BRICS, and everything that is in-between and goes usually unrecognized

      

for tolerance of differing (and opposing) views on race and racial politics in the U.S.A.

We've heard of the BRICS--Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa--five countries which are neither in the developed nor Third World, but have developing economies poised to become--that is, if they are not already--major players in the global economy of the 21st century and beyond.

In an analogous fashion, there are in the United States Hispanic-Americans, Asian-Americans, Arab-Americans, Native Americans, Caribbeans, East Africans, biracials, and others, who are neither white or black but usually (and, unfortunately, in my opinion) lumped together in the category of "People of Color."

This even though many Hispanic-Americans are Caucasian by race, or though members of these racial/ethnic groups may have more in common, at least culturally, with European-Americans than African-Americans.

Of course, there are many Hispanics and, to a lesser extent, Asian-Americans who identify with African-Americans based on "the hip factor," which is dominant particularly among liberals and is filtering, or perhaps I should say, flooding down to the mainstream.

Their total demographic numbers clearly exceed those of African-Americans but by comparison they are rarely discussed in the national consciousness.  In California, for example, Hispanics outnumber blacks by perhaps 6-1, while Asians outnumber blacks by about 2-1.

I am not particularly prescient but I do wonder whether in half a century or even longer whether the above will continue to be "lost" on Americans, their power elite, and the press, i.e., whether the paradigm inaugurated since the late sixties of "white (or mainstream) culture" versus "minority culture" (a very big Tent, indeed) will continue to be operative.

Perhaps the "rainbow" society requires that we not pit one race against the others.