USA black power loses political base: the numbers' game started 20 years ago when the US government coined the term "Hispanic" to describe that part of its citizenry whose origins could be traced to Spanish-speaking countries. The leaders of Black America were sleeping. Today the Hispanics have officially dethroned blacks (and the prvileges thereof) as the largest minority groun in the country.

The numbers' game started 20 years ago when the US government coined the term "Hispanic" to describe that part of its citizenry whose origins could be traced to Spanish-speaking countries, The leaders of Black America were sleeping, Today the Hispanics have officially dethroned blacks (and the privileges thereof) as the largest minority group in the country.

Along the road to black political empowerment in America, something else happened. The momentum was lost to the fast growing Hispanic population in America. By July 2003, Hispanics had been declare the largest minority group in America by the US Census Bureau, thus stripping America blacks of that title.

Who is a minority, and what that entails; and the effect the change in statistical status will have on the black condition are question on the minds of many who are civic conscious,

The recognition of blacks as top minority, and the attendant political attention it brought, just did not happen overnight, It came at a steep price, buttressed by deep historical wrongs. The census numbers today only hint at the size of the debt American society owes this community.

Just like the memory of the civil rights marches of the 1960s must forever reinforce the ethical necessity to right the wrongs of slavery, the description "the largest minority" must be something greater in magnitude than sheer statistical number.

Ironically, black political power growth over the years has been attributed by some to statistics and it is this number that the rise in the Hispanic population now threatens.

Until recently, blacks in America had the numerical strength to cause grave concerns on the political scene. But all this was to change with the introduction of the class "Hispanic" into the American census vocabulary.

The change started some 20 years ago when the US government came up with the term "Hispanic" to describe that part of its citizenry whose origins were from Spanish speaking countries. This population is now drawing more commercial and political attention, and a sizeable portion of media attention is devoted to its interest.

Naturally, the Democrats and the Republicans are angling for the growing Hispanic vote. In the 2000 elections, President George W. Bush was content to practise his Spanish at every opportunity. Al Gore, his opponent, was only too happy to dance the Macarena.

Characterized by high birth rate and constant influx of immigrants, the rise of the Hispanic population is a reality that black population growth, as it is defined now, will not match. As of July 2002, the Hispanic population was listed at 38.8 million, excluding those in Puerto Rico.

It is not the case that the increase in the Hispanic population was unforeseen. It is the turn in statistical classification and the concomitant description of what a race or ethnicity is that has taken many by surprise. There was a time when one drop of blood made you nothing but black!

And those interested in counting population trends had long predicted that America, now a white-dominated country, would soon be overwhelmed by blacks from poor countries in the Southern Hemisphere and the change in complexion would bring about a political power shift to favour blacks.

But that thinking was before the term "Hispanic" was coined. Was this then a plan to stump black numerical strength in the population?

Note that censuses are not conducted for frivolous reasons. Census statistics have political and economic impact. Perception wise, blacks have already lost some political clout. This loss can only be remedied with a boost in population. Unfortunately, the natural recruitment targets are the black Latinos who are now called Hispanics.

Among black Hispanics, the term "Hispanic" may be confusing because it says nothing about racial attributes. Of course, there may be some who are happy with the description because the term, they think, confers on them some glorified status; much as the term "white" may do to a confused mind of a Berber from North Africa.

Nevertheless, "the Hispanic," for all we know now, is racial, At best, it is a black consciousness stopper. At least, it has the potential to slow the impetus toward that goal. The surprising issue is why the black leadership of America never challenged this classification.

But is Hispanic a race of culture? The Bureau of Census provides some clues: white refers to people having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. It includes people who indicated their race or races as white of who in entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Near Easterner, Arab, of Polish."

Note that anybody who looked white could so classify, himself under this definition. Tough luck if you looked black.

The Bureau describes "people having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa" as African-American. "It includes people who indicated their race or races as "Black, African-American of Negro, or wrote in entries such as African-American, Afro-American, Nigerian, or Haitian."

Haitians are listed as black, even though they spoke French. But people from the same hemisphere who looked black could qualify as Hispanic because they spoke Spanish! The virtual capping of race among blacks for political reasons has begun.

Officially, Hispanic is described as "ethnicity" and not race. But, those who understand the issue will tell you it is a farce; that the difference between "ethnicity" and "race" in this case is just a parsing of words for tilting the scale against black privilege.

Put another way, the attempt is as ridiculous as if one were to lump Nigerians, Ghanaians and Indians with the British and then proceed to describe all of them as belonging In the Anglophone race or ethnicity!

The Hispanics are the lead minority race today, with all the privileges the position entails. But unlike blacks, they are without the history and the toil that made America what it is.

After all, when you strip the term "minority" of all its fancy meanings, there should remain a solid legislative measure that was passed to correct some inequities historically done to the black people. Thus, some see in the move to Hispanics as the largest minority group a cynical attempt to shift this legislative victory won for race to one for language in order to obscure the problem.

Whereas white Hispanics, in spite of language difference, would share the societal advantages once they got here, blacks, regardless of geographic origin, would be saddled with the same burden and disadvantages granted by their skin colour.

This method of lumping all races in Latin America into a one political utopian camp called "Hispanics", has handed blacks a setback. Blame black leadership's silence for this defeat.

Instead of being embraced in the larger black community, black Latinos have been left in a generic limbo because they spoke Spanish. Soon immigrants from Black Africa will be classified differently because they spoke English with a peculiar accent!

Again blame the black leadership for its refusal to pressure government statisticians to count all blacks as black.

This leadership must now prepare for language as a dividing force among blacks.

Mistakenly, Black American leadership had pushed Spanish and the bilingual programme as if there were no better alternative, where all who came to America spoke one language, English. Some even thought the process would allow an alternate black language called Ebonics. That mistake is coming home to roost in the form of census counts.

There would be naked attempts by some to deny that the term "Hispanic" exists for a purpose and a wish in distort the ground condition of racial politics in America. Race in American politics has not gone anywhere since Dubois said in The Souls of Black Folk that "the problem of the 20th century is the problem of the colour line."

Looking back to the 1970s when Latinos started forming a beachhead in America, it would have been advantageous if both African-American and Latino blacks had embraced each other to form a common cause.

But the damage next time will be if Hispanic blacks continue to see themselves as a race apart from American blacks.