Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by gregbayer 5548 days ago
Minority should not be absolute. "Underrepresented minority" only makes sense in context.
2 comments
yummyfajitas 5548 days ago
The term "underrepresented minority" is misleading.

In any state where nonhispanic whites are a minority (e.g., CA), they are typically an underrepresented minority (only Asians tend to be truly overrepresented). I've never heard whites described as "minority" as a result of this.

link
nbroyal 5548 days ago
Non-hispanic Whites are not a minority in California [1]. And even if they were, I'd be very interested in seeing any statistics that show them as underrepresented in any context of significance (i.e. not prison).

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_California#Raci...

link
yummyfajitas 5548 days ago
Nonhispanic whites are 44% of CA. That's a minority.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority-majority_state

Nonhispanic whites make up only 32% of UC Berkeley. That's underrepresented.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/04/racial-breakdown-of...

link
nbroyal 5548 days ago
OK, you are correct.

Though I still think the statement, "any state where nonhispanic whites are a minority (e.g., CA), they are typically an underrepresented minority" is very much hyperbole, which was the point I was trying to make.

link
w1ntermute 5548 days ago
That's because (for the time being), they have a plurality, even if they don't have a majority.
link
w1ntermute 5548 days ago
Well, the point is that "minority" in this context (well, in any racially-related context in the US) is a PC euphemism for black/Hispanic.
link