Majority-'Minority?' - (Insanity Reigns)

Majority-'Minority?'

(Insanity Reigns)

(This article appeared in the Daily Challenge newspaper - under 'Guest Editorial,' Wednesday, September 5, 2001 - but the import is so current, so 'on point,' I couldn't help re-'playing ' it!)

We are here in New York City - right? Where the Census shows tht the numbers of people of color are far greater than the numbers of whites - just like the numbers of people of color the world over are far greater than the world's numbers of whites.

So, how come in New York City, politicians, pundits, professionals including anchor people and journalists, keep calling us "minorities?" Can't they count? (Or pay attention to the Census figures?)

Insanity is defined as the inability (unwillingness?) to deal with reality. We can understand society's unwillingness to deal with change; we might even be able to understand plain laziness and inertia, but when the evidence that the majority of people in this city is in-your-face mucho melanin, what is the excuse for not admitting the truth of the numbers?

One of the starkest illustrations of either colorblindness or perhaps they're sending "us" a message, is the article (front page, Monday August 27, 2001) by Erica Goode, writer for The New York Times. Would you believe her article had the word "minority" fifteen times? My college professor (English composition) at Elmira College, Dr. Kharl, taught us that one, if possible, does not usually use the same word in an article more than once or twice! Is there a not-so-subtle message we people of color are supposed to get from such redundancy?

Another illustration of color dissonance occurs regularly on WABC Channel 7 newscasts. One evening, on the five o'clock news, I counted seven "minorities" in the newscast! Are 'these people' trying to send us subliminal messages? What about the woman who used the term "majority-minority" (mimicking the former NYPD Police Commissioner, Bratton, who also used that phrase) on WBAI Radio Pacifica last week? DUH! Insanity reigns!

We, the Majority folk in New York City (And the world -especially at this week's United Nations World Conference Against Racism) need to stand up and loudly proclaim, "We Are The Majority!"

And every time we hear or see those recalcitrant folk using that "M" word to describe us - we should send them the following admonition:

"You are invited to join the 21st Century!

STOP calling us People of Color - The world's Majority - 'minority!'

(Check out the population figures for New York City & the world!)"

___Carol Taylor

First Black U.S.A. Flight Attendant

Author: The Little Black Book: Black Male Survival in America: Staying Alive & Well in an Institutionally Racist Society Tel: (718) 856 1271