I have a bone to pick with liberals. They tend to lump “white people” in the United States together as if we were all the same. But we are not. Those of us with less melanin in our skins include multiple distinct cultures and ethnicities. We include people from almost every country in the world north of the Equator and some south of it; Russians, Poles, Serbians, Latvians, French, English, Scandinavians, Australians, New Zealanders, Swiss, Germans and many more. Why do they pull out and lift up for special treatment those whose skin is darker than ours?
The vast majority of settlers in the original 13 colonies were British; some of them searching for a place to worship God in a way the Church of England would not allow; some of them sent here as criminals because they were too poor to pay their debts. Some Chinese began to arrive in the U.S. during the gold rush days, and while they were welcomed for the jobs they performed (doing laundry, working on the railroads), they were always looked down upon by the Americans of British descent who already lived here. The Chinese were followed in the 1850’s to 1870’s by European immigrants. As they competed for the jobs held by the Chinese, tension and even hatred erupted until the Chinese Exclusion Act, passed by Congress in 1882, ended Chinese immigration for nearly a century.
But life was not easy for European immigrants, either According to an article by the Library of Congress, “Once settled, immigrants looked for work. There were never enough jobs, and employers often took advantage of the immigrants. Men were generally paid less than other workers, and women less than men. Social tensions were also part of the immigrant experience. Often stereotyped and discriminated against, many immigrants suffered verbal and physical abuse because they were ‘different.’” Derogatory terms were developed for various nationalities of immigrants just as they were for blacks:
“Chinks” for Chinese people
“Camel jockeys” for those of middle eastern descent
“Cracker” for poor people of the Appalachian region
“Dagos” for Spanish people
“Frogs” for the French
“Goy” used by Jews to refer to non-Jews
“Haole” used by Hawaiians to refer to white people
“Huns” to refer to Germans
“Jap” to refer to Japanese people
“Spic” to refer to Hispanics
“Wet backs” to refer to illegal aliens
“Wops” to refer to Italians
My Swedish and Norwegian ancestors were called “square heads” and my Swedish ancestors would have called my Norwegian ancestors “herring-chokers.”
You can’t escape it. People call other people who are different from them or who they don’t like for one reason or another by the nastiest names they can come up with. And it is certainly not just Americans! Wikipedia lists such names along with the countries which have originated them and the list includes the vast majority of countries in the world. So why have liberals picked out only certain groups to protect from the insults of others when virtually all of us, except perhaps the ladies of the Daughters of the American Revolution, have suffered the same indignities?
The “minority” groups that they talk of are mostly what they call “people of color.” And they have continued to increase their groups from only including blacks to adding native Americans, Asians (except when their admission to a prestigious college might keep out some more poorly educated black student), and now Pacific Islanders. They even erase the barriers of skin color in order to include the LGBTQ community. If it is not skin color that marks a “minority,” but rather the fact that they make up a small percentage of the American population, then I propose that those of Scandinavian blood must be added to their cadre of protected groups.
I have, I believe, adequate reason. Scandinavians make up 0.03% of the population, exactly the same percentage of Americans as Native Americans. Scandinavians may be from Finland, Sweden, Norway, or Denmark just as Native Americans may be Apaches, Comanches, Cherokees, Utes, Sioux, Shoshone, Paiute and more. The percentage of the population of other “protected” groups are:
Blacks – 13%
LGBTQ – 5.6%
Asians-5.4%
Pacific Islanders – 0.5%
13% of the population is not much of a minority compared to the 0.03% of Scandinavians and Native Americans. If they include Native Americans, then they must also include Scandinavians since we are exactly the same small percentage of the population of America. We, like all the groups “protected” by liberals, really deserve the benefits they would promote: first chances at jobs, companies required to hire a certain number of Scandinavians, first entry into colleges and universities regardless of our academic credentials, house loans even if we have poor credit. We make up only 0.03% of the population, like Native Americans, while the smallest of the other protected groups, Pacific Islanders, make up 0.5%. We are tiny compared to them. And we are ignored!
Except, why are any of us accorded “special” protection? Doesn’t the Constitution protect us all? Aren’t there already laws that protect against discrimination based upon gender, religion, ethnicity or color of skin? Doesn’t the second sentence of the Declaration of Independence state that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?” I know those things are true! So what liberals are doing, is creating special benefits for their “protected groups” that the rest of us don’t have! So, here is my deal: I will give up the inclusion of Scandinavians into the liberal protected groups if they drop the protected groups altogether and admit that what they are doing is both unnecessary and unconstitutional!
But since I doubt they will quit “protecting” groups in an effort to win their votes, then I reiterate: Don’t forget the Scandinavians! We need to get in on this lucrative deal!