"White"

As a member of a minority in California ("non-Latino whites," 40.1% as designated by the U.S. Census Bureau), I begin better to understand some of the discrimination felt by earlier minority groups. Two prominent headlines in recent newspapers made reference to "whites" as though skin color informed the description of a human being. The fact that some of us have lighter skin tone than others is irrelevant. The only person I ever knew who might have been accurately described as "white" was the Caucasian albino young man I met and befriended in college, and that was merely a visual aberration.

The government and other insensitive individuals should stop labeling persons unnecessarily, and promote equality. Citizens and documented aliens who are preparing to be citizens may be referred to as "Americans." All others, except visitors with the appropriate visas, should be deported. All extraneous designations identifying individuals by race, ethnicity, religion or gender should be excised from the lexicon. I believed that even before I observed "white" being misapplied.