How special is the United States?

They hate the Okinawins , my ex was one

It does not, actually. Japan's aging population pyramid is an economic crisis that has been looming on them for several decades now and immigration would have solved it very quickly.

There are cultural equivalents to the privilege discussion in Japan, yes.

I have been told that Asians "hate each other, and they all hate the Japanese." I do not know if that is true.

Setting aside my objections to the term "privilege" for the moment, it seems that what we are talking about is then not about "whites" or Asians but about the privileges of the majority. I'm not suggesting this as a justification for racism; I do think we need to be mindful that a distinction is possible.

Well, no, that's not it. If you think about a country like Rhodesia, such as it was very briefly, the priviliged class was a minority in that instance - descended from the colonists on authority from foreign powers to establish themselves at the center of the legal and cultural infrastructure. And that's what it's all about.

Japan is super complicated because their power structures were built during a period of their history that can be generously described as downright confusing. However, a lot of relics of that still survive - people descended from prestigious clans of the singoku jidai face a lot of perks and the Barakumin still take the brunt of the discrimination - and then on top of THAT, you've got racial, ethnic, and religious discriminations to talk about.

But, my point is, it's not just about majorities - it's about dominance, as granted by cultural structures that were built historically.

Fair. But take the idea of feeling uncomfortable in a room full of people who are majority when are a minority. You can't blame the majority simply for being a majority. Granted, there have been those in the majority who have sought dominance and power. Cultural structures aside, a "white" man would have no reason to expect to be elected in a majority "black" country. As an American I would not expect to go to Japan and dominate their elections, or complain of racism when I did not.

Well, see, you say that, but who were the majority demographics in these lands in 1500?

That brings up the issue of ethnicity. I have many Hispanic clients. If you ask them their race, they would say Hispanic. But that's just answering your question. They don't self-identify that way. They identify as Guatemalan, Honduran, etc. In the long run, I suspect that ethnicity ( as well as socio-economic class) does and will have more impact on the things that matter to us than race in most cases.

Native Americans in 1500 did not self identify that way. They identified as Iroquois, Cherokee, Sioux, etc. They were separate nations.

Their is also a difference between elections and elections and peaceful coexistence on the one hand and violence and invasion on the other. The colonial powers had that effect around the world, not just the US.

It is reasonable to expect a time to come when the majority will be comprise some different mix. Hopefully by then we will have gotten our collective heads out of our asses and race will cease focusing so much on skin color. But then we'll find something else to be stupid about, no doubt.