This blog post started out to be about the finances
available to people in businesses in the Hip Hop industry. Then a funny thing
happened, turning this blog into a argument against the word minority to
achieve financial prosperity.
First, I began to read that "in 2013 alone, OFN Member
CDFI's provided 3.6 Billion to low-income individuals and
communities"(OFN, 2015). Initially, this all sounded very promising. I went on to include that certain financing
was given specifically to populations lacking in resources: "CDFIs target
underserved populations....[including] minorities"(OFN, 2015). I was going to name this blog post "the
money is out there for your business!"
That was until the word "minorities" just wouldn't
sit. And thus, the blog is as follows:
If we are first to solve any economical or societal
problems, we must first understand the roots of those problems. No weed is
killed, if not for by the roots.
Why are the words defining people important in solving a
problem? It is crucial to understand arguments made in the book The Power of
Definition: How Perception Becomes Reality, "Definition creates perception
and perception often leads people to act in aberrant ways"(Okoli 2015). -
aberrant to mean "departing from the right, normal, or usual
course"((Dictionary.com). In agreement, I would say that calling a person
a certain name can disempower that person. Child Protective Services would
agree, calling it verbal abuse - if a parent was to call their child
"stupid","ugly", "weak" etc. In that case, it
would surely be agreed that words do hurt.
There is a consensus amongst self-help gurus, that words have the power to affect how one views oneself. They all encourage people to say positive things about oneself - I'm Beautiful! Bully campaigns the world over, would agree that calling a child names can destroy their self-esteem - "Definition positions for exploitation and destruction, people who have not acquired the ability to assert their rights, those who have lost the ability to assert their rights, and people who in the face of identity crisis engage in irrational definition of themselves as a protest or rebellious action"(Okoli 2015). Thus, it matters how people are defined in the U.S. systems whether in the economical and finance systems, political, school systems, and so forth.
There is a consensus amongst self-help gurus, that words have the power to affect how one views oneself. They all encourage people to say positive things about oneself - I'm Beautiful! Bully campaigns the world over, would agree that calling a child names can destroy their self-esteem - "Definition positions for exploitation and destruction, people who have not acquired the ability to assert their rights, those who have lost the ability to assert their rights, and people who in the face of identity crisis engage in irrational definition of themselves as a protest or rebellious action"(Okoli 2015). Thus, it matters how people are defined in the U.S. systems whether in the economical and finance systems, political, school systems, and so forth.
I would argue that it is a double edged sword to offer
programs with aims of economical stimulus, to influence an activity while still
defining the people with the words that bind them psychologically, and so
forth.
Hence, I make my argument against using the word minority
and its derivates when referring to people because it is at a hinderance to
those defined as such: "Origins of national minorities. The origin of the
term “national minorities” can be traced to Europe, where it was applied to
various national groups who were identified with particular territories by
virtue of long residence in them but who had lost their sovereignty over these
territories to some more numerous people of a different nationality"
(Minorities International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1968). Allow me
to point out the part about having "lost their sovereignty."
It is important to point out that the origin of this definition of minority to describe a people, was created by the very people who enslaved them. If we are still being defined as a people who have "lost their sovereignty" then we are still likened to a slave, one who has lost power to those in the seats of power. Yet, we still lack consensus on whether classism, racism, and inequalities still exist, and that freedom from such reins must be achieved.
It is important to point out that the origin of this definition of minority to describe a people, was created by the very people who enslaved them. If we are still being defined as a people who have "lost their sovereignty" then we are still likened to a slave, one who has lost power to those in the seats of power. Yet, we still lack consensus on whether classism, racism, and inequalities still exist, and that freedom from such reins must be achieved.
"In some cases the minority groups ceased altogether to
occupy their original territories and were dispersed throughout the nation of
which they were now subjects" (Minorities International Encyclopedia of
the Social Sciences, 1968).We are again being defined by a word - minority -
that keeps us as "subjects" in this society:
"More
often [minorities] stayed in the same place but in a subordinate position,
since the dominant
political and economic institutions were now run mainly for the benefit of the larger
national group. The latter usually enacted laws to regulate the political
existence of the minorities; for instance, they might have to send their own community
leaders to the national assembly instead of being able to vote
individually for candidates in a national election. Even the
areas in which they could live or the occupations they could pursue might determined by law; at the least, the dominant nationality regarded them
with suspicion, as the
Czechs were regarded under the Austro–Hungarian Empire" (Minorities
International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 1968). (This was intended to be a block quote despite the formatting issues of Blogger)
In conclusion, this breakdown of the definition and origin
of the minority word points to deeper issue of how political and economic
institutions are by design racist and classist to benefit those monopolizing
the power to benefit the dominate group. It is evidenced that there exists
further need to solve the problem of racism and classism on an institutional
level. Thus, minority may be more than just a word, but a smoking gun to the
larger problems at hand before true financial prosperity can be achieved for
such people. Furthermore, it can be pointed out that the definition of minority
also carry's a connotation of "suspicion" for such people which
points to the opposite of fair treatment in the judicial and policing systems.
References
Minorities International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences.
Minorities. 1968.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Minorities.aspx
OFN, CDFI's Provide Opportunity to All. 2015.
http://ofn.org/sites/default/files/resources/infographic/infographic.html
Okoli, Ifezu. The Power of Definition: How Perception Becomes
Reality. 2006. http://www.powerofdefinition.com
