August 28, 2014
“The Atlantic released a report yesterday that this year is the first in which ‘minorities will outnumber white students’ in US public schools. It’s apparent what they mean, but the oxymoron speaks volumes about the way we think and speak about race in the US—that is, always in relation to whiteness. Use of the term ‘minority’ to mean ‘non-white’ is so widespread that even if we could excise it, it’s not likely we would find a suitable general term to encapsulate the sheer diversity of race and ethnicity in the United States. In a sense, only two races factor into the mainstream American conversation on race: white and non-white.”
Read more on the Brooklyn Magazine website.
posted by Marg Herder
