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.