like most things considered racially offensive, it's less about the dictionary definition of the word and more about what the connotation is. It's the same reason someone in an interracial marriage would hardly ever say "my black wife" but would say "my wife, who happens to be black," if it were relevant. I'm 100% positive they'd never say "my colored wife" unless they were 130 years old.
"People of Color" means "non-whites", so includes pretty much everyone but Europeans. It's used instead of "non-whites" to describe a demographic by an attribute they have, instead of an attribute a different group has.
But it goes beyond that, and is most likely true for French blacks as well, that if you're the only one who is distinctly visually different, you feel out of place.
It's not something you can really explain to white males, but at least female devs tend to have somewhat of a similar experience. Just the sense of not belonging by virtue of being the one who clearly isn't like the others. Imagine yourself trying to work in a software studio in an arab country. Everyone is way darker than you, just, everyone, at work, on the street, and so on. They talk about different TV shows and they frown on anything bacon, and they wear these odd dresses you never feel comfy in because you like your jeans. They're louder than you, they tend to argue way more, because it's just part of the culture to do that, and it makes you uncomfortable. And also, you keep hearing about these white Christian terrorists, that look like you, that they wish would just get shot.