It was a big story the other day when demographers reading the census data reported that today in the U.S., births of ethnic and racial minorities have surpassed white American births.
I think the trend has clear implications for US support for Israel, whose advocates routinely speak about a demographic "threat" -- too many non-Jewish births.
But first, some of the U.S. analysis. The Times of London:
The minority dominance of the youngest generation has broad implications for America's sense of self and the social contract binding the generations together.
"This is an important landmark," said Roderick Harrison, a former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau who is now a sociologist at Howard University. "This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders."
New York Times:
“This is an important tipping point,” said William H. Frey, the senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, describing the shift as a “transformation from a mostly white baby boomer culture to the more globalized multiethnic country that we are becoming.” Signs that the country is evolving this way start with the Oval Office, and have swept hundreds of counties in recent years, with 348 in which whites are no longer in the majority..
And the fact that the country is getting a burst of births from nonwhites is a huge advantage, argues Dowell Myers, professor of policy, planning and demography at the University of Southern California. European societies with low levels of immigration now have young populations that are too small to support larger aging ones, exacerbating problems with the economy.
“If the U.S. depended on white births alone, we’d be dead,” Mr. Myers said. “Without the contributions from all these other groups, we would become too top-heavy with old people.”
Diversity and appreciation of minorities are two trends that are bound to undermine America's special relationship with Israel, a relationship that itself is based on a sociological trend: the great Jewish inclusion in the establishment.
These new trends will expose Israel's obsession with demographics as out of date and out of step with U.S. attitudes. President Obama honors Israel's demographic concerns (as Rob't Wexler notes). But at how many more speeches to AIPAC will he be able to talk about "the demographic realities" (2011) and "shifting demographics" (2012) without coming off as a racist?
The other day at Bnai Jeshurun synagogue on the Upper West Side, Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street said the day is fast approaching when the world will look on the Israel/Palestine question very simply as an issue of granting a darker-skinned majority the vote. Ben-Ami wants to do everything he can to put that day off. But to his credit, he recognizes the inevitability of such a discussion. And he knows very well where diverse Americans will stand on that question.
census data reported that today in the U.S., births of ethnic and racial minorities have surpassed white American births.
yeah! i love this! finally. diversity rules!
Diversity is wonderful, but there are several ways to be diverse. Skin color or facial features does not mean that they won’t be affiliated to, for example, evangelical churches that support Apartheid Israel.
“Skin color or facial features does not mean that they won’t be affiliated to, for example, evangelical churches that support Apartheid Israel.”
I agree. I’m not as optimistic as Phil is about the demographic shift triggering a change in foreign policy. The more recent minorities that have run for office have been staunchly pro-war and are on the neocon bandwagon – Rubio, Cain, Jindel, etc.
It’s the money. As long as campaigns are financed as they currently are, I don’t see much of a change.
This is why I think primarily targeting the Christian discourse is more useful than the Jewish one. It is like BDS the Israeli campaign donations, even if by just a little bit.
the census data reported that today in the U.S., births of ethnic and racial minorities have surpassed white American births.
Yes, but Jews are not tracked by white or non-white ethnic or racial status for the purposes of the US Census data.
finally. diversity rules!
Not if friends of AIPAC are paying the campaign bills. There will be quite a few disappointed folks at the Forward too, if Jews really aren’t going to be massively over-represented in the Congress in the long run: link to forward.com
Sorry, Annie; just remember what Truman said about the unterhund becoming the uberhund. There’s no humanitarian guarantee here in this switch of who has the most voting bodies.
There’s no humanitarian guarantee here in this switch of who has the most voting bodies.
that isn’t what i meant. i’m a fan of mixing it up, i think it makes us more unique and interesting.
Mmmm, at what point, if ever, does diversity become the new homogeneity?
it would take a few hundred years at least
Great book “The Browning of America” Read it some time ago. Good read
Oh by the way folks we all need to make phone calls,, send money, hit the ground, step up to the plate on the upcoming Walker recall election on June 5th. This is an important election for Wisconsin, the labor movement and the fall election…can set the tone.
Wisconsin recall slipping away from Democrats
“All three polls out this week show Walker leading Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) by between 5 percent and 9 percent. Perhaps more illustrative, though, are the candidate’s personal favorability and approval numbers.
Despite all the attempts by Democrats and organized labor to turn him into the bogeyman, Walker’s job approval and favorable rating both remain in positive territory, at right around 50 percent.
Barrett, meanwhile, has no such luxury. The latest Marquette University Law School poll of this race showed his favorable rating at just 37 percent, compared to 45 percent who view him unfavorably.”
Russ Feingold Hosting Fundraiser For Tom Barrett In Wisconsin …www.huffingtonpost.com/…/russ-feingold-tom-barrett-wisc…
Hey let’s also focus on the US senate campaign in Connecticut, eh? Lee Whitnum? Go to her home page, watch her video clip there. Can you get more American in the best sense?
Check her out: link to leewhitnum.com
I love diversity and democracy. Hrmpfffff. However, the 0.01% still rule and AIPAC is definitely part of that. It’s not population (or votes) that matter, because these things NEVER come to direct votes. Darn.
The American concept of “white” is an imaginary one – imposed on people arbitrarily, as happens to fit in with the imposer’s agenda at that moment.
A list of groups that were considered “non-white” in the U.S. includes Irish and Italian Catholics, Arabs, European Jews, Asians, and Africans. It’s entirely arbitrary, born of the desire to dominate others.
It is not a reality. The sooner we stop counting and referring to this imaginary classification, the sooner we can step away from the racism ingrained in America.
Shunra, I don’t disagree with your comment, but I want to suggest that the concept of “white” (coupled with usual cultural values associated with it over world history, both Enlightenment and Christianity, for example) is similar in actual operation (even it’s only a “social construct”) to the concept of “Jew.” As both have actually operated over world history, don’t you agree that even if both are fictions in fact, they have had real ramifications for humans over the centuries? Also, name a culture anywhere over history that has not deemed the whiter the skin, the more the privilege and secret admiration, or at least jealousy. Perhaps I am saying that the problem is not, and has not been, merely America’s? Also, you see any inkling the reverse bias may be coming down the pike?
“Diversity and appreciation of minorities are two trends that are bound to undermine America’s special relationship with Israel, a relationship that itself is based on a sociological trend: the great Jewish inclusion in the establishment”
I agree. And hispanics are our largest growing group. AIPAC is already on them and will use their usual techinque of selecting members of some minority group to finance for political offices in return for Israel loyalty or try to align with them under the guise of helping them as they did in the blacks civil rights. However I don’t think that’s going to work as well as it has in the past for several reasons. Hispanics are still working on their own economic advancement in the US which makes them more attuned to negative affects on the American applecart because it will affect them more as a “new” group. I don’t think hispanic voters are going be to receptive to the Israel loyalty idea.
I agree. And hispanics are our largest growing group. AIPAC is already on them
Huh? AIPAC will target any congressional race. BTW, “Sephardic”= Spanish origin. The official definition from OMB is:
link to whitehouse.gov
Nothing keeps Sephardic Jews from checking off Hispanic on their Census questionnaires. Here is a bit of interesting background information which illustrates that these folks have always been part of the mainstream “establishment”:
The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in New York was the first Jewish congregation to be established in North America. link to sephardicstudies.org
The leading early American philanthropist, Judah Touro (1775-1854), was a Sephardic, not an Ashkenazi Jew. The Jewish Encyclopedia observes that, in his day, “No American Jew had ever given so much to so many agencies and causes; nor had any non-Jew done so much in such varied ways.” link to jewishvirtuallibrary.org
British philanthropist and Rothschild Bank partner, Sir Moses Montefiore (1784-1885) was also of Sephardic descent. link to huffingtonpost.com
Excellent point, American. Hispanics are taking charge of their own — searching for a word — development? evolution? advancement? — in the United States.
I just listened to Marc Ginsberg on C Span. He discussed his production company, Laylina, that produces video content that Arab television stations broadcast. His group’s goal is to build bridges between American and Arab — especially young Arab — communities, by showing each the other how they live.
I’m naturally cynical and suspicious of any hint of propagandizing or slanting the point of view. BUT the larger reality is, Ginsberg is taking the initiative. If I and the people that I believe hold my points of view and values, then it is incumbent on me and us to compete with Ginsberg, or better yet, ally with Ginsberg to ensure that the message he is sending out reflects MY perspective as well.
It seems to me that is something like what Hispanics are doing — they are taking charge of their own message.
Back to Ginsberg — his group will be hosting a (fund raising) event at Newseum this evening. I cruised around the Newseum website and found an interactive map showing ‘press freedom’ around the world. There are three categories, Free Press (green), Partly Free (orange), and Not free (red). Israel is marked as having a Free press (green). Iran and most of the rest of the region are red, with a few Orange — ie. Turkey is ‘partly free.’ link to newseum.org
It was my impression that all reporting that was to go out of Israel had to be approved by an Israeli ministry of something-or-other. I could not find validation for my belief. Can anyone help me out? Does Israel have a 100% free press, or does it have a free press in the same way as it is a democracy?
” But at how many more speeches to AIPAC will he be able to talk about “the demographic realities” (2011) and “shifting demographics” (2012) without coming off as a racist?”
Good point. This kind of commentary is already understood as racist among many Americans. It’s not yet a mainstream understanding only to the extent that white Americans are having their own fits of apoplexy over the prospects of sharing power and money with minorities. This shows up especially in conservative legislation aimed at redistricting, voter ID, drug laws, gun laws, states rights, welfare reform… All of these issues tickle the race button of the American brain stem. We’ve come a long way towards sharing power. The middle class is much more mixed than it used to be. Still a long way to go before white Americans learn to relax and soak in the beauties and foibles of “shifting demographics.”.
PHIL- “Diversity and appreciation of minorities are two trends that are bound to undermine America’s special relationship with Israel….”
America’s special relationship with Israel is determined by imperial geo-strategic considerations and Zionist power and aspirations. The percent of the minority population and reproductive rate has close to zero impact on policy. The most significant impact may well be to make it easier for the elites to view the citizenry as unwashed masses, now even more unfit to participate in meaningful political decision making. Neoliberalism is akin to class warfare, the “browning” of the population hardly a disincentive to continue disempowering and impoverishing the rest of us.
Agreed, Keith; the masses mean little to the ruling elites other than the facility with which they can be propagandized to do the bidding of the elites.
The emergence of ‘minorities’ that challenge the ‘white’ demographic should actually be described in terms of language groups: what languages will the elites have to communicate in, in order to control said masses?
Another shared value with Israel bites the dust.
Not only is the exclusive Jewish club that is Israel an outdated model, but the group’s own collective narcissism will be its undoing.
And whereas homogenous societies do exist in both the Middle East and in Europe, in Israel, Jews are preoccupied with excluding outsiders, with suspecting, hating and alienating outsiders, non-Jews.
Ah, Avi_G, don’t you dare push Baby in the corner!
And:
“Oh, them. They’re the dance people. They’re here to keep the, uh, guests happy. “
-Me’ir Ariel
in
The Disenchantment of the Orient, Expertise in Arab Affairs and the Israeli State” by Gil Eyal
WOW!
Census/Demographic Results reports [Minority or Non-white] Births exceeded [White or really, really white Births] for the first time.
What is wrong with that statement? White being one category and everybody else, apparently being a minority? One article mentions: Hispanics and Latinos but fails to even mention a specific category for Beyonce who is reportedly a mix of black, asian and Native American Indian…or maybe that’s Tiger Woods, I get confused. If your background consists of three minorities shouldn’t you automatically be bumped up to majority status?
One article mentions how this Census may be used to relax immigration regulations for access into the U.S. and challenging anti-immigration legislation in Arizona, where, trust me, if you forget your sunscreen, you ain’t white for long. Dense, really dense, as if a Census that is racist by it’s categorization is going to open the doors for immigrants. White vs. Everybody Else.
I’m sorry, I just don’t understand categorization of ethnicity based on skin colour. How useful is that? Especially in a Country that displaced it’s indigenous peoples and was founded by immigrants? Fascinating yet all to familiar how comments are able to insert “Jewish” significance into this generalized demographic.
Are Jews white or a minority? Better check your Aryan handbook for confirmation. What about Jews who are black? OR virtually every other colour in the world? What about the other tribes,, that are not of Judah? Make me a Benja-mite sandwich on Rye please.
Just when you thought racism was over cause a (fairly) Black President was elected because Obama is a mix of African, Asian, and if I’m not mistaken..white or whitish.
Or maybe that’s tiger Woods, I get so confused with categories sometimes.
Many years ago I was working in Bedstuy although I am not a native New Yorker and I asked the woman who was accompanying me what nationality she thought I was. (Because I have been tagged as everything from Lebanese to Italian, French to yes, considering my nose, Jewish) Her answer? You look WHITE.
The absence of colour, vanilla, and perhaps in a rich and diverse populace that Brooklyn is known for, maybe just maybe, I was WHITE by comparison. But to me, it wasn’t a compliment, it felt a little insulting, just like the parameters of this U.S. Census.
Q: “This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders.”
R: They sure do link to youtube-fights.com
“These new trends will expose Israel’s obsession with demographics as out of date and out of step with U.S. attitudes. ”
I doubt it, because, once again, Israel is not the US and the US is not Israel.
I’m waiting for you to address the irony of chastising Israel for worrying about demographics in a region where its people are a small minority who were persecuted in neighboring countries, and where most of the argument against its existence was made in demographic terms (we tolerate the Jews, just not too many of them).
If the roles were reversed, do you think the Arabs would not care about demographics?
hophmi,
Which ethnic groups around the world get to worry about demographic threats to their ethnic interests — all of them, or only yours?
How do you feel about white nationalists in Europe and the United States?