Serious question. We all know that the 'ME' part of BAME stands for minority ethnic, but which elements of society are classed as ME?
Easy enough to answer, you'd think, but many Googling attempts later I'm none the wiser. Various descriptions mention 'nationality', 'culture', 'religion', even 'non-white' but it's still not clear to me which minorities are included. At least 'black' and 'Asian' are definitions you'd think you could hang your hat on, although 'Asian' in the UK has different connotations to 'Asian' in the USA where much of that sub-group are of Chinese or Korean extraction.
Here in Lincolnshire, 7% of the population is apparently BAME, but could that include ethnic groups like Poles or Lithuanians who are still here in numbers as field workers? Essentially white-skinned, but are they minority ethnic groups under BAME?
The one conclusion I have come to is that BAME definitions aren't necessarily based on skin colour.