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Minority Mathematics - How The Left Needs To Reframe Civil Rights [1]
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Date: 2025-04-09
When most Americans hear ‘Civil Rights Era’, the image that comes to mind is black folks. Yet whenever I read about the Civil Rights movement, I am always reminded of how many other minority groups were part of that movement that do not get mentioned today — Jewish, Elderly, Disabled, Immigrants. When you break things down further by ancestry, ideology, religion, disability, class, age, etc you will find even more minority groups.
Yes, black folks were the center of attention during the Civil Rights Era due to slavery and segregation, but many of these non-black minority groups were also part of the struggle because they understood that it wasn’t just a fight for black rights — it was also a fight for inalienable individual rights. It was a fight for minority rights.
The fact of the matter is that even among White folks, when you break things down by identity, ideology, religion, status, culture, ancestry, class, age, disability, neurodivergence, sexuality, etc you will find many many minority groups among White folks — many which face discrimination among themselves because they have some type of minority status. There are 11 distinct cultures in America. White folks are not a monolith — many of them actually dislike or hate each other along these lines just as their ancestors did back in Europe. History is rife with Europeans committing atrocities against each other based on minority status.
In America, party politics has created a false illusion that White folks aren’t as fractured as a social construct as they actually are. A plurality of white folks in America are mislead to believe that White Christians are united against a common enemy. The truth is they are not (many of their religious denominations dont even approve of each other), but it is this misguided belief that is the foundation of the Republican Party and the class war the oligarchy has waged against America.
The Civil Rights Era of the 60’s was about ending segregation — we are 60 years removed from that era and the Left still has yet to deconstruct this mirage and remind white folks that they are not as united as the Republican Party and the oligarchy has led them to believe they are and that their worst enemies are actually among themselves and those who White folks trust the most.
The Left is still giving a bit too much priority to racial minority groups as if Jim Crow is still ongoing. This is why too many white folks in America are dismissive any injustice against racial minorities along the lines of ‘it happens to us white folks too! All Lives Matter!’. And they arent wrong — for example, yes police brutality is an issue for white folks too, especially elderly, disabled, neurodivergent, and lower class white folks — these are ‘minority groups’ among white folk.
Over the years the Left has been dismissive of these responses ex: ‘sure, but it happens to black folks far more often than white folks so...’. This is the wrong response and why the Left has such a hard time getting a lot of White Americans listening and being receptive.
These responses are basically telling you that these White folk believe they are, know someone who is/was, or fear in the future they may become a minority who happens to be White in those situations. This is a missed opportunity that is sending White folks over to the opposition who is catering to those fears with disinformation.
The correct framing is to agree and remind them that yes, these violations , injustices and incidences of insensitivity, bigotry, etc are highly likely happen to White folks that happen to be *minorities*, remind them of all the ways they are minorities, and explain Minority Math to them.
All things being equal except demographic size, a given minority group is far more likely to encounter these incidents by virtue of being in the minority.
As an example — let’s say a particular minority group makes up 10% of the population. Of the other 90% of the population, lets say 20% of that 90% are prejudiced or insensitive towards that particular minority group, as all human beings hold prejudices and fear what they do not understand and 20% is a good general floor on general prejudices according to decades of polling data. 20% of 90% of the population is larger than 10% population of the entire minority group!
This means in a group of 100 people, 10 minorities have to deal with 18 prejudiced persons, or roughly 1 out of every 5 persons. A Non-minority in this group only has a chance encounter with a minority in 1 out of every 10 persons.
Minority Math is hard math applies to all aspects of American life — one’s chances of encountering police brutality, qualifying for a loan, a job application, etc.
And don’t forget, there are minorities among White folks too! Our Constitution was written to defend unalienable individual rights and an individual is the smallest minority. Don’t fall into the trap of being perceived to give certain minority group priority over others ‘because of history’ or ‘because it happens to them more frequently’ — however noble and justifiable it may seem. Frame it in a way that White folks can relate to — remind them that they are minories in other ways too and it happens to Whites among them and precisely *because* they are minorities.
If you aren’t validating their sense of victimhood from a Left wing perspective, the Right wing propagada machine definitely will from a Right wing perspective!
Also:
Don't Be a Sucker
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