I heard this phrase in Tropic Thunder. This isn't the first time I've seen a character in a movie/TV show use you people and be accused of racism for it. If I remember correctly, this also appears in Anger Management.
I'm confused by this phenomenon, since to me you people refers to the group that is standing around the speaker.
So, why is you people interpreted as you people belonging to an ethnic group?
Best Answer
"You people" in that context always means "as opposed to my/most/ordinary people", and carries with it the implication "… who are not fully worthy of my/our/ordinary people's respect."
Be very sure, though, that context is king.
A team leader giving a simple instruction, "You people do this, while the others do that" carries no negative imputation at all. That might be more easily seen if the leader pointed at the first group while saying "You people do this…" then turned to the other group to say "while you people do that".
When it is derogatory, tension might be racial but it's just as likely to be about class, culture or politics, among other things.
If I'm left-wing, "you people" prolly means right. If I like classical music, YP might mean rock. If I'm rich or poor, YP might mean poor or rich… whatever you're not.
The phrase will usually cause offense but part of the point is that people using those words feel such a sense of entitlement, the offence seems to them to count for nothing.
Hopefully different constructions like "Come on, people…" or "you guys" or "you all" are so much more obviously general, they show how specifically pointed "you people" can be, in that context.