[Mpls] 5th Ward: Color based Bias

[WJKAHN at aol.com]

David Strand asks:

"So, for the edification of us all, I'd like to hear,
outside of the context of this campaign, what are
listmembers perceptions relative to color based bias
in Minneapolis?   How much of a problem is it and what
can or is being done about it in our community?" 

I'm tempted to be silent on the issue because a person of color by definition 
is someone who is not "white;" as a white guy (meaning I'm 'white,' 
'Caucasian,' or a resident of Caucasus, an area between the Black and Caspian Seas 
where folks can be pretty swarthy). I don't feel I have the experience necessary 
to comment on the prevalence of color bias. But in the interest of edifying 
some folks with my brand of discrimination rhetoric, I'll take a stab at it too.

The list of race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, national origin, sex, 
affectional preference, disability, age, marital status, and status with regard 
to public assistance is preceded by "except when based on a bona fide 
occupational qualification" in Chapter 149 of Title 7 of the Minneapolis code of 
ordinances (Civil Rights) many times. You'll find very few of the words in the list 
defined in the chapter, so they must be considered pretty much cut'n'dried. 
Given Strand's assertion that the Star Tribune does not distinguish between 
color and race, I guess it must not be that clear, so let me repeat that color 
means 'not white' and race means something else.

I've discussed my own problems with the common usage of race on the list 
before. Because race is commonly used to describe a set of characteristics that 
don't have anything to do with the physical or genetic traits common to human 
beings or other animals from a specific geographic area (a biological view of 
race), I don't find it all that useful a concept. I accept that human beings can 
be described as a race of great apes, but the common usage of race seems more 
to do with culture and ethnicity of given regions of the world, and sometimes 
of a city, than any real differences between animals of the species Homo 
sapiens sapiens. 

There are definitely African American and Native American cultures separate 
and distinct from that of other Americans as a whole. Different cultural groups 
can be seen in the light of the processes of acculturation and assimilation 
(two different things); through acculturation, a group can adopt a modicum of 
predominant culture (or what they find attractive or tasty) and retain their 
own culture intact while through assimilation, the change is complete, one 
becomes indistinguishable from others, culturally speaking. There are certain 
cultural groups that may never assimilate into broad American culture. I won't 
pretend any expertise in this area, but there is a broad literature that can get 
pretty involved and complex in dealing with different cultural groups, everyone 
perhaps a special case. When I read this list or encounter folks in my work, 
I can't help making the distinction between African Americans who post here 
and the kind of neighborhood folks about which Jim Graham, Wizard Marks, Barb 
Lickness, et al occasionaly post and about whom comedians Chris Rock and that 
Blue Collar guy expound on in their routines. 

.....Getting back to color bias, though, I think it would be okay to 
discriminate against the Blue Man Group and perhaps mimes and clowns in 
general.......they certainly shouldn't be allowed to vote.......but I guess we can draw the 
line at melanin based pigmentation. 

Bill Kahn
edifying nonsense from Prospect Park