#7: Majority Is Not Justice

United States in the 1960s was comprised of 85% White American population. This society in which African American population contributed 10% and 5% by others was that of overwhelming White majority.
 
Back then, racial discrimination was abhorrent. Segregation was prevalent not only in schools, but also in restaurants, on busses and inside bathrooms. African Americans were lynched just because of their race, and those violent crimes were largely dismissed by the authorities, daily.
 
Separate but equal. White Americans insisted, but seeing the profound differences in facilities and services offered, it was indeed separate without any intention of equal. It's quite obvious why no White American offered to switch their circumstances around.
 
Martin Luther King, Jr. fought against this systemic racism and, by doing so, was unjustly jailed from time to time. In his journey of the civil rights struggle, King increasingly became aware of the hate and animosity against White Americans bubbling to the surface of the African American community.

Back then, the outrage in the African American community was near the boiling point as a result of unjust treatment brought upon them daily by White America. In midst of such precarious moment, King persuaded fellow African Americans that we must have compassion and understanding for those who hate us.
“We must realize so many people are taught to hate us that they are not totally responsible for their hate.”
 
A majority by no means is a proof of justice, or is it meant to be construed as correct. In fact, there are occasions in which the majority is flat-out wrong. It simply means, at a given point in time, that it exceeds minorities in number. That's all it means.
 
Truth be told, history is filled with ample examples of the majority eventually realizing their own past mistakes, no matter how sure they were of themselves back then. The US in the 1960s is no exception.
 
Yet, we cannot ignore the past agonies suffered by the minorities. Recognizing the injustice of their mistreatment, the minority groups were forced to live by the cruelty of majority rules, and they were given no choice but to succumb to the sheer weight of numbers. This utter humiliation was beyond words.
 
So, how can the majority come to its senses with reality? There are two primary ways in which the majority may come to grips with realizing the oppression endured by minority groups. The first way is to experience it ourselves.

For instance, travel to an unfamiliar foreign country and live there for some time. We'll surely face the challenges of foreign culture and language. Writhing in agony and deepening our thoughts, we may come to truly realize for the very first time the real pain and humiliation endured by minority groups and the cruelty of majority rules.
 
And as we make a temporary return to our home country, along with nostalgia and good old memories, we feel relieved. Why is that? Why does it feel so comfy to be back? That feeling is the security of belonging to the majority. Why such security? Because the majority can decide the norm and what’s common sense. The majority feels secure because we can decide by the sheer force of numbers, even when it’s not at all the norm or common sense in a truly global sense.
 
And the minority repeatedly suffers on the opposite end of that security.
 
The second way is to image ourselves what it may be like to be the minority. Many White Americans who fought the nonviolent resistance alongside King did just that. Without experiencing first-hand, they were able to come to grips with realizing the pain and humiliation of African Americans by placing themselves in the images of enduring oppression.
 
Today, US population is comprised of 63% White Americans, 16% Hispanic Americans, 12% African Americans, and 9% others. The society has diversified compared to the 1960s, however, it remains a solid White majority nation.
 
And while the social rejection of discrimination has advanced significantly since the 1960s, yet again, the minorities still can’t avoid the agony of having no choice but to succumb to the sheer force of numbers. Sensational incidents such as violence and even murder of African Americans by White American police officers – many of which the authorities have turned a blind eye to – aren’t the only such examples found today. In fact, the vast majority of such cases go unnoticed as ordinary, everyday occurrences.
 
Today, 99% of all Japanese reside in prefectures other than Okinawa. It is Okinawa that suffered the only bloody land battle in Japan during World War II. Allied Forces invaded Okinawa and attacked ferociously, killing more civilians than soldiers. Upon the people with such cringing nightmare, Japan has forced the US military base ever since the end of war. To Okinawans, this agony is beyond words.

The inequity of forcing 74% of the US military presence in Japan upon one prefecture representing only 1% of the population.
 
Sadly, the performance of war weapons has advanced riding along the remarkable technological innovations of the last several decades. As a result, the US military is said to be no longer wedded to the location of Okinawa, willing to relocate to an alternate site if available.

​And Okinawa yearns for the diminished role its land and people cater to the US military base. We can’t allow ourselves to forget the fact that the supermajority of Japanese people - by the sheer force of numbers - continues to deny this earnest wish of Okinawans.
 
Perhaps it’s Me-First, that no one wants to host military bases in our own backyard. As a result, we’re allowing ourselves to leave behind the superminority Okinawans in their agony. We’re saying that it’s fine for them to suffer.
 
Through experience and imagination. Let us spread out our blanket of compassion to better understand the true feelings of a minority.

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