That's the biggest problem I have with those that claim to further minority causes. If their goal really is just to be equal, and they don't want any attention called to their ethnic background, why do so many keep putting themselves in categories? Notice I said why do they keep putting themselves in categories, and not "why do we keep putting them in categories". For all the bluster and claims of just seeking justice and equality, the primary leaders of the movement are the worst offenders when it comes to keeping groups apart. If these leaders really wanted to blend in with the fabric of society, and be considered just another member of a very large group with immigrant ancestors, they wouldn't keep singling themselves out every time they got the opportunity. You can't have peers if you constantly put yourself, and those you claim to represent, in a separate group all the time.

Every group of immigrants, at some time or another, has been the focus of racism in this country. Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Japanese-Americans... you name it. But, what those groups did was call themselves Americans, and did so with pride; to the point where that kind of blatant racism virtually no longer exists with their groups. Granted, it's not quite the same as African-Americans, who didn't exactly immigrate by choice like those other groups, and began life in their new homeland shackled; but if they truly want that stigma erased, and want to be thought of just like everyone else, they'd quit placing themselves in a unique group.

Plenty of REAL black activists have echoed those very thoughts; but then they get bashed by the vitriolic leaders of an imaginary movement whose leaders only seek personal attention.

Of course, that's just a perception from a German-Irish-Czecho-Cherokee-American; so what do I know?