The USA is not the only country that must confront the use of the term minority. Muslims in India, indigenous and religious sects in Japan and Turkey are among the countries that have taken the easy route to classify people who are different, indigenous, poor, of a different religion, or another language group. These countries too, in the 21st century, struggle with how to address diverse people and their needs and rights.
Usage of words changes over time. For over 200 years the use of n-word was common among whites and blacks, not as a pejorative, but as a country, southern pronunciation. By the beginning of the 20th century polite society frowned on the word, then black people in America called themselves colored, Moorish, Negro, Black, Afro or African American. Black was how Gwendolyn Brooks, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, chose to identify herself because use of this descriptive makes black Americans part of a great world majority. Every country has people who are darker, different, and the so-called "black sheep." Calling oneself a black person creates a great unity going beyond ethnic, geographic, or tribal divisions. If Africans had recognized their common needs and not sold their people for money and guns to kill each other, Europe might have become known as the "third world." The world white minority might then not have succeeded in imposing its values, economics, and military might upon the majority, black, brown, yellow, and red populations.
If the Census Bureau and government documents do not use minority as a descriptive of people, why do media, educators, politicians, business leaders, and social workers continue to stigmatize living, human, feeling beings by telling them they are less? While the big question today is "who or what are they less than?"
Liberating Language
"Of what race am I? To this question there is and can be but one true answer--I am of the human race, I am an American. . . I would liberate myself and ourselves from the entire machinery of verbal hypnotism. I am simply of the human race. . .I am of the human nation. . .I am of Earth." Jean Toomer
Private businesses have begun taking a progressive lead through their human resources departments to address how people are labeled. Some surveys have shown that employees find the use of minority "offensive, a ploy to label people." Upon a logical and thorough reflection, the language of inclusion is the only language to use. The 21st Century USA is a multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic nation. Thus, language must be inclusive. The language of inclusion is the language of a true democracy which finds its wealth by investing in the capital of all of its citizens, trying to ever expand and grow that capital by offering opportunities and compassion to all. Communities, schools, businesses, and government can work from a policy of inclusion that welcomes everyone and asks people how they wish to be called, how they choose to identify themselves. This inclusive philosophy recognizes the need to be willing to become culturally competent in as many cultures as one meets in order to avoid falling into the acceptance of stereotypes and/or engaging in prejudicial actions.
Renee Sneitzer, a black woman who traveled from the projects of New Jersey to become the first black prosecutor in Black Hawk County, Iowa sees language change as one tool for helping to combat the problem of disproportionate confinement of black, brown, and poor people. Her guiding quote is "People will rise to greatness if greatness is expected of them." Thus, she suggests that rather than calling people "poor, disadvantaged, or at risk" for whom society, fate, or forces beyond their control have cast into negative life situations to recognize them as the individuals and communities "with the greatest potential for growth and success." Imagine the change that will occur in the minds of the public when journalists write stories with headlines such as, "Black and Brown Youth Exploit their Potential for Growth and Success." Imagine the positive impact on justice when legislators pass penal laws to "increase the potential for growth and success of people incarcerated." Imagine the decrease in police brutality and arrests if police were trained to view nonviolent youthful drug users as "offenders with the greatest potential for growth and success." Imagine the improvement in families if social workers were taught to view their clients as "families with the greatest potential for growth and success." The use of positive language will create positive results. The challenge now is to take this knowledge and use all resources at hand to institute changes in the language paradigm.
Usage of words changes over time. For over 200 years the use of n-word was common among whites and blacks, not as a pejorative, but as a country, southern pronunciation. By the beginning of the 20th century polite society frowned on the word, then black people in America called themselves colored, Moorish, Negro, Black, Afro or African American. Black was how Gwendolyn Brooks, Pulitzer Prize winning poet, chose to identify herself because use of this descriptive makes black Americans part of a great world majority. Every country has people who are darker, different, and the so-called "black sheep." Calling oneself a black person creates a great unity going beyond ethnic, geographic, or tribal divisions. If Africans had recognized their common needs and not sold their people for money and guns to kill each other, Europe might have become known as the "third world." The world white minority might then not have succeeded in imposing its values, economics, and military might upon the majority, black, brown, yellow, and red populations.
If the Census Bureau and government documents do not use minority as a descriptive of people, why do media, educators, politicians, business leaders, and social workers continue to stigmatize living, human, feeling beings by telling them they are less? While the big question today is "who or what are they less than?"
Liberating Language
Private businesses have begun taking a progressive lead through their human resources departments to address how people are labeled. Some surveys have shown that employees find the use of minority "offensive, a ploy to label people." Upon a logical and thorough reflection, the language of inclusion is the only language to use. The 21st Century USA is a multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic nation. Thus, language must be inclusive. The language of inclusion is the language of a true democracy which finds its wealth by investing in the capital of all of its citizens, trying to ever expand and grow that capital by offering opportunities and compassion to all. Communities, schools, businesses, and government can work from a policy of inclusion that welcomes everyone and asks people how they wish to be called, how they choose to identify themselves. This inclusive philosophy recognizes the need to be willing to become culturally competent in as many cultures as one meets in order to avoid falling into the acceptance of stereotypes and/or engaging in prejudicial actions.
Renee Sneitzer, a black woman who traveled from the projects of New Jersey to become the first black prosecutor in Black Hawk County, Iowa sees language change as one tool for helping to combat the problem of disproportionate confinement of black, brown, and poor people. Her guiding quote is "People will rise to greatness if greatness is expected of them." Thus, she suggests that rather than calling people "poor, disadvantaged, or at risk" for whom society, fate, or forces beyond their control have cast into negative life situations to recognize them as the individuals and communities "with the greatest potential for growth and success." Imagine the change that will occur in the minds of the public when journalists write stories with headlines such as, "Black and Brown Youth Exploit their Potential for Growth and Success." Imagine the positive impact on justice when legislators pass penal laws to "increase the potential for growth and success of people incarcerated." Imagine the decrease in police brutality and arrests if police were trained to view nonviolent youthful drug users as "offenders with the greatest potential for growth and success." Imagine the improvement in families if social workers were taught to view their clients as "families with the greatest potential for growth and success." The use of positive language will create positive results. The challenge now is to take this knowledge and use all resources at hand to institute changes in the language paradigm.
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