Minority Report

The other day I was approached by a man at my work who proceeded to state (although in the form of a quesiton): "There aren't many minorities who work here are there?" Now I was quite baffled by this man's question/statement because the meaning of "minority" has become quite subjective, especially in Southern California. In my confusion, I then asked him if by "minority" he meant black people (seeing as how he was a black man himself). I think he was slightly taken aback by my willingness to further the conversation and he kind of mumbled and left. The definition of "minority" according to Dictionary.com is "the smaller part or number; a number, part, or amount forming less than half of the whole." Now I find it interesting to note that this man's definition of "minority" was black people. According to the U.S. Census Bureau for Ontario, CA, the percentage of persons with Latino or Hispanic origins is 59.9% while the percentage of those reporting to be white is 47.8%. Therefore, by definition, his statement would be rather unobservant, seeing as how the majority of people working when he visited my place of work would place themselves in the "white" category. Many people are afraid to say what they mean and mask their words with euphemisms. It seems like the system operates in this manner as well. We cannot upset the "minority groups" and we must be politically correct. Now I, for one, am anything but racist, but sometimes I put into question the legitimacy and sincerity and some of these groups. I wonder if they're not actually helping rid the world of wrongs, but actually kindling the flame for which more wrong can be born.