Major Minorities and Racism

From Little Mosque on the Prarie

My anthropology professor told our class that it is not the small minorities that face the worst racism, but the major minorities.  That is, the population of the minority group has to reach a certain perceived size before the majority considers it a threat.  Once a minority group is large enough to be considered a threat, the majority group tends to target it as the source of their societal problems.

I have seen evidence of this.  In grade nine I had a classmate whose parents were from India and another classmate whose parents were from the Caribbean.  Both were well loved by everybody.  I had another Anisnabae friend who came to high school from an Indian reserve in the north.  She discussed with me the discrimination and racism she faced daily.  At the time, the city had at least 35% Anisnabae (also called Ojibwa) population, but very few people from India or the Caribbean.  Most hate-crimes, violence, racial slurs and tasteless humour targeted Anisnabae people.

I would push the issue one step further: I think we feel more threatened by those who are similar to us but are not the same, than those who we perceive as completely different.  I was once told that a diplomat was asked which two countries had the greatest difficulty getting along in the UN.  He replied, Canada and Great Britain.  He explained that with our shared heritage we feel we SHOULD understand one another, but when our differences inevitably arise, it drives a wedge between us.  I've been to many inter-religious dialogues.  Invariably, at some point, they get tense.  But the tensions are rarely between, say, Buddhists who have no theological attachments to Jesus, and religions who do.  The tensions are more likely to arise between religions like Christianity and Islam, who both strongly believe in Jesus, but have different interpretations of who Jesus is.

Statistical analysis conducted by Errol A. Henderson and Richard Tucker had similar findings.  In response to Samuel P. Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations" theory, Henderson and Tucker found that so-called "Clashes" were more likely to occur within a "Civilization" (that is, the highest geo-cultural groupings of people) than between them.[1]  Henderson and Tucker argue that while some cultural similarities or differences do seem to impact the likelihood of conflict or war, others do not, meaning that while cultural factors do play a role in conflict, they do not play the role traditionally assumed of them. Relevant examples show that same religion does not decrease the likelihood of conflict, shared ethnicity or language does increase the likelihood of conflict, and inter-civilization conflict tends to coincide with the transformation of political systems.

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[1] Errol A. Henderson, Richard Tucker, “Clear and Present Strangers: The Clash of Civilizations and International Conflict”, International Studies Quarterly, Volume 45, No. 2, pp. 317-338.

REFLECTION: Major Minorities

1. What are some of the "Major Minorities" in your community?
2. What discrimination or barriers do they seem to face?  Is it different than the discrimination or barriers faced by other minority groups in your community?
3. What are your own perceptions of these minority groups?

CHALLENGE: A Major Minor Friend

1. Befriend or take the Tea Meditation Challenge to get to know someone who seems to be from a minority group in your community.
2. Ask them about the challenges they face, and listen.