I have a small handful of words that irk me, or that I just don’t make part of my vernacular that are commonly used in today’s culture. The term “Minorities”,as it relates to a sociological class of people is one of them. The term itself as it relates to people, is belittling, as no entire group of people are minor – much less, any one person.

There are no “minor people”, there are no “major people”. Conversely, rarely do I hear the word “Majority ” used to describe the other group. It’s just not used as often in comparison, because the term is not used as a numerological concept in this instance, it’s used as a definition of those that hold the social power in society.

The “minorities” do not, and are typically differentiated by characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation; basically, anything that’s not considered a male, heterosexual anglo-saxon. The intent behind the word was by no means conceived out of an all encompassing, well meaning, nor uniting spirit, but as a means to continue to consciously and subconsciously breed an undercurrent of divisiveness and separation.

Let’s make an attempt to say what we mean, and mean what we say, without blindly following the status quo. Let’s think about the words that we use.