Well it took me a long time to respond... I'm not sure how to say this, or even if I should say this, but I hope someone is still listening.
I know being in a 'visible' minority (one who can be detected by skin color, face shape or accent) is different from being an 'invisible' minority (one that can only be detected by behavior patterns - although even that is really impossible to hide completely)...
... and I don't want to deny the pain or hardship that visible minorities face;
I also know, from what you've said, that there is a difference between being in a current minority and a historical one, and that if the historical minority status is long lived and violent enough it continues to affect people of that sub-group, even if the current cultural paradigm doesn't categorize that sub group as a minority...
... as long as people think of Jews as a seperate group (as long as the Jews think of themselves as a separate group) there exists the possibility that they will be reclassified as a minority, people who the domant group in a culture considers it 'OK' to treat as less than human...
... and I don't want to deny the pain and uncertainty that historical minorities face;
but for me the distinction in different kinds of minority that is most relevant is between the known and the unknown. Some minorities belong to groups that are recognized as minorities; but some people (or so I believe) suffer discrimination and marginalization - the effects of being a minority - without belonging to a group that has been classified as one, and without the protection of belonging to such a group as well. These people are 'unknown' minorities.
no subject
I know being in a 'visible' minority (one who can be detected by skin color, face shape or accent) is different from being an 'invisible' minority (one that can only be detected by behavior patterns - although even that is really impossible to hide completely)...
... and I don't want to deny the pain or hardship that visible minorities face;
I also know, from what you've said, that there is a difference between being in a current minority and a historical one, and that if the historical minority status is long lived and violent enough it continues to affect people of that sub-group, even if the current cultural paradigm doesn't categorize that sub group as a minority...
... as long as people think of Jews as a seperate group (as long as the Jews think of themselves as a separate group) there exists the possibility that they will be reclassified as a minority, people who the domant group in a culture considers it 'OK' to treat as less than human...
... and I don't want to deny the pain and uncertainty that historical minorities face;
but for me the distinction in different kinds of minority that is most relevant is between the known and the unknown. Some minorities belong to groups that are recognized as minorities; but some people (or so I believe) suffer discrimination and marginalization - the effects of being a minority - without belonging to a group that has been classified as one, and without the protection of belonging to such a group as well. These people are 'unknown' minorities.
... I've run out of time... more later (I hope).
Kiralee