Cultural Ettiquette: A Rose by any other name?
ETHNIC? Ethnic" refers
to nationality or race. Everyone's nationality or race. Margaret Thatcher,
Susan B. Anthony, and Bach are just as "ethnic" as Wesley Snipes or
Gandhi.
MINORITY? While it is true that most citizens of the United States are
white, at least four-fifths of the world's population consists of people of
color. Therefore, it is statistically incorrect to refer to people of color as
minorities. The term "minority" is used to reinforce the idea of
people of color as "other."
RACE? Race is a sensitive
subject throughout the country. To avoid offending anyone refer to
Americans of different ethnicities as such: African American, Italian American,
Native American, Asian American, etc.
A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet,
but a person of color called by the wrong name may be offensive.