A new report by the U.S. Census Bureau is making waves today as a major change in the makeup of the racial and ethnic demographics of the nation have shifted. It states that more than one half of all babies under the age of one year old in the country are minorities. A minority, by definition, is someone who is not “single race white,” nor pure European Hispanic.
What does this mean for folks who live in historically homogenous areas, or in areas where immigration is a perceived problem, like Arizona? Well, for one thing, it means that people who don’t like immigrants are just going to have to get over it.
Most Hispanics are a mixture of ethnic groups, like Spanish and indigenous groups from Latin America, and these are the largest minority groups in the nation. This is the single fastest growing group in the United States, with Asians (including those from the Indian subcontinent) coming in as the second-fasted growing minority group. African-Americans remained the second-largest minority group in the country, but they could be overcome by Hispanics in the future, as well.
Interestingly, Texas and California had the largest population of whites, and Texas had the largest increase in whites since 2010, at 80,000 new residents, whether by birth or emigration.
So, how will these demographic changes affect the American political system? That’s uncertain, obviously, but it’s certainly not going to be the land of old white men for much longer. And there’s a phrase for people who hate the thought of this country being overrun by “others.”
