The Pathway To Our Prejudices
Last Saturday I called my sister just to touch bases and let her know I was thinking of her. When she got on the line she sounded depressed, stressed and worried. Upon my inquiry she revealed that money was once again really tight and that the worries of home ownership and making ends meet were eating at her soul.
In her frustration she began discussing issues at her work where a certain African-American co-worker had asserted her right to a higher paid position because of her skin color. She began a diatribe about how minorities were getting a better deal from the government because of such assertions. Much of what she began to spout in frustration was the same crap that many ultra-conservatives spew forth without really examining the facts. It was all emotion and exaggeration of the small tidbits of information that have been misreported by politicians and the media, especially by those politicians and media celebs that make a ton of money being hypocrites, bigots and outright clumps of rectal tissue.
One of the things she tried to convince me about was that "whites are becoming a minority" in the United States. While it is true that the minority populations of this nation are experiencing growth, the "white population" is in no danger of becoming a minority for some time. Currently, the best estimates of our population indicate that one-third of our population is considered minority. The white population has fluctuated between 1-3% over the last decade, and currently showing that 74% of our 304.4 million people are considered white.
Our Hispanic population is reported as our fastest growing minority population segment. The term Hispanic encompasses a wide array of ethnic and racial origins that involves some derivative of the Spanish culture, including all of the Spanish-speaking nations of South America, the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, Mexico, and the Spanish-speaking cultures of the Caribbean. Depending upon where you live in the US, these cultures and ethnic groups are represented in larger identifiable communities. In New York City, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Columbians and Ecuadorians are among the most identifiable Hispanic communities. In Boston, there are large Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, Dominican and a noticeable number of Chileans in some places. In Chicago, the Hispanic communities that are most noticeable are the Chicano (Mexican Americans), Puerto Ricans and Cubans. In Miami, the largest Hispanic group is obviously Cuban, but also Puerto Rican, Dominican, Columbian and Salvadorian. In Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, the Mexicans and Chicano communities are most noticeable, but we also see many folks from Central America. Southern California is also has a lot of Mexicans and Chicanos, but has a large representation of many of the Hispanic cultures, especially in San Diego and Los Angeles.
But, overall, even with the rapid growth rate among Hispanic minorities, as well as the number of so-called illegal immigrants, the Hispanic population of the United States is somewhere between 7% and 10%.
The Black community represents approximately 15% of our overall population. I use the term "Black" rather than African-American because not all black people identify themselves as "African-American." However, even those folks that do not identify themselves as "African-American," claim the identity of being "Black."
The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community represents less than 1% of our total population. Even with the influx of Southeast Asian immigrants from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia, the Asian population of the US remains consistently in the 4%-6% range. Native American peoples, despite the frequency of press coverage over casino operations and such, represent less than 1% of our overall population.
Most of our Arab population is included in the Asian tally, if not the African-American groups.
The point of this survey of our population is that our "common understanding" of minority populations in our society is significantly over-estimated, exaggerated and misrepresented... and targeted by the ultra-conservatives, certain politicians, a whole bunch of rednecks, and the media as fodder for the "blame game" that we are manipulated into believing. My sister was falling into that very same trap until I began to challenge her understanding of the genuine facts.
We are so manipulated by the proponents of blaming minorities that we are often led to believe that either these minorities are the cause of huge welfare fraud bills, or the benefactors of some form of government handouts that allow them to live in the lap of luxury. In reality--a reality that is not often examined completely by those that blame our minority communities for our hardships--the vast majority of welfare payouts are made to poor white families, not minorities. This same genuine reality demonstrates that, while there is some significant welfare fraud committed by 1%-3% of welfare recipients, the entire bill for such fraud doesn't equal the fraud committed by huge corporations like Halliburton and its subsidiaries under the numerous no-bid contracts awarded for the purposes of conducting our illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, never mind our activities in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Another reality is that when we discuss "welfare," most ultra-conservatives use figures that include Medicare and Social Security in the aggregate figures. However, both Medicare and Medicare are supported by payroll deductions submitted on the behalf of every worker receiving a paycheck under $200,000 per year. But, those of us making over $200,000 do not necessarily pay the same percentage of their check toward these programs. Additionally, Social Security has been a program that has been deliberately mismanaged by Congress since the late 1960s, prompted by ever-increasing tax cuts for the very wealthy, the raiding of Social Security surpluses when times were "tough," and the overall failure of the Social Security Administration to properly track and manage the funds deposited.
Fundamentally, Social Security is not welfare. It is the payout premium for payments made into the system. While it is true that more money is being paid out than decades past, it is also true that more money is being deposited into the system as well. The same is true for Medicare. Those of us with a paycheck notice that a chunk of our gross pay goes to Medicare. The truth about Medicare is that it, too, is largely mismanaged and only serves about half of the elderly in this country. It is also true that because money has been severely cut from public health and prevention programs, the costs of Medicare have gone up because many chronic conditions are not treated until Medicare eligibility kicks in. A good number of our elderly are suffering with the results of chronic conditions that are worsened by the fact that they are not eating sufficiently, due in large part to cuts in funding for "Meals On Wheels" and other intervention programs.
In his recent book, "Hostile Takeover...", David Sirota documents and demonstrates how our basest notions and emotions are manipulated by our politicians and ultra-conservatives--including many who lie to us about how they support working families--from both sides of the political arena into believing that our tax burdens are too heavy and that our minority populations and handouts to the elderly, welfare queens, and perpetrators of welfare fraud (mostly identified as people of color) are the cause of these burdens.
The truth of these matters, as documented and demonstrated by Sirota, is that we are paying 300-500 times as much as our welfare payouts to huge corporate entities that are posting record-breaking profits, taking huge tax breaks and manipulating huge tax loopholes (like having a fraudulent "headquarters office" in the Cayman Islands), and paying off politicians to keep these loopholes, incentives and subsidies (i.e. the farm subsidies that largely benefit huge agro-businesses) alive and well. If we add these tax evasions to the huge amounts of money paid out in exaggerated bills submitted by defense contractors--many of whom are behind schedule in terms of delivering on their contracts and are kingpins in applying tax loopholes--our welfare payouts, with the Social Security and Medicare amounts included, pale in comparison. Even if we threw in the amount we spend on education, the numbers would pale in comparison.
But we are led to believe that we have someone else to blame for our heavy burdens and the difficulties we face trying to make ends meet. We are told by Cheney and Bush--both of whom make money from the big oil companies and those industries dependent upon our appetite for petroleum--that the price we are paying at the pump is not usury... only to find out these very same oil companies are not paying the full amounts of gas and oil royalties required by law, are often late when they do pay, and are receiving all kinds of tax credits that aid their bottom line but do not benefit the average American in the slightest way.
I believe that if we could get half of all American taxpayers to read Sirota's book, we would have such an outrage about how things are being falsely represented to us, we would either vote out all the pieces of rectal tissue currently holding office, or demand better management of our tax dollars in compliance of the constitutional requirement of "promoting the general welfare" rather than kowtowing to the corporations that are paying their executives 300-900 times the average salary of most American workers while falsely claiming all kinds financial hardships, laying off workers to facilitate exporting jobs, and paying our politicians to keep our laws and tax structure skewed in favor of the already too rich and too dishonest.
In her frustration she began discussing issues at her work where a certain African-American co-worker had asserted her right to a higher paid position because of her skin color. She began a diatribe about how minorities were getting a better deal from the government because of such assertions. Much of what she began to spout in frustration was the same crap that many ultra-conservatives spew forth without really examining the facts. It was all emotion and exaggeration of the small tidbits of information that have been misreported by politicians and the media, especially by those politicians and media celebs that make a ton of money being hypocrites, bigots and outright clumps of rectal tissue.
One of the things she tried to convince me about was that "whites are becoming a minority" in the United States. While it is true that the minority populations of this nation are experiencing growth, the "white population" is in no danger of becoming a minority for some time. Currently, the best estimates of our population indicate that one-third of our population is considered minority. The white population has fluctuated between 1-3% over the last decade, and currently showing that 74% of our 304.4 million people are considered white.
Our Hispanic population is reported as our fastest growing minority population segment. The term Hispanic encompasses a wide array of ethnic and racial origins that involves some derivative of the Spanish culture, including all of the Spanish-speaking nations of South America, the Spanish-speaking nations of Central America, Mexico, and the Spanish-speaking cultures of the Caribbean. Depending upon where you live in the US, these cultures and ethnic groups are represented in larger identifiable communities. In New York City, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Columbians and Ecuadorians are among the most identifiable Hispanic communities. In Boston, there are large Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, Dominican and a noticeable number of Chileans in some places. In Chicago, the Hispanic communities that are most noticeable are the Chicano (Mexican Americans), Puerto Ricans and Cubans. In Miami, the largest Hispanic group is obviously Cuban, but also Puerto Rican, Dominican, Columbian and Salvadorian. In Texas, Arizona and New Mexico, the Mexicans and Chicano communities are most noticeable, but we also see many folks from Central America. Southern California is also has a lot of Mexicans and Chicanos, but has a large representation of many of the Hispanic cultures, especially in San Diego and Los Angeles.
But, overall, even with the rapid growth rate among Hispanic minorities, as well as the number of so-called illegal immigrants, the Hispanic population of the United States is somewhere between 7% and 10%.
The Black community represents approximately 15% of our overall population. I use the term "Black" rather than African-American because not all black people identify themselves as "African-American." However, even those folks that do not identify themselves as "African-American," claim the identity of being "Black."
The Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander community represents less than 1% of our total population. Even with the influx of Southeast Asian immigrants from Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Indonesia, the Asian population of the US remains consistently in the 4%-6% range. Native American peoples, despite the frequency of press coverage over casino operations and such, represent less than 1% of our overall population.
Most of our Arab population is included in the Asian tally, if not the African-American groups.
The point of this survey of our population is that our "common understanding" of minority populations in our society is significantly over-estimated, exaggerated and misrepresented... and targeted by the ultra-conservatives, certain politicians, a whole bunch of rednecks, and the media as fodder for the "blame game" that we are manipulated into believing. My sister was falling into that very same trap until I began to challenge her understanding of the genuine facts.
We are so manipulated by the proponents of blaming minorities that we are often led to believe that either these minorities are the cause of huge welfare fraud bills, or the benefactors of some form of government handouts that allow them to live in the lap of luxury. In reality--a reality that is not often examined completely by those that blame our minority communities for our hardships--the vast majority of welfare payouts are made to poor white families, not minorities. This same genuine reality demonstrates that, while there is some significant welfare fraud committed by 1%-3% of welfare recipients, the entire bill for such fraud doesn't equal the fraud committed by huge corporations like Halliburton and its subsidiaries under the numerous no-bid contracts awarded for the purposes of conducting our illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq, never mind our activities in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Another reality is that when we discuss "welfare," most ultra-conservatives use figures that include Medicare and Social Security in the aggregate figures. However, both Medicare and Medicare are supported by payroll deductions submitted on the behalf of every worker receiving a paycheck under $200,000 per year. But, those of us making over $200,000 do not necessarily pay the same percentage of their check toward these programs. Additionally, Social Security has been a program that has been deliberately mismanaged by Congress since the late 1960s, prompted by ever-increasing tax cuts for the very wealthy, the raiding of Social Security surpluses when times were "tough," and the overall failure of the Social Security Administration to properly track and manage the funds deposited.
Fundamentally, Social Security is not welfare. It is the payout premium for payments made into the system. While it is true that more money is being paid out than decades past, it is also true that more money is being deposited into the system as well. The same is true for Medicare. Those of us with a paycheck notice that a chunk of our gross pay goes to Medicare. The truth about Medicare is that it, too, is largely mismanaged and only serves about half of the elderly in this country. It is also true that because money has been severely cut from public health and prevention programs, the costs of Medicare have gone up because many chronic conditions are not treated until Medicare eligibility kicks in. A good number of our elderly are suffering with the results of chronic conditions that are worsened by the fact that they are not eating sufficiently, due in large part to cuts in funding for "Meals On Wheels" and other intervention programs.
In his recent book, "Hostile Takeover...", David Sirota documents and demonstrates how our basest notions and emotions are manipulated by our politicians and ultra-conservatives--including many who lie to us about how they support working families--from both sides of the political arena into believing that our tax burdens are too heavy and that our minority populations and handouts to the elderly, welfare queens, and perpetrators of welfare fraud (mostly identified as people of color) are the cause of these burdens.
The truth of these matters, as documented and demonstrated by Sirota, is that we are paying 300-500 times as much as our welfare payouts to huge corporate entities that are posting record-breaking profits, taking huge tax breaks and manipulating huge tax loopholes (like having a fraudulent "headquarters office" in the Cayman Islands), and paying off politicians to keep these loopholes, incentives and subsidies (i.e. the farm subsidies that largely benefit huge agro-businesses) alive and well. If we add these tax evasions to the huge amounts of money paid out in exaggerated bills submitted by defense contractors--many of whom are behind schedule in terms of delivering on their contracts and are kingpins in applying tax loopholes--our welfare payouts, with the Social Security and Medicare amounts included, pale in comparison. Even if we threw in the amount we spend on education, the numbers would pale in comparison.
But we are led to believe that we have someone else to blame for our heavy burdens and the difficulties we face trying to make ends meet. We are told by Cheney and Bush--both of whom make money from the big oil companies and those industries dependent upon our appetite for petroleum--that the price we are paying at the pump is not usury... only to find out these very same oil companies are not paying the full amounts of gas and oil royalties required by law, are often late when they do pay, and are receiving all kinds of tax credits that aid their bottom line but do not benefit the average American in the slightest way.
I believe that if we could get half of all American taxpayers to read Sirota's book, we would have such an outrage about how things are being falsely represented to us, we would either vote out all the pieces of rectal tissue currently holding office, or demand better management of our tax dollars in compliance of the constitutional requirement of "promoting the general welfare" rather than kowtowing to the corporations that are paying their executives 300-900 times the average salary of most American workers while falsely claiming all kinds financial hardships, laying off workers to facilitate exporting jobs, and paying our politicians to keep our laws and tax structure skewed in favor of the already too rich and too dishonest.
posted by Jim Downey at 10:22 PM
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