The Census Bureau released some preliminary data on the minority population of the country and it’s tough news for real Americans.
Much of the nation’s demographic change is seen among children. In California, minorities make up 72% of those under age 15. In 2000, they made up 65%.
Nationally, 46% of children under 15 are minorities, compared with 40% in 2000.
I have news for you. Nearly half of all 15 year-olds will be eligible to vote in 2012. And watch out in 2016.
In 42 states, numbers show a loss of non-Hispanic whites under age 45. Nationally, this group declined by 8.4 million.
In contrast, the number of states in which the majority of children under 15 are minorities has increased, with Florida, Maryland, Georgia and Nevada bringing the number of such states to 10.
I wonder how much longer it will even be possible for Republicans to carry Florida. And Georgia could follow Virginia and North Carolina into the Democratic column before long. But you want to know what will spell the death knell of the Republicans’ racial politics? Texas.
In 2000, the District of Columbia and three states — Hawaii, New Mexico and California — had minority populations which exceeded 50%. In 2009, Texas joined that group.
And it’s not just immigration that is driving this.
Among Latinos, there are nine births for every one death, according to census data. For whites, the ratio is 1-1.
The reason for the difference in that the Latino population is young and mostly of child-rearing age, while the white population reflects the full spectrum of life, for birth to death. It’s also likely that Latinos, on average, have larger families than whites.
The percentage of Americans who identify (like the president) as multi-racial is also growing.
Last year, minorities helped the overall U.S. population grow by 2%, boosted by a surge in births and people who identified themselves as multiracial. In 2009, 5.3 million Americans classified themselves as multiracial, up 26% from 3.9 million in 2000.
All this really means is that America is beginning to look like its cities have looked for twenty or thirty years. Except for a brief time that I lived in Maine and in Kalamazoo, Michigan, I have lived in racially diverse communities my whole life. I actually feel kind of uncomfortable in settings where everyone is white. I first noticed this about myself when I moved out of Philadelphia into its suburbs. I would go out to a restaurant and be waiting in the bar for a table, and I’d look around at a sea of all white people. Everyone was too alike. It didn’t matter that they were like me; it didn’t seem very interesting.
But, you know what? I went into the city earlier this week and for the first time I didn’t feel at home. I was out of rhythm with the pace. Things were moving faster than I could anticipate them. Assessing the intentions of the people around me was actually a conscious effort, rather than something my brain did on auto-pilot. Human beings are slow to adapt to change, and the new is threatening and energy-consuming. If you’re used to living in a white community, it can be a little worrisome when the complexion of that community changes. It takes time to adjust to living among people who have different backgrounds, and the effort alone can seem like an imposition. It’s no wonder that there is a white backlash against having a multiracial president and against the changing demographics of the country. But people do get used to it, and they get not just tolerant, but intolerant of intolerance.
Some day soon, the suburbs will be as progressive as the cities are today. Texas and Florida will be states where today’s Republicans are no more welcome than they are currently in California.
Eventually, the Latinos will prosper as the Italians and Irish did before them, and they’ll begin to vote against tax-hikes and for some socially conservative issues, But, in the near term, we’re still entering a progressive era where the national politics more nearly resemble to politics of our cities.
