In response to the Dec. 8 letter to the editor, âÄúWeâÄôre all minorities,âÄù no, you donâÄôt know what itâÄôs like to be a minority.
With the possible exception of your age, the notion that coming from the suburbs or your political values are enough to make you a minority is akin to believing youâÄôre a minority because you like black jellybeans or because nobody else in your neighborhood owns a yacht.
Being a âÄúminorityâÄù is more than just being on the smaller team âÄî it involves having to deal with whatever preconceived notions the majorityâÄôs built up around you.
The fact that you live in the suburbs isnâÄôt readily apparent to others when they look at you, but a personâÄôs ethnicity is obvious to others. And, as a result, itâÄôs much easier for others to develop a set of beliefs about you âÄî erroneous as they may be âÄî even before youâÄôve met.
I was born in Texas and grew up in Minnesota. So aside from knowing where all the authentic Chinese restaurants are, my experiences have been largely similar to the experiences youâÄôd expect your average Caucasian person to have. But because of being Asian, IâÄôve been saddled with certain expectations about who I am and how I should behave and act.
ThatâÄôs the difference: you donâÄôt have those preconceptions to fight.
While I agree that diversity is a multifaceted subject, race happens to be the most pressing factor of diversity to address, if only because we should be past our hang-ups with it by now. You may be colorblind, but the majority still isnâÄôt, and itâÄôs ridiculous we still canâÄôt seem to get over our frustrating inability as humans to stop classifying people by appearance.