I had someone remark to me recently that since Obama was elected president, the blacks are no longer a minority in the United States. I do not know how widespread this bit of confusion is, but it is to be found in more than one person, especially among the young. Well, since Obama has been elected, there are not any more blacks than there were before the election--there are still the same number, which is what the word "minority" means. There are not as many blacks as there are whites, hence the term "minority". What there are more of is termed a "majority". Minority may mean, in numbers, anything from 1 in every hundred, to 49 in every hundred--which would leave 51 as the majority. We use these terms to talk about election results in this way--"the majority of voters", for instance.
You may have read about minorities in other countries--religious, racial, ethnic, or cultural--like the Tibetans in China, for instance. There are very few of them compared to the rest of the Chinese population.
These two words are also used as legal terms--minority meaning while someone is under the age of 18 or 21 ( a minor)--majority reached at the age of 18 or 21 ( an adult).
The term minority used to refer to blacks means an ethnic or racial minority--a group or set of people who are fewer in number than the whites, which is still true, no matter who is president.
Suggestion--Define these words in school, until everyone understands the literal meaning of them, not merely their use in a certain instance
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