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.

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