Americans Are Not the Only People

Now let me be clear: I support the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. They do great work.

But when I went to their home page today, I saw the following sentence:
"In April 2002, 4.2 million people were working part-time who wanted full-time work."

That sentence reminded me again that we Americans are still (still!) ethnocentric. The sentence said nothing about which people were working part-time. Does this statistic (4.2 million) refer to Americans? If so, let's say so.

I try (I sometimes fail) to remember that the word "people" is not synonymous with the word "Americans." If I cite a statistic, I try to mention the population from which it is drawn.

In fact, my friend Angie from South America reminds me that even "Americans" is often a misnomer. The Americas include Central and South America, Mexico, and Canada. If I want to be precise (and globally aware) I should use "U. S. residents" when in fact I mean only that group.

The words I use reflect (help shape?) my consciousness; and it's past time for my consciousness to encompass the world.