Enough of this people-of-color crap
Somewhere in the past few years, folks on the left have introduced a new racial demographic. They simply took everyone who is not a White European and lumped them into what the left calls “people-of-color.” Like so much of left-wing theology, people-of-color is merely a political designation that has no connection to reality. There is no such thing as people-of-color. It is not a race. It is not a nationality. It is not an ethnicity. It is not a culture. It is not a demographic with any common traits.
After hearing so much about people-of-color as a legitimate racial group, I tried to find the common identifying traits. I could find no restaurants specializing in people-of-color cuisine. No people-of-color language. No distinctive people-of-color music. No people-of-color ancestral attire. No people-of-color religions. No people-of-color “look”. In fact, there is no people-of-color ancestry … period. It is a political fiction created by left-wing social manipulators for political benefit.
It is a crass political strategy to create two opposing constituencies, European Whites and everyone else in the world — who progressive Democrats claim to represent. It is merely the latest in the left’s bunching folks into categories, whether they fit or not. According to the new designation, people-of-color includes Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Arabs and anyone with skin darker than Gavin Newsom and who did not come from Europe or Australia.
Before diving into this nonsense in greater detail, let us look at the facts of race in America according to the ultimate (although not always accurate) authority on race – the Census Bureau. It is the institution that has been tracking the demographic mosaic of America since 1902.
According to the 2020 Census non-Hispanic Whites comprise 57.8 percent of the American population – out numbering every minority group combined. Hispanics make up 18.7 percent – the largest minority group. BUT … 71.1 percent of Hispanics self-identify as White according to the Census Bureau. Only 1.9 percent of Hispanics identify themselves as Black, Asian, Native American, or whatever. That means the White population of America – including White Hispanics — is in the 70 percent range. Hardly a group that is on the verge of replacement – if you care about such nonsense. Perhaps that is why the left has come up with people-of-color to intimidate White folks. Personally, I never have had replacement anxiety.
Blacks comprise 12.1 percent of the population; Asians 5.9 percent; American Indian/Alaska Native 0.7 percent; Hawaiian/South Pacificers 0.2 percent; and Mixed-Race 10.2 percent. (I was surprised that “American Indian” is the official designation used by the Census Bureau. I was happy to see that, since I was made an honorary “Indian” by Chicago’s American Indian Center. But I digress.)
When you see these figures, you also see how the woke left — with their identity politics and so-called political correctness – tends to create racial groups that have nothing to do with a person’s true national identity, culture or ancestry. In fact, they obscure real cultures with distinctive real traits for politically convenient designations.
“Black” has become the more common name for folks with at least some roots in Central Africa — and enough Negro physical traits to qualify. Whites from South Africa or Arabs from Mediterranean Africa who do not qualify as “African Americans” according to the identity politics instruction manual. So, it is probably good that we are using Black instead of African Americans these days.
When Jesse Jackson changed the vernacular from Colored people (which was not a pejorative) to African Americans in the 1960s, he essentially created an artificial culture within America that did not exist. Despite segregation, Blacks had largely assimilated as Americans. Jackson’s new name was a purely political – as is people-of-color.
Black Americans with ancestors going back more than three generations have no connection to their original national culture. So, Jackson simply bunched Black Americans into a neo-culture as a political tool. But it was a divisive action that he took at the expense of assimilation. The newly anointed African Americans became one of the “tribes” in the world of woke identity politics.
The assumed new culture inspired African garments, accessories and fabrics. Folks who have not had ancestral ties to Africa for hundreds of years were suddenly wearing dashikis and Kente cloth. Black parents began giving their children African names. The left invented a uniquely Black holiday to rival Christmas – Kwanzaa. The separationist effort resulted in a Black flag and a Black National Anthem.
The issue of homogenization into larger ethnic groupings devoid of specific, real cultures is also seen in the Hispanic/Latino (take your choice) community. In assembling the larger Spanish and Portuguese populations into a larger collective, the woke folks wiped out the most elementary and important indicator of cultural identity – national origin. The government social managers obscured the true cultural distinctions of Mexicans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, etc., for an amorphous grouping – literally destroying much of the rich uniqueness of their national cultures. It is the reason why a growing number of Spanish-speaking people are rejecting the Hispanic/Latino label for their own distinctive national cultural brand.
The same is true of Asians. For purposes of governance, the leftist establishment no longer officially recognizes Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc. Just Asians. The Asian designation includes such distinctly different cultures as Indians (from India) and folks from Cambodia. Most Russians are technically Asians.
Even American Indians have tribes with distinctly different cultural realities. But progressive government deals with them as just Indians or Native Americans – merely another group buried among the so-called people-of-color.
So, now the brave new woke world is divided between White folks and people and not White people. It is a nutty idea. Imagine if we went back to the 1960s and determined that the only two groups in America were White people and Colored people – and the latter included Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, etc. That would have seemed ridiculous on the surface — and it is a ridiculous concept today.
The problem with the progressive view of race and ethnicity is that it thwarts assimilation – which is the bedrock of America’s immigration culture – as reflected in our motto e pluribus unum. America is an immigration nation – one of the best in the world. It is our strength. We are at our best when immigrants evolve into a common culture, even as they contribute parts of their culture to the melting pot – and not subjected to permanent artificial arbitrary tribalization.
To the left, we are not a “melting pot” but rather a bucket of rocks – white, black, brown, red, yellow – that are never to blend. But rather, to be managed by the left’s “I win/you lose” political modus operandi. Democrats maintain political power by promoting a belief that people-of-color are being exploited and victimized by White people – with the exception of progressive woke White people, of course. To underscore the victimization game, the left often describes minorities and people-of-color as “the vulnerable populations” … “the marginalized” … “the underserved” … and “the at risk” … even though many minorities are among the most successful immigrant populations.
We can check out some facts to see how phony the victimization card really is. For example, for the first time in 20 years the American team beat the Chinese in the Math Olympiad. All four members of the American team were … Asians.
More meaningfully, Asians have the highest average incomes according to the Census Bureau ($99,572) compared to Whites ($74,932). Asians also lead in net worth ($320,900) compared to Whites ($250,400). Hispanics come in with $57,671 in income and $48,700 in net worth. Blacks are $46,774 in income and $27,100 in net worth. Looking at these numbers, we see just how inappropriate it is to lump all of the above groups in the same people-of-color demographic group — and then claim universal victimization through political propaganda and false narratives.
Immigrants newly arriving in America are steeped in their native culture. But as generations pass, the connection fades as they evolve and assimilate. I know that my ancestors came from Austria and Poland (and that one person from Nigeria), but after generations of assimilation, I have no real connection to any of those cultures — and my children even less.
I love assimilation. I have an interracial family – as does my late brother. I celebrate interracial relationships. I love to live in diverse neighborhoods – like the one I live in in Florida. I love to celebrate with people of every culture – real culture – as a matter of their history. But I see them as individual Americans regardless of their backgrounds.
Conversely, I am totally opposed to the left’s obsession with creating and using demographic groupings as an instrument of power. And especially when that obsession leads to arbitrarily creating political groupings that do not exist – such as people-of-color.
So, there ‘tis.
Want better race relations in the country? Everyone should shut up about it. Racism is a thing of the past. Someone should remind Frank Dunger of that.
Uncle Tom the racist says racism is in the past. His idiotic logic is that if you don’t say it, it does not exist. This is contrary to the author and even Trump. This guy can’t even spell my fake name correctly because his emotions run so high as to limit his ability to think rationally. Tom’s fractured fairy tale logic leads to:
Want better health in the country? Everyone should shut up about it. Heath is a thing of the past. We don’t need no stinking vaccines. Someone should remind Uncle Tammy of that.
Uncle Tums knows how to cure covid, measles, and world hunger. Just stop testing for it. If you can’t see it, it’s not there says Weird Uncle Tom.
Want to end Trump’s low popularity rating. Stop polling people and there will be not rating. Mission accomplished says Tommy Tunes.
This can go on and on, but pretty clear that Uncle Tom is out to lunch. It is noon after all.
I spell my name Danger: Uncle Tom is a horse’s patootie. He can’t even write ten words without targeting me because he has little of relevance to say on topic, so he spends his time attacking me personally with his weak tea.
Stop calling yourself danger. Always use Dunger. It’s more fitting for you.
Hardon: all you have is personal attacks via silly little grade school names.
I keep saying you can’t debate on the merits of your arguments because, frankly, you don’t have the Moxy or wherewithal to do that.
So, you digress to petty name calling, defamation, and other baby shit bull crap that no gentleman or even just a man would lower himself to. You, on the other hand, have no issue with slumming in the gutter. It is your way.
I still spell my name: danger. And you ain’t man enough.
I think the author a caring, generous man embracing diversity and egalitarianism in his personal affairs. He just seems to hate it when government attempts to step in and balance the scales.
His desire to level the playing field by taking away programs targeting improvements to the lives of people of color seems wrong-headed. They exist, they are discriminated against, and we can help.
What exactly is a person of color? The author rationalizes on, but the simple truth is anyone-not-white. That said, hey, I admit the left goes too far at times, if not in the initial programs, but then by changes due to time. Like college loans: a great idea but when it becomes institutionalized as a right, then unintended bad things like fake-rising-tuitions or beautiful single rooms with private baths. It’s good to have conservatives on watch on those walls. But to destroy all programs by pretending the discrimination does not exist, that “people of color” is a misnomer is bogus. Fix it, enhance it, get rid of the parts not necessary, but don’t destroy the programs by faking that the problem does not exist.
I am always for a helping hand, not a hand out, to level the playing field to live up to our vision that all men, women, humans, are created equal and deserve a level, competitive playing field in America. Diversity is our strength; we are a nation built on ideas, not race, creed or religion. And anything we can do to make that idea ideal is good. A level playing field where race is not an advantage, money is not an advantage, religion is not an advantage, political party is not an advantage is getting closer to the ideal.
He says there are no “people of color” because he cannot identify a single common characteristic. That’s a false piece of logic. I could say we should have ZERO programs of any kind because there are no groups of anything, everyone is individual. Likewise, I can say the same as the author for white people which covers much more than just the Northern Europeans that first, well second, settled America. But yet, time and again, study after study, quantitative analysis after qualitative analysis, in America, we discriminate against non-whites by the white ruling class.
The author has waxed on and on about how Democrats do this to urban blacks. While he is totally wrong in limiting his accusation to Democrats, here are whites discriminating against blacks in the author’s own words.
For Latino’s, I think current events alone prove the author totally out of touch and wrong.
For Asians, can you say Manzanar; they probably were making more then too. Hey, the Jews in America make more too and they be kinda white, mostly. Hey, and the college educated make more too and there are a lot of whites, myself included, in that part of the race Venn diagram.
For blacks, come on, even the author admits it. Just not in this article.
He says he’s assimilated, that’s grand for him. But is assimilation so important today? I think it’s generational and vanishing. And that may be a good thing. There is no issue with celebrating your heritage as long as you are a perfect citizen at the same time. The author may have forgotten, but in my “four-square” of life: Irish landed 1866, Germans earlier, and two sides of Slovakians around 1912. That means many generations on one side and one generation of my Slovakian half. No, I don’t put Jews in concentration camps or even eat any Bryndzové halušky. I have little culture from that half, and probably more from my minor Irish portion. There the Irish side of me learned politics, Sunday family dinner, cabbage, whisky (I hate it but my Maga best friend’s parent gave me Old Bushmill every New Years and it stayed on the mantel) and how to throw the blarney (see current post :>). Coming in 1866, they were shunned but they retained much of their culture as I do today. For the 1912 Ellis Slovakian half, it was forced out, and not by peer pressure alone, not by our choice. They changed our names at Ellis. Being called a Polack is bad enough, but when you are Slovakian, it’s worse. My grandmother, who came at 5 years of age, instilled at a young age the feelings she had about being assimilated as a “dumb Polak.” They couldn’t even denigrate us by our correct heritage. Amazingly, coming from such a racist country, both she and my grandfather exhibited none. On my partner’s side, most came on the Mayflower with similar thoughts as the author. Their father came way after the war in the early 50’s with the same experience as my Slovakian half. She speaks Italian and without a doubt carries the heritage and culture forward in a manner the author cannot see.
But I digress, ha ha. Point is that assimilation was important in the early 1900’s and before; I do not think today’s children really think it’s as important. Even then I note my 1866 Irish are still very Irish today, what’s left of them. Or try this. In my generation, we always asked“hey, where do you come from, where is that name from.” Ethic jokes were funny then because every culture threw them back and forth. Not so we could discriminate on race, everyone was white. We just were curious. My kid’s generation don’t do that. They realize it’s just stereotyping by ethnicity which typecasts an individual wrongly. Or they don’t even understand it, do not deem it important. I am just not sure the author’s views on assimilation are as relevant in our modern age. Diversity is. Equality is. But most important: continuing our bold adventure to live up to the Founder’s words, not deeds, but words to make America be the vision our founding words described (plus amendments, haha again).
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.” Until we are so equal that we don’t even know what inequality means, we have more work to do to complete the founder’s mission. And ours I hope.
Who farted?
Larry, me think’s you over think the issue of the term “people of color”. It’s not a generalization that characterizes people of races and origins and intended to demean and depersonalize anyone.
People who are white, appear white, and or identify as white come from a wide range of backgrounds and are of many different heritage types. Yet, where is there a complaint from any of the subgroups under the heading of White. I can’t hear you! Say again you’re not white, you are Dutch, German, Polish, Danish or Afrikaans, Argentineans, Bolivian and so forth
The author would say that’s ridiculous, why would domestic who is obviously white prefer to be identified as not white but Danish. That the author is white speaks for itself. What motive does an obviously white elderly male have make bigger thing than it needs to be about the three word description for real persons of a nonwhite skin color..
It’s Horist beating to death yet another cultural dead horse. This article gave Ol’ Larry another topic on which he can vent his high stepping vanity with anonymous sources for the statistical data he throws against the wall. Are we the readers assumed to accept those numbers. The can be manipulated to conform to his narrative.
Aside from the statistical mambo-jumbo slopped in, the author creates any opportunity to get a dig into the Left, Democrats, woke ideas, and all others not carrying Trump’s water. (BTW Trump doesn’t give a flying … whether you choose to carry water he has corrupted)
Facts are that support the practical distinction operating when a nonwhite person uses “persons of color” to self identify without distinguishing their personal heritage.Their point being, it’s immaterial for them which country their ancestors originally came from. What is material is their right to be who they are. If it’s simpler and straight forward for them, then there is no foul when the use person of color or women of color, or men of color. Everyone will know these persons are not ashamed of their color. They just want to be differentiated as persons who are not checked off on their census paper work in the box beside WHITE.
I believe the author suffers from IBD, it’s a common malady in the GOP. And that Disability seems like it’s spreading pandemic like through the right. It’s particularly amplified in the Press Secretary. Her symptoms seem more aggravated and vaccination resistant. Her’s is an especially virulent strain. She looks strained while going through her presentation and Q&A session with preselected members of the Press Corps.
So! What cha goin’ to write next, More nonsense, I betcha. Nothin’ illegal in giving one’s personal opinion. It don’t even have to be true. Cause it’s all you.
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