Republicans, Mexicans and Hebrews, Oh My!- Part I

Media Racism and the Language of Prejudice

After spending most of the morning packing to move, I decided to drop-in to my neighborhood corner store for 40 ounces of cool refreshment. On my way out the door, I noticed many of the daily newspapers running headlines proclaiming that whites were now in the minority in Texas. This is misleading on several levels. Lets look at the word minority itself:
mi·nor·i·ty - (m-nôr-t, -nr-, m-)
n. pl. mi·nor·i·ties
1. a) The smaller in number of two groups forming a whole.
b) A group or party having fewer than a controlling number of votes.

2. a) An ethnic, racial, religious, or other group having a distinctive presence within a society.
b) A group having little power or representation relative to other groups within a society.
c) A member of one of these groups. See Usage Note at color
3. Law. The state or period of being under legal age: still in her minority.
[Source]

The first definition is false, considering Texas has more than two ethnic groups. This however, is the definition they are using (more on that later). The second and fourth definitions are ridiculously wrong. The third is disqualified on broadness. Having a "distinctive prescence" is applicable to all major ethnic groups and isn't exactly front page news. In fact, the white presence is better described a 'hegemonic' than 'distinctive.' Also, the final two definitions are obviously non-applicable.

You may be asking what possesed respected newspapers to run these headlines? The short answer is racism. They are using the first definition, "The smaller in number of two groups forming a whole." Here, they are dubiously dividing the ethnic make-up of Texas into two groups. The first group is obviously 'white.' What is the second group, you might be asking? The second group is the ridiculous grouping of 'everyone else.'

This distinction is patently racist, as it is the product of the infamous 'us vs. them mentality.' It claims that there are 'whites' and 'everyone-else'. This obviously implies that whiteness is either the normal or desireable state. The term 'non-white' is a highly dubious grouping. It tells us nothing about the people included in the group, other that they probably have a hard time catching a cab and getting a job or loan. The term 'white' itself is largely worthless. It consists mainly of a despicable racist heuristic. As used by the US census, the term includes:

people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicated their race or races as "White" or wrote in entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, Polish, or Iranian. (See also Whites)

[Source]

You may also note that these groups have very little in common with each other. This definition is also highly problematic.

A more contemporary criticism is that many Black people have lived in areas of North Africa associated with Arab and thus considered "white". Mostafa Hefny, an obviously Black Egyptian, is among those whose original ancestors were from North Africa and who is classified as White, despite the obviousness of his Black identity and his socialization as a Black man in America. [Source]

Now, lets look at Texas' demographic make-up. The reason for these headlines is the recent estimate that the white population has (most likely) dropped below the 50% mark. This may seem alarming, until you look at the date from the 2000 census:

White persons, not of Hispanic/Latino origin, percent, 2000

52.4%

Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, percent, 2000 (b)

32.0%

Black or African American persons, percent, 2000 (a)

11.5%

Asian persons, percent, 2000 (a)

2.7%

American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, 2000 (a)

0.6%

[Source]

These are the 2000 findings of the US Census. Since then, it is estimated that whites have dropped below the 50% line. Even so, they are by far the dominant racial grouping in Texas based on numbers alone. In political power, the discrepency is more apparent. Our government is overwhelmingly white. A vast number of hispanics are ineligible to vote, and the turnout of the black vote is far lower than whites.

Why then, is the news media acting like we are being now being overwhelmed by some foreign group? The answer is racism. The terms used in these stories are both racist and anarchronistic. They do not further any dialogue, being largely meaningless. Take for example the recent internet headline: Texas Becomes a Majority-Minority State.

What the fuck is a majority-minority state? The term is empty filler, completely void of meaning. It is logically contradictory. It either means that:
a.) Texas has both a majority and a minority, like every other fucking state that ever existed
b.) That minorities are now the majority in Texas

It is obvious they are referring to the latter, using the '50% definition' of minority. This flies in the face of reason. Minority and majority are polar oppisites, one obviously cannot be the other. If whites dropping below the 50% line puts them in the 'minority,' then obviously every other grouping is a minority since they are much farther below the 50% mark. The logical conclusion of their argument is: Texas is now all minorities, since no group has a population greater than 50% of the state total. This is again contradictory as minority cannot mean majority. The only way their logic works, is if they use 'minority' as meaning 'non-white,' which is both semantically incorrect and racist.

This is the first of three installments of this article. In the next, we will examine the hidden racial history of Texas and what it means today. Finally, we will examine the effect of these demographic changes on our political process.