Surging Latinos

So I guess they wouldn't be called minorities anymore. This article brings me joy on so many different levels. On one, I can relate to it from my high school days. For those of you who don't know, I went to a ghetto school in downtown KC. When I say "ghetto" I'm not just saying that. It's not like Raytown or Independence or anything. The black/white ratio was about 70/30, 80/20. So clearly, I was the minority. Every once in awhile, they had to take a 'minority count', which we all found obnoxious. I remember being in calculus (yes, I actually took calc, and somewhat survived) and our teacher asking all the minorites to raise their hands. I immediatly put my hand up as well as the other saltines in the class. She found it amusing and then made us put our hands down. Dude, we were being serious. We really WERE the minorities! So from that standpoint, it annoys me that we have to have "Minority counts" and track the movement of different minority groups like they are a herd of caribou.

Secondly, we put a whole lot of emphasis on being diverse and coming together, yet we perpetuate our racial distinctness by making it a big deal and tracking it. I do realize that racism still exists (I actually experienced this more when I moved to Maryville than growing up in KC) and for some people--maybe a lot, it's a big deal. And no, I'm not one of those people who "don't see color" or wonder why we "can't all just get along" because that's obnoxious. Of course we see color. That's not the issue. In school, I didn't go around counting how many whites were in my class, it was just how it was and no one really made an issue about it. It was when we had to raise our hands to distinguish each other by color that we really saw the ratio.

"Public policy analysts said these states and the country as a whole need to bring minority education and professional achievement to the levels of whites. Otherwise, these areas risk becoming poorer and less competitive. "

Ouch! Wow, we whites sure must've set the bar high. I like how they change to "anglos" later.

The article makes me angry, and also hungry.

Cracker, anyone?