[TMC]

I sort of take offense at the word “minority.” Think about it. The “minor” in minority means little or lesser. Yes, I know that some people use the word minority, because non-whites make up a smaller percentage in the U.S. population. But non-whites make up the majority of the world population. Who came up with this word to describe non-whites?

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Name : TMC, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Christian, Age : 18, City : St. Louis, State : MO, Country : United States, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class, 

[Marc22352]

Your realization that non-whies make up a smaller percentage of the U.S. population answers the question. The term minority is in reference to the racial situation in the United States, not of the entire world. I’m white, so if I went to China, I would be a minority. It isn’t intended to put members of a minority group down, it is simply a reality that people of non-European descent make up a lesser percentage of the total population. It’s not that minorities are ‘minor’ in their importance to our culture as Americans (although some people bigoted do feel this way).

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Name : Marc22352, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Agnostic, Age : 24, City : Morgantown, State : WV, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class, 

[John K.]

The term ‘minority’ is applied to any subgroup within a given territory or larger group that does not comprise the ‘majority.’ This is true in various contexts … Congress, for instance. The terms change as the group changes. Whites do comprise a minority in terms of world population, but within the United States, non-white groups comprise a minority. There is no ‘hidden agenda’ there.

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Name : John K., Gender : M, Age : 27, City : Cranford, State : NJ, Country : United States, Occupation : Chemical Engineer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

[ACC24026]

I’m not sure who was the exact person was who started saying ‘minority’, but it began as a practice in the social sciences back in the 1940s. It was intended as a less abusive replacement term for terms used for anyone not white, phrases like ‘the darker (or lower) races’, ‘our little brown brothers’, ‘savage peoples’, etc. But the fact remains that it IS an uncomfortable label forced upon us by outsiders (just like Hispanic and Native American, by the way). The term was deliberately designed to emphasize the perceived ‘helplessness’ or ‘weakness’ of nonwhites as a way of appealing to humanitarian motives. Pity is hardly the best of reasons to base a relationship on, though. So most social scientists now are just as uncomfortable with the term minority for those reasons as well as the same reason you are. This is why ‘people of color’ is being so widely used.

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Name : ACC24026, Race : Mexican and American Indian, City : W Lafayette, State : IN, Country : United States, Occupation : Grad student in history, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, 

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