The implications of the word “minority”

Rarely do we as a society consider the implications that certain labels have on groups. Derogatory words are accepted as conversational vernacular despite the negative impact they can have. The use of “that’s so gay” is a new example that has emerged from the younger generation. This aligns all things negative with a homosexual orientation. Even though many attempts have been made to eradicate it from every day usage, it is still present despite its hurtful connotations. Another example of a negative word usage that has been around much longer than “gay” and has been questioned much less frequently is the label of “minority.” Skywalker Payne argues in his article “Time to Change the Language Paradigm: A Tool for Promoting Social Progress” that the use of this term has contributed to the alienation of racial minorities in the United States from the white majority. Because language has such a powerful effect on how each person perceives the world, labels that are prejudicial like these have much more dramatic consequences than we are aware of. Therefore, more serious and focused efforts should be undertaken to promote the deletion of these terms.

People who willingly consider themselves “minorities” seem unaware of the fact that they are unconsciously labeling themselves as being of inherently lesser value. The root of the word minority means less than. However, even academics continue voluntarily to label themselves as a “minority” without fully understanding the implications of their word choice. Payne writes “The defense and abuse of the word minority is one example of the perpetuation of intellectual institutional racism in the USA.” We resist thinking of ourselves as a country of racists, but we let this language persist without even questioning the validity of its use. Labels that group together into stereotypes are almost always negative. They tend to lead to overgeneralization and they devalue the accomplishments of the individual. This is exactly what is happening with the use of the word "minority."

In addition, labeling someone a minority can lead to a viscous cycle of self fulfilling prophecy. Because children are told that they are not as important or valuable as the majority, they do not expect as much from themselves. Sometimes teachers expect less from minority students because of these negative stereotypes as well. Being labeled as “less than” must have a devastating effect on an individual’s psyche. In addition, the word "minority" is not always used in the correct sense. The US News and World Report refused to call the white students at one university a minority even though there were less than 50% of them on campus. They defended themselves by saying that they were labeling the whites based on outside statistics. However, because this label is not used consistently, it seems to stereotype non-white students negatively. This adds to the inequality of the label. Whites are cognizant enough that they deem the label to be degrading when used to describe them, yet are not progressive enough to see the devastating effects it has on other ethnic groups.

There has been some progress in the usage of this term, however. The Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 designated 4 distinct minority groups. It was out of the late sixties that the term minority started to arise. Yet it was in 1988 that the San Diego Unified School district banned the usage of both the terms "minority" and "majority." In 2001, the San Diego city council eliminated the word minority from municipal documents. The city’s mayor claimed ”Minority means less than and language has strength.” Hopefully progress will continue in this direction, leading to fewer people being characterized as “less than.”