The Black Panther Party was an organization that strived towards the betterment of conditions of the general African population here in America.
At the time, there was also the Brown Berets who as the name implies, was a large constituent formed of Latino people. Asian people also had groups around. All these groups, government infiltration aside, worked together for their own separate cause which were separately race-specific. At the end of the day, everyone was working towards the improvement of people not as Africans, Latino's, Asians, etc..., but rather as human beings.
As long as you fight a fight towards civil rights you fight a fight for what is dictated to be civil. There were times when brown and African people were looked at as uncivilized and savage. So according to the views of others many people that are not part of the government structure are not civil. Given this, civil rights may not apply to the majority of the population because we are not seen as civil. Rather, if we talk about our Human rights no one can deny that we are in fact human and deserving of equal treatment.
Even then, we are not even monirities. If we want to go into race and numbers, white people are the monirity. This holds true in a worldwide spectrum and even in California were white people are the minority by numbers.
By calling yourself a minority and giving yourself the title of minority, by definition you call yourself "minor". Taken by its literal context, you lessen yourself and by calling others "majority" you psychologically allow them stature regardless of their actual worth.