I thought of the idiomatic expression "silent majority". Nothing to do with ethnic groups, but meaning those who live life either in peace or sorrow, but not making any scandal about it.
Also interpretable as a majority that stays silent when minorities are ill used, deported or massacred.
Neither of these are my understanding of the expression. Or, maybe, these are particular situations where the term can be used, but the definition is more general. To me it refers to that part of the populace who are not socially vocal / politically active / seen to be "involved" / etc on any particular issue, yet they far outnumber their opposites (the "vocal minority"). I hear it most in political discussions. For example, the vocal minority makes a lot of noise about green living / vegan eating / recycling yet the silent majority continues to throw their burger wrappers out of the windows of their Hummers.
