# A Congressional Black Caucus is ok but a Congressional White Caucus is not. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 22, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743 "2011-11-22T13:43:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/21 "2011-11-22T15:26:46Z")
There is a white caucus- it’s called the Tea Party Caucus. ---
**Author:** ![strumtesco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@strumtesco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/strumtesco)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/22 "2011-11-22T15:28:46Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > Probably by going to school in their home country before they moved here. So you have a child who has learned math, history, science, etc. through the fourth-grade level in a different language. Do you put them in pre-school to learn English with three-year olds, or put them in fifth grade with some language instruction to keep them at an age-appropriate and knowledge-appropriate level? > > That will happen naturally for the great majority, most especially for children, although not because of the president, who can’t make it happen. > That won’t happen. Look at any group that has come to this country, even before the United States existed, and you’ll see that they use the language they know, even as they learn a new one. No they learn the basic stuff in English because we live in the US of A. Did I say my child learned math etc. in a different language? I did not mean to imply that. And the children I am speaking of have been going to school with her since kindergaten. They try to teach them English and I believe them to know it, but since their parents get away with only knowing Engish when it is convienient for them, I guess this is what they do as well. So, when they act like they do not understand, they call in the interpreter. It is easier that way, is it not? And anyone that comes here can speak any language they want, as long as they know English as well…in order to get along, one must go along kinda thing. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/23 "2011-11-22T15:30:38Z")
> [@strumtesco](#): > > And anyone that comes here can speak any language they want, as long as they know English as well…in order to get along, one must go along kinda thing. You know the US doesn’t have an official language, right? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/24 "2011-11-22T15:30:46Z")
> [@strumtesco](#): > > Congressional Black Caucus…why is this ok but if white people formed one for white’s it would be racist? > Yes, I am aware of the days of black and white separation etc…but I thought we were past all of this and I am so confused as to why blacks get to have special organizations specifically for them and white people are not allowed to join or god forbid start their own group… > Someone please help me understand…?:rolleyes: It’s not hard to understand. It’s along the lines of why we have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day but no Children’s Day. ---
**Author:** ![strumtesco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@strumtesco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/strumtesco)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/25 "2011-11-22T15:30:48Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Perhaps I can break this down more simply for you. White people don’t _need_ minority representation groups because they are not a minority. The point of groups like the Congressional Black Caucus is to _equalize_ opportunity and achievement for minorities, not to vault them ahead. > > In areas where traditional majorities (or traditionally overrepresented groups) are underrepresented, minority representation groups do spring up. For example, there are any number of local organizations dedicated to increasing the number of male undergraduate teachers, because it’s a female-dominated field. Like [this one](http://www.menteach.org/about_men_teach), for example. > > None of those organizations limit their membership to black people. You can read the National Black Chamber of Commerce bylaws for yourself, [right here](http://www.nationalbcc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=40&Itemid=6). All three founders of the NAACP were white. Thank you for not being a smart-ass…I understand all of that I am just super frustrated with it all today…now I look like an idiot for starting this post.☹ ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/26 "2011-11-22T15:32:35Z")
> [@strumtesco](#): > > I am not the ignorant one. I do want to understand. yet it is not possble to understand something that make no sense at all. > All I am saying is this…if all these other races get to have their own “groups” why can whites NOT? All anyone can answer with is “because whites are the majority”…😛 They can. There isn’t anything barring whites from forming a Congressional caucus. They don’t because they don’t feel there’s any need (as others have said, it would just be silly to form kind of silly to have a caucus that contained the vast majority of the membership), and because there isn’t any real reason for such a group, and the fact that “white” groups have been associated with racism within living memory, most of their voters would probably assume the members of such a group were racist and not vote for them again. FWIW, there’s an Irish American Caucus in the CA legislature (and I would imagine, other states as well). So its not like white ethnic groups can’t form legislative sub-groups in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/27 "2011-11-22T15:38:49Z")
> [@strumtesco](#): > > Thank you for not being a smart-ass…I understand all of that I am just super frustrated with it all today…now I look like an idiot for starting this post.☹ _shrug_ It’s not an uncommon feeling. The important thing is asking “why?”, rather than spending one’s whole life feeling pissy because it seems like all the rules favor minorities. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/28 "2011-11-22T15:50:45Z")
[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/3183-Skin-Deep](http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-big-picture/3183-Skin-Deep) Very relevant. ---
**Author:** ![strumtesco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@strumtesco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/strumtesco)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/29 "2011-11-22T16:00:52Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You know the US doesn’t have an official language, right? Sorry, did I say “official” language? I meant “national” language…still looking where I said “official”… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/30 "2011-11-22T16:06:04Z")
> [@strumtesco](#): > > Why so hateful Gary?? > I am not the ignorant one. I do want to understand. yet it is not possble to understand something that make no sense at all. > All I am saying is this…if all these other races get to have their own “groups” why can whites NOT? All anyone can answer with is “because whites are the majority”…😛 Because that is the most obvious answer. We are under no obligation to filter out the obvious just to please you. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/31 "2011-11-22T16:16:10Z")
We don’t have a national language either. ---
**Author:** ![strumtesco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@strumtesco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/strumtesco)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/32 "2011-11-22T16:18:15Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > We don’t have a national language either. > **[Languages of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States)** > > Abenaki, Achumawi, Acolapissa, Adai, Afro-Seminole Creole, Alabama, Aleut, Apalachee, Aranama, Arapaho, Arikara, Assiniboine, Atakapa, Atsugewi, Awaswas, Barbareño, Bay Miwok, Biloxi, Blackfoot, Buena Vista, Caddo, Cahto, Calusa, Carolina Algonquian, Catawba, Cayuga, Cayuse, Central Kalapuya, Central Pomo, Central Sierra Miwok, Chalon, Chemakum, Cheyenne, Chickasaw, Chico, Chimariko, Chinook Jargon, Chippewa, Chitimacha, Chiwere, Chochenyo, Choctaw, Chukchansi, Coast Miwok, Coast Tsimshian, C... ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/33 "2011-11-22T16:28:01Z")
Do you know what _de facto_ means? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/34 "2011-11-22T16:28:06Z")
> [@strumtesco](#): > > [Languages of the United States - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States) You should really read your own cites: > [@](#): > > English is the de facto national language of the United States, with 82% of the population claiming it as a mother tongue, and some 96% claiming to speak it “well” or “very well.”[3] However, no official language exists at the federal level. **There have been several proposals to make English the national language in amendments to immigration reform bills,[4][5] but none of these bills has become law with the amendment intact.** Bolding mine. Mistake yours. ---
**Author:** ![strumtesco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@strumtesco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/strumtesco)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/35 "2011-11-22T16:29:04Z")
RNATB, So…if English is not the offcial or the nationa language…what is it? What is English I mean??? English languageFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search English Pronunciation /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/[1] Spoken in (see below) Native speakers ca. 375 million (2006)[2] Second language: 199 million – 1.4 billion[3][4] Total: 500 million – 1.8 billion[4][5] Language family Indo-European Germanic West Germanic Anglo–Frisian Anglic English Writing system English alphabet (Latin script) Official status Regulated by No official regulation Language codes ISO 639-1 en ISO 639-2 eng ISO 639-3 eng Linguasphere 52-ABA Countries where English is an official or de facto official language, or national language, and is spoken fluently by the majority of the population Countries where it is an official but not primary language This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the extensive influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, via the British Empire, and of the United States since the mid-20th century,[6][7][8][9] it has been widely dispersed around the world, becoming the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions.[10][11] It is widely learned as a second language and used as an official language of the European Union and many Commonwealth countries, as well as in many world organisations. It is the third most natively spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.[12] It is the most widely spoken language across the world.[13] ---
**Author:** ![strumtesco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@strumtesco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/strumtesco)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/36 "2011-11-22T16:30:32Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Do you know what _de facto_ means? I believe it means, for the fact, or of the fact etc… point? ---
**Author:** ![strumtesco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@strumtesco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/strumtesco)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/37 "2011-11-22T16:31:49Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > You should really read your own cites:Bolding mine. Mistake yours. hmmmmm:p ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/38 "2011-11-22T16:32:25Z")
> [@strumtesco](#): > > RNATB, > So..if English is not the offcial or the nationa language..what is it? What is English I mean??? > English languageFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search > English > Pronunciation /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/[1] > Spoken in (see below) > Native speakers ca. 375 million (2006)[2] > Second language: 199 million – 1.4 billion[3][4] > Total: 500 million – 1.8 billion[4][5] > Language family Indo-European > Germanic > West Germanic > Anglo–Frisian > Anglic > English > > Writing system English alphabet (Latin script) > Official status > Regulated by No official regulation > Language codes > ISO 639-1 en > ISO 639-2 eng > ISO 639-3 eng > Linguasphere 52-ABA > > Countries where English is an official or de facto official language, or national language, and is spoken fluently by the majority of the population > Countries where it is an official but not primary language > This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. > > English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the extensive influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, via the British Empire, and of the United States since the mid-20th century,[6][7][8][9] it has been widely dispersed around the world, becoming the leading language of international discourse and the lingua franca in many regions.[10][11] It is widely learned as a second language and used as an official language of the European Union and many Commonwealth countries, as well as in many world organisations. It is the third most natively spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese and Spanish.[12] It is the most widely spoken language across the world.[13] 1. You should attribute your sources. 2. Thanx for the unneeded history lesson. 3. English still isn’t the National Language of the United States of America. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/39 "2011-11-22T16:34:14Z")
I’m having a hard time following this thread. Why do members of the Black Caucus speak in Spanish and why do they want tio get rid of Mother’s Day? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743/40 "2011-11-22T16:41:28Z")
> [@strumtesco](#): > > I believe it means, for the fact, or of the fact etc… > point? The point is that no federal law requires anyone in the US to learn or use English. Some of the states have passed measures establishing English as their own languages, but the fact that your kids’ schools teach in English is a matter of convenience for the majority, not a rule. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressional-black-caucus-is-ok-but-a-congressional-white-caucus-is-not-why/603743.md?page=3)