The “others” are taking over America …Yeah!
America is breaking down into a society based on tribalism – and the tribes are politically determined by how we identify ourselves within broad categories of race, nationality and gender. Our political institutions create the “boxes” into which we are supposed to put ourselves.
Because these “boxes” are determined by the political establishment, they do not have to comport to science or any other fact-based reality. We do have scientific definitions of who and what we are, but they are put aside for the political definitions. The only thing repugnant to the political establishment is when we self-determine that we do not fit into any of the prescribed “boxes.”
But first … who are those political establishmentarians? In a sense they are all those folks in Washington – elected officials and bureaucrats. More specifically, it is the folks at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) who issue the categories contained in the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.
In the OMB’s latest revision, they deemed that Americans fit into one of the officially designated boxes listed below – as you may recall from the census forms.
“American Indian or Alaska Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.
Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as “Haitian” or “Negro” can be used in addition to “Black or African American.”
Hispanic or Latino. A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. The term, “Spanish origin,” can be used in addition to “Hispanic or Latino.”
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.”
There is another box one can check – and that is “Other.” But those in the establishment who manipulate the statistics – and the people – do not like that category to be checked. Unless you maintain these clear categories, you cannot have tribalism. These are the names of the ethnic tribes.
Government creates these boxes to keep the people in their tribes – which can then be managed and manipulated by those who believe in a Big Brother (or Big Sister) government that creates competitive narratives and policies based on forced self-identification.
For example: I have a black daughter who joined the family as a teenager. She was born and raised in Jamaica. You will notice that there is no category for folks from Caribbean islands. So, she is considered to be in the Black/African America box even though her family has not had ties to Africa for 400 years. The government puts her into that box solely because she has Negro features.
Since there is no box that fits who she is, she must either check the African American box or the “other.” But the government does not like people to select “other” – even though more and more Americans are “other.”
President Obama is considered an African American. I suspect he checks that box on the census form. But in reality, he is “other” – half Negro and half Caucasian.
Those who rely on the tribal designations for power and profit resist reality. It seems that there is a lot of fraternizing between male and female members of the various tribes. Fewer and fewer people are now 100 percent of the box they are encouraged to check.
It is called assimilation. And those of us who believe in people more than government, that is a good thing. We ascribe to the “melting pot” theory. Those on the left see the American people as a bucket of rocks – white rock, black rock, brown rock, yellow rock, red rock – that are never to melt down into what we might call the American box – otherwise known as “other.”
It seems that reality is beginning to overtake political designations. More and more people are checking the “other” box—and the socio-political establishment is getting worried. Truth be known, there are a lot more Americans who could be – and should be – checking the “other” box.
According to the census statistics, the “other” is now the second largest category behind “white.” There are more “others” than there are African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, or Fiji Islanders.
The increase in American “others” poses a threat to the social planners, the establishment authoritarians and the proponents of identity politics. So, they have a political solution to the problem. Even in the face of more and more “assimilated” people in America – the “others” — the big government establishmentarians want to eliminate the “other” box – literally forcing millions of Americans to say that they are something that they are not – at least not completely.
According to the statistics, it is the Latino population that is more likely to check “other.” Why, you ask? Maybe because the diversity among Hispanics is more complex. You can be a white Latino, or a black Latino, or even an indigenous Latino. You have this disparity of racial backgrounds within the Latino community because the Latino category is based on a common language – the only group in which language is the defining factor. Does that make Spaniards and Filipinos part of the Hispanic “box” because they speak Spanish? If not, why not? And why are Brazilians considered Hispanics since they speak Portuguese?
All the folks in those other boxes – Asians, African Americans, etc. – speak many languages. And if you are Arab – Egyptian, Syrian, etc. – are you white or African American … or “other?” None of this race categorizing makes any sense – and actually defies science, biology, and DNA.
I can understand the value of knowing the economic ranks of the American people, but do we really need to know their racial or ethnic backgrounds? Perhaps we should just stop asking people to pick a “box.” In the meantime, since I am a mix of Eastern European and Western European — with a smidgeon of Nigerian according to my DNA Analysis – I think I will join those checking the “other” box in the future. I may even start an interest group. Maybe the National Association for the Advancement of Other People. Or Other Lives Matter. Or the National Organization of Others.
Thanks to assimilation, we are becoming a nation of “others.” If that word is too vague, maybe we should have only one box called … “American.”
So, there tis.
Why can’t we just be people? The left is always trying to weaponize race and culture.
“?The left is always trying to weaponize race and culture.” did you have a straight face for that one. Wanna tell us about Lincoln again….
Let’s see: what demographic affected by Texas Abortion law, restrictive voting laws, most laws passed by Republican States lately. Whites? Blacks? Rich, Poor…. Sure, Dan, tell us to be just people from one side of your face, and jump up and down with glee as Texas forces rape victims and incest victims to bear the children of their sexual abusers. The rich white folk just hop a plane and wham-bam, it’s over. Poor Black folks have a hard time taking off work in their forced-maskless jobs, much less coming up with the scratch for travel and lodging.
What I want to know Larry, is: where’s the Slovakian Irish English Germanic box?
I honestly hate this stuff and wonder what it even drives beside bad feelings. You never answered that Larry and I would think it was the most important piece of your tome. Does it directly affect any programs whatsoever?
As a side note: on WWII draft registration, the lower left corner has a notation to remove if applicant is Black. Now, that’s fuckin racist both in intent and in implementation. First, we know why the military had to know who was white and who was black and we know that it’s racism, pure, simple, and systematic. Second, good chance the Black guy doesn’t even know he’s been called out, just sees that his form is missing a corner and being secretive about your racism is even worse than blatant, in your face, racism. Lastly, the entire process design was freakin insidious and evil. Secretly blacklist blacks and not even announce it. That’s some racist devil who designed that.
Bla bla bla. Race race race. Things that you mentioned mostly took place many years ago. Like the WWII draft paper. You are a race baiting fool who throws shit to see how much sticks. Blacks in America can have a good job and a good life. But some, like many whites, make bad choices. I did. But I corrected my life as well as I could and moved on. So get a life yourself and quit worrying about shit that happened years ago caused by the southern commiecrats
I thought you Democrats do not like to go back to your party’s history of racism … but since you brought up the subject. You are absolutely correct. Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt were white supremacist — and that is how they governed. The racial segregation of the military was the work of Wilson … and the man he chose to implement his racist policies was a young fellow in the Navy Department named … Franklin Delano Roosevelt. If you want to refer to “some racist devil,” you should name them. And it went further than the military. Wilson segregated the Executive Branch and instituted a policy that photos had to be attached to federal job applications for the same reasons. He did that when he headed Princeton … applicant students had to provide photographs. And of course, FDR went on to create the New Deal that was crafted and implemented by southern racists and KKK supporters and former members — such as Hugo Black, ex-KKKer — as a means of taking jobs away from blacks and giving them to whites. The NAACP referred to the NRA as the Negro Riddance Act. Thanks for bring up this too ignored bit of history.
Also, you seem to be agreeing with me that racial designations are counter-productive and counter-beneficial. That is why I am big fan of natural assimilation. I say abolish the question from the census — and everywhere else — or create a box for the Slovakian Irish English Germanic person — and all the millions of others who do not fit in one of the current boxes..
Ok Frank. Just don’t go rape anyone in Texas. But seriously, the rape/incest part will not be taken away. But be careful and don’t knock up your daughter, sister or whomever
Harold, actually Texas IS the RAPE state. It’s the best place to assure that your rape baby will carry your rape genes forward through history. If you can get away with it, you can procreate across the entire state and perhaps all of your rape children will be blessed.
Larry says, “I thought you Democrats” — stereotype much? I am a Democrat, not Progressive either; I am not THE Democrats. Sorry, just being a little thin skinned, you are doing much better this go-round :>) I chuckled.
You raise some interesting points, even if I think some of your thought process a bit off.
I really hate racist-retrospective as much as I hate PC-run-amuck, sometimes these things just go too far. The pendulum swings, we look for easy answers, and we avoid understanding any grey areas in our rush to judgement. I can understand not flying the stars n bars over public areas; but I love the Stars and Bars for it’s expression of our freedom to rebel and rebel well. The small guy standing up and standing tall against superior, better equipped, forces with impossible odds and almost winning. I am a little less understanding about tearing down all the statues of anyone participating in the South’s insurrection, because the South will never see it as such, nor should they. And they are half of the whole. I grew up for a good while just South of the Mason-Dixon, and I revere Lee and others, especially Jeb Stewart, not for the man per se, but for their dashing, daring, military skills. Nothing the movement has offered has changed that. So, maybe move the statues and flags out of the Statehouse, but destroy them — not for me.
Likewise, I can understand trying to understand who lives here and what programs might benefit certain demographics, but agree wholeheartedly, that either it’s in there for all possibilities, or out of there. Don’t specialize on ethnicity of only certain “in-style” demographics. The Census has always had political aspects, everything from job, to salary, to whether you have a radio, has been asked. They even had a special notes section where we could further pry into the backgrounds of immigrants with special questions.
“You are absolutely correct. Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt were white supremacist” Say wha? I was talking WWII, I am pretty sure Wilson ended his term in 1921. Not sure how much his WWI oversight affected the WWII draft registration process. FDR worked for Wilson from 1913 – 1920 as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, so again, not sure what that has to do with WWII.
Perhaps all of our hero’s are now considered racist. But I doubt that Woodrow Wilson rose from the grave after two decades to do this. I also doubt that FDR, even if racist, single-handily designed this, edited it, and made it happen.
And that’s the point: systemic racism means ALL of us are racists, and all of us participate in creating systems and processes that further racism. I do not think FDR said: “hey, we need to segregate all blacks entering the military without them knowing we are doing it.” I think instead someone said: “we need to identify,” and someone else said: “let’s use the draft registration,” and someone else said: “hey, we can do it in a way that the blacks won’t even know it’s being done and so they won’t get upset while we are doing it right in front of them, in secret.” And then a whole bunch of folks, predominately white, actually did it and probably never told a soul.
That’s the insidious part I was trying to point out about how systemic racism works and traps all of us into lending a hand, even if we are not, or think we are not actually overt, practicing, active, racists. It can be anywhere, everywhere, and we all are responsible to find it and change it. Dan’s stereotypical rants of “blacks never had it so good,” is stupid; the goal is equality for all no mater race, religion, or gender. Well, now gender-affiliation :>)
Meanwhile (and remember, you put all these eggs in one basket :>) — IMO, the New Deal is not overtly racist and I can not only push back on most of your ascertains, but can point out parts that directly improved the lives of black Americans. There are certainly areas that disadvantage blacks as well, although often adding in white sharecroppers, white tenant farmers, —- basically poor people who didn’t own land, for example. Just not sure if intended, or unintentional outcomes.
Frankly, my short review of this, based solely on your questions, seems to point out that The New Deal was incredibly anti-capitalist, anti-free market, and extremely socialist in some of the programs. That was an eye opener. That means we really depended on FDR, or the government, to get out of those aspects ASAP or our free market democratic republic would be over. That was a new learning for me that I want to discover more about.
ER stood actively against racism and often pushed FDR in that direction. FDR knuckled a number of times, to hold his base, to Southern Dems, by not supporting ER’s anti-lynching laws, for example. But was he racist or just wanting votes so an enabler? Sort of what’s happening with Trumpism today. They weasel-word around it all to be sure they continue to attract the racist demographic so important to their voting base numbers. Trump does the same weaseling on vaccines to hold the anti-vaxer demographic in his base, and this one can kill people as easly as racism kills people. It’s all for politics, to regain or stay in power. Bottom line, I really can’t say FDR is an overt racist, invoked every racist law he could, because it’s just not true. It’s more nuanced than that I think.
To be honest, I am more interested in Walt Disney as a racist. Same sort of nuanced results with a lot of gray areas making conclusions on this very hard. And if so, that just really puts a hole in my hero worship. Same with FDR for me at this time. Would love to know more, but beginning to believe we will have to put everyone from our history in the racist boat. Including me and you.
Think we need some better boundary conditions on this one.
Racist or not, I believe that people should be free to think for themselves. No, people shouldn’t go around shouting racial slurs in public. But our cultures are different and and trying to make one race behave a certain way is wrong, as long as their behavior is legal. And that goes for blacks or whites.