Posted by Sam Richards
So globalization is bringing about some profound changes as the United States makes the final turn onto the home stretch toward a truly multicultural society. We’ve long predicted that white people will become a minority group by mid century (around 2050), but this is the first real marker on that journey–their children are soon to be in minority status.
It doesn’t really matter, mind you, and I’m sure that most people reading this are wondering why it’s being reported on at all. So what is the big deal? Do you feel some sort of way about this? White people…do you feel even a twinge of concern, as though you’ll be forgotten and soon holding the short end of the stick? People of color…do you feel a tiny bit emboldened at the thought that one day people like you will be holding most of the levers of control? From within the dialogue about race and ethnic relations, this is a major issue and one that will surely reflect and change how we get on with one another down the road. Transformation happens…
Read the article: Births to Minorities Are Approaching Majority in U.S.
I think that it is kind of cool to think that someday I, a white person, will be a minority. It is normal for me, especially living in Centre County, to walk into a supermarket or the mall and see nothing but white people, and occasionally see a person of color in passing. And when someone does see a person of color in the area, if they look at all athletic, people just assume that they are an athlete.
Now obviously every area will be different, and when white people are the minority nationwide, I’m sure that there will still be places, like Centre County, where white people are still the majority, but there will definitely be more people or color than there are now. It will be different, not in a good way, not in a bad way, just different, when the day comes that I look around me and don’t see 98% white people. The question was asked, as a white person, do I feel threatened? I personally do not. I think that white people who are not as comfortable with people of color as I am may feel a little bit threatened. Racists and white supremacists will definitely feel threatened. In a way I am a little excited to see what it is like to see more people of color than white people. The tables will be turned and I think it should be interesting.
Will it be a complete turnaround from what it is now? Not really. People of color are the minority right now, but having less numbers alone is the only reason that they have been held back in the past, and in some instances still are at a disadvantage today. Society in the past had placed white people above people of color. In the future, when white people are in the minority, they will not be held back by the majority. Society has advanced to a point where that will not happen.
Another thing that I was thinking about are the positions of power. Right now, people in positions of power are not proportionate to society. Out of the 435 people in congress, 42 of them are minorities or women. Combined!!! 10% are woman or a minority. I do not know all of the statistics off the top of my head, but I know that our nation is not made up of 90% white men, but that is how we are represented? What about the day when we are 50% white, 50% people of color, will congress only be 80% white men? Or will we finally start to catch up and be represented proportionately to our population?
Am I worried or scared? Not really. Am I curious and intrigued? You bet, it will be interesting when I can call myself a minority.
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part 1: Time is not written. There is no pre-determined “fate” of the world and everyone in it. It has long been seen that white people will be the minority in this country one day, and it is clearly happening. And my answer to that… who cares. I’m not like a crazy radical extremist, even though I come off as one sometimes in these blog posts. I have a strong opinion but I don’t go crazy to express my point of view. I’m not the black guy we saw in class who said the only way to stop all the problems in the world is to eradicate every white person off the face of the planet. No that’s not me; but I truly see no problem with who is in charge of the number one superpower in the world, however long THAT even lasts at this point.
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part 2: It’s not like all the Hispanic, Asian, and black people will go around with torches when they finally have the majority and kill every white person left alive. They won’t create an anarchy government and destroy everything in the world. Who the hell cares? We have a black president; minorities aren’t incompetent to run things. There are Asian CEO’s, and Hispanic politicians and they don’t run everything they do into the ground. God what is with the notion that white people are just better? I’m half Hispanic, with a closer relation to my Hispanic side. I have the most Italian sounding name in the world, Anthony Vaccarino; but believe it or not I’m half Colombian and half Irish. So I’m very excited for my people to take over so I can run the streets with ak-47s like some third world country and kill everything that moves! No! That’s not what’s going to happen.
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part 3: This is the last thing that should be on people’s minds. How about the fact that the new generation of kids is so dumb, and the graduation rate and SAT scores are in the gutter. Maybe that should be something that gets fixed, not that black people are having more babies than white people. So no my white half isn’t concerned with this. I care about my future, and trying to make the United States a “better” place, not a “white” place. Whoever is the majority in the United States needs to make sure things are going in the right direction. We’re all stuck on this shithole together, but yet all we do is fight. We’re all the same race, but we look at each other differently. That needs to change. And it doesn’t matter who is in charge, we all need to work together. A multi-cultural country is just what we need to make the entire world hold hands as one.
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Here's to hoping that most people are not bothered by this possibility that whites really will become the minority. I really do look forward to the day that it happens. Granted I may be old and senile by then but who really cares. I hope I'm around to see it. There's not really any way to stop it unless you try to exterminate groups and if that happens, I just give up on the human race altogether. As a person of mixed race I don't feel strongly about it either way, because I "win" regardless of the situation. I just want everyone to get along. But I have come to realize that maybe the cycle will repeat itself. Maybe after the switch takes place and we're used to it, colored people will start persecuting whites. Who's to say that it can't happen? History repeats itself. Humans haven't been around long enough to end the cycle. I feel like it could happen two or three more times and we still won't have learned. I went to see the anatomy of hate movie and it made me realize that most of the issues we have come from our fear of the unknown. So unless this switching in social roles comes with a deep understanding of one another, we may be doomed to fail at it. I hope that my children and children's children will have the opportunity to see something that is in leaps and bounds from what I've seen and experienced. I hope that since they will be of mixed race they will reach out to all groups. This shift in majority and minority status should not be seen as a way to "teach whites a lesson". That's not how it can be if we want things to get better. Everyone needs to do their part and realize their faults, the faults of society, and the world outside their boxes. No more getting revenge. No more grudges. So if this switch does take place by 2050, we only have a limited amount of time to make the personal and social changes that are needed. It's probably the greatest opportunity we'll ever have as a world society. A new generation of people who know what came before and want to change it. It'll be ridiculously difficult because parents teach their children their ways of hate. We can't stop them from doing it, because it is their rights as a parent. What we can do is take steps over what we can control. If I were to be part of that society, and people usually see me as white, I think it would be strange. I would feel lonely. I would feel underprivileged. But just because I walk into a room with my white skin on, I can have the opportunity to explain that I'm only white on the outside. On the inside I'm a million other things.
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For the last few years I have heard about white people becoming the minority group. When i heard about this back in high school i was upset, i was worried that things would chance, that life would be i don't know, different. At first i did not believe what i was hearing but then after hearing about it from a bunch of different sources i started to believe what i was hearing. I though about life and how it would be more multicultural, it bothered me. After getting to college and becoming more exposed to different races i started to become more accepting and more appreciated of others. On top of all that this class helped me to become more accepting more then any other experience I have had. To answer the question i still feel that twinge of concern. NO matter how i believe i feel or want to feel there is still that dormant feeling of concern that lies deep within. On the topic of affirmative action, i think it will be extinct, there will be no issue regarding employment. This really gets me thinking, a lot of the worlds problems will disappear, there will be less issues across the board. In conjunction with the 50 years that this world has to mature and that equal amount of whites to colors, i believe racism would be at an all time low. There is the flip side to this story though, history has a tendency to replace itself, with the loss of power from white people, they could become protective of what they have left and perhaps things could get worse. There are a lot of different things that could come out of this change in life. Regardless of how american handles this issue, it is going to happen, we can fight it and hate it but it is inevitable, white people will be the minority or at least equal amounts of whites and colored people. I do not mean to be stereotypical but we all know that some of the greatest sports players are black, spanish and others forms of the latino race. If we were to have say three times as many people of that category the pool of prospects would be three times bigger. The sports would would be unbelievable, it would be so much more entertainment, more home runs, more dunks in basketball and even better quarter backs. All in all i personally i would not mind being the minority, but i will not say i do not have fears, everyone has fears. In all aspects of life people will have fears and this is a big change. I will be almost 60 years old by the time white will be the minority, out of the work force and in retirement. CYA
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I think this article is very interesting. I knew white people would one day become the minority, but I never thought that “majority” births would drop below fifty percent around the year 2012. I think this is a huge deal, especially now that I am in a class that deals with race relations. We learn about all of the different racial identity stages and it is a little strange to think that in years to come, the subject of the class will dramatically change and will be geared toward something else other than the majority white race versus other races. I also think that it is important to note that this article is only referring to the United States. This might play a huge role on how Europeans, who are mostly white, will feel towards the United States. I am not sure how this will affect us in the future. I think this is a very important statement and extremely thought provoking.
I am not sure exactly what this al really means, but I definitely do have a little bit of a “twinge of concern”(referring to Sam). As a member of the majority, I do not know what I will feel when my children are the minority. I already face being a member of the minority because of my religion. I definitely do feel like a lesser person at some points in time, so I can definitely say that I do have a little bit of concern about my race not being the majority in future years to come. I think the reality of it for some white people might not kick in for them and they will not be able to face it. I also believe that it is definitely going to be extremely difficult for groups like the Ku Klux Klan and white supremacists. These groups are extremists and I think they will be very closed minded to the fact that another race will be a majority. On the other hand, I feel that whoever is the new majority and feels very strongly or even feels hatred toward white people will take advantage of the fact that they are the new majority. I definitely think extremists from the white race and other races will cause chaos and violence to one another and definitely believe this will be a problem in the future.
The article states “Since 2000 alone, the proportion of people under age 20 who are non-Hispanic whites has dipped to 57 percent, from 61 percent. In 2008, Asian, black and Hispanic children made up 47 percent of the population under 5. “ I believe this will have a huge affect on the outlook children have on different races based on American history. Most history in the United States is about the white race and how they overtook the American land and put people into slavery. Without white people being the majority, I truly believe white children will start to learn that everyone should be treated equally.
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It may be interesting to see what this world will be like when the white race is eventually dethroned as the majority. People who have been born when us college students were born will experience the feeling of being the majority and the minority in our lifetimes. We will taste how it is to be on top and how it is to feel like many African Americans and other races feel as being the minority. The fact that the white majority is going to lose their superiority may be alarming to most whites. When you are on top you never want to come down. The people who feel this way have to realize that this is not the United States of sixty years ago. White people are not the only people on this planet that matter. We need to share our time on top with people of other ethnic backgrounds. This situation can produce either of two outcomes, we can band together and make a race a non-issue in our country, or we can fall further apart and let the fact that minorities are becoming the majority internally ruin us. There is no reason for people to be afraid of this change, the people who are afraid are the people who are simply ignorant. As a white male I do not see any reason why we can not share our resources and live as humans on this earth. People need to start looking past the differences on the outside and accept the fact that on the inside we are all the same people, we are beings of this Earth. The sooner people can realize this the better off we are. If we continue thinking that the minority is the problem then we surely will have a huge problem in a few years. At the rate that Asia is growing and the rate that certain cultures such as Hispanics and African Americans are growing how could we even think that we would not become the minority sooner or later. People can not stay on top forever. It is time for us as people to make a change and start living life like responsible and open minded human beings. Eventually we will all be like most cities today, very diverse and multicultural. The suburbs will be mixed to a greater extent and hopefully one day there will be equality in all aspects of society. That is a very optimistic statement of course. Our past and present really point to a future were race will still be an issue. Whites may struggle to let go of the power that they once held. Race wars could start up again and we could end up in the same situation that we were in sixty years ago. Who knows, it could be a cycle. The majority goes to minority and follows the same pattern. It will be interesting to live through this.
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I think that the fact that minority groups are soon to become the majority is an interesting sensation. As a white person, I’m not worried that my race is going to be forgotten and left behind. If anything, I think that this is a great thing for our country. Maybe in the future, when those minority-turned-majority babies grow up and start to run our country and take charge, there will be more equal benefits and opportunities for everyone. Sure, whites may lose some control, but some may argue that they have too much control now, which is a very bad thing. More people from different backgrounds and cultures need to be included in the decision making to truly have a society where everyone can have a fair shot at success and equal opportunities.
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This was an interesting article that really did make me think a lot about the topic and pose some intriguing questions to me. Maybe I am just naive but I guess I never gave to much thought to the concept of today's minorities becoming the majority in the near future. I suppose I never really thought of it because it never came up in high school classes or even college classes until now. For whatever reason when I first read this article it was really hard for me to think that in just a short while the number of blacks, hispanics, and asians could surpass the number of whites currently. This may have been due to our previous lecture in Sam's class where we found out the statistics that blacks make up about 1500 students out of the almost 40,000 students here at Penn State. When I heard the statistics I really was amazed. I remember sitting next to my best friend in that class and we both turned to each other in complete shock that the number of black students here were so low. Let me add to that though that my best friend and I are friends with a good amount of black people so maybe that is why it seemed the number should be so much higher because we feel like we see them so often on campus and are always associating with our friends that are black. After reading the article through a second time though I began to see how this could be possible and I started telling myself it wasn’t a matter of if it would happen but more a matter of when it would happen. I think it's very plausible that this could happen somewhere in the future however I still find it hard to believe that it would be within the next few years or so. I think overall it would take quite some time for a minority to become the majority. However, whether blacks, asians, and hispanics become the majority in the next few years or in the next few decades I strongly hope that by then everyone can treat each other equally. My major concern with what will happen when they become the majority though is that they will want to "get back" at the whites for how they thought whites have treated them for the past how many centuries. It’s kind of like I feel that possibly they would want to get back for things that have happened such as slavery and other forms of discrimination that they have encountered in the past. Obviously no one can say exactly what will happen when they eventually become the majority but I honestly hope that at that time we can all see each other equally since we are already trying to work towards that now.
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The theory that white people could possibly be the minority is rather frightening. As a white person I never really questioned or noticed how many white people there are around me, on television, in books, and in movies. I don’t think that this change will happen as soon as everyone thinks and I think it will be a gradual change that many people will only notice if they saw the change happen in their lifetime. What will happen in white people are the minority? Will we finally have to feel the minorities do? Which is underappreciated, neglected, or treated unfairly. I feel like the reason for this change is because it is becoming more acceptable for people to have interracial relationships, which is making mixed race children more and more common. There is a higher birthrate in minorities and a lower birthrate in white births. I’m sure this recent discovery is scaring the pants off of the older white generation. White people have been “on top” so to speak for as long as history can remember. White people have never been in the position of being the less populated race in America. Watching the videos of the black children picking a white doll over a black doll shows how being the minority affects them a lot more than anyone thinks, even them. Putting myself in that position is odd. Thinking that I would pick a black doll over a white doll because I thought it was prettier because that was the world has been telling me since I was born is unreal to me. Is that what would eventually happen to the white population if this pattern keeps up? The fact that minorities have higher birth rates has a lot to do with their culture and how a lot of them grow up. I feel like you see women who live in bad neighborhoods or ghettos with a lot of children. They start having their children at a very young age, mostly while in high school which causes them to drop out and perpetuate the cycle. Most of these women are also minorities. I’m not saying all these women are minorities because some of the girls in my high school had more than one kid before graduation and these girls were white. A lot of women statistically who live in ghettos are minorities. These women keep having kids but these kids don’t make it out of the ghetto for the most part. So although there will be more minorities in the United States, which I guess will make them the majority, I don’t think the older white population should be fearing a take over. More rich people are white which means they will have rich kids who are white who will also be rich and the same cycle goes for poor people who are mostly minorities.
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Without a doubt this is an issue that is very important in terms of how the US shaped demographically. Americas face is changing. With an increase in growth of the number of minorities, I wonder how this will be reflected in terms of equality-economically and socially. This goes both ways. Minorities can face better equality given their high representation in the population and the majority, or whites can face inequality because they are no longer holding their “power”. I wonder, will minorities now make up a good chunk of the middle class? This changes everything. Who is in our work force, in our schools, in our voting booths changes everything about how this country runs. In my opinion, I think an increase in minority population makes for a more diverse nation. Diversity is a good thing, something to be embraced.
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You can never say if things will change in the future for any one because the future is never a sure thing. You can only predict what may happen in the future. If minorities become the majority then I do not think that anything will change that much if majority of the country is run by the minority that is "white" will anything change in the country. Change is a long process so i think that it is a good possibility that as America becomes more diversified that it will be an advantage for the minorities of today that will spawn the next generations of tomorrow. America will truly be the country that is made up of many kinds of people that come from all over the place. It is crazy to think that one day minorities will be reversing roles with the majority race that makes up the United States. The country could change in many ways in the near future because of the new shift or switch in status.
The article brought up a good question how will the elderly feel about minorities becoming the majority in the near future? I think a lot of people who are in a position of power do not like to give up that power. Maybe it is just a feeling of change that is scary for most people. Everyone is scared of change in some way or another. Change can bring good or can even bring bad thing into people's lives. Everyone deals with change differently when they come across it. I think it will be something new in American society having the majority become the minority. Maybe it will bring a little more equality to the American government, but equality is only a figment of the imagination and an ideal thought. Equality will never be reached in my opinion because there will always be someone better than you are. Always someone who has more than you do and equality is hard to reach for any society.
Maybe this will bring more of an understanding on both ends of the party with minority and majority. The change could bring a better understanding and common ground for change that will be positive for the United States. Again no one knows what the future will hold for anyone, but God. Only thing you can do is have faith that tomorrow will be a better day for everyone. So hopefully the role reverse will be a positive change for both sides to experience, and lead to a better day. The idea is different in a good way that it is changing after so long the same group of people have been the majority of the united states.
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The day that white people are the minority will change America. I almost feel as though it will be more racist. the whole "white guilt" issue will end when they feel as though they are a minority. They don't feel as though they have "to be nice to minorities" anymore, because they themselves are minorities. I think every race will be feel a stronger connection to their people. There will be less schools that are 80% white an 20% minorities. Instead schools will be more likely to be very diverse. When a child looks for friends they tend to go after people that look like them. This will lead to people only hanging out with others from their race. This only brings racism because then they are pro-white, pro- black, pro-latino, pro-asian etc… and they will look at other groups as different. The way white people see black people will be the way each race sees the others, except they wont have the "white guilt".
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I think this post was pretty interesting and eye-opening mainly because I felt as though the things my mother used to say (whether jokingly or not, I don’t know) were well on its way to becoming true. My mom used to always say how “Soon, the white people will not be the majority any more and we will be. They are going to become the minorities very soon.” The funny part of those phrases/predictions she used to say was what she was basing that on. She would base her “predictions” on the fact that our neighborhood, surrounding neighborhoods, random neighborhoods we’d visit, random malls we’d find ourselves shopping in being overrun by Asians. We are also Asian so it was almost as if my mom and I were becoming so American that we were now becoming “self-hating Asians.” Granted, scientifically, my mom could not base her “predictions” on simply what she saw wherever fate would take her, but she did. Queens, let alone our neighborhood, is SUPER Asian: Vietnamese Pho Banh restaurants, Korean barbeque’s, Japanese hibachi, “Kam Lun” supermarkets, Flushing markets where even billboards and street signs were written in Mandarin or even in a certain area of Manhattan (Koreatown, coincidentally) has street signs written in Korean. And based on this magically convenient surplus of Asians around my mom, she used this deduce that we, the minorities, would soon be the majority. It’s funny to see that this is going to rapidly become a reality.
I doubt my mom was including the other minority races in her little “theory,” but according to this article, she was right without even knowing it. I thought it was interesting that the article brought up how the numbers of white births were decreasing. Part of me felt like it was partially due to the fact that so many white people are breeding with different races. The expressions “Yellow Fever”, “Latin Fever”, and “Jungle Fever,” come to mind. My boyfriend is a part of this white group by dating me. So many white males I’ve met in Maryland through family members have Korean or other Pacific-Asian ethnicity wives. I should be alive around 2050 and to be honest, at that point, I think I’m going to be pretty thrilled that the tables will have turned. I’ll no longer have to have some hoity toity white girl prancing by thinking she’s God’s gift to the world because she’s white and privileged and because “Daddy” bought her the new purse on her arm. Give me a break, white girl. My ancestors built a lot of these railroad tracks that have been used to transport many of the things you have on your body.
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I really cannot get a good grasp on what this means exactly. It seems that the majority of births from any one single group in the United States is still held by whites. I guess this is a good indicator of a continuing trends towards the fall of white dominance in the United States. What are the possible implications of a shrinking white population percentage in this country? Is it white peoples’ response to recession and bleak economy? Is this some form of social selection that whites are adapting to in an involuntary effort to maintain dominance? Or are the whites best days behind them?
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In my English class today we were actually talking about the fact that white people are going to be the minority in the upcoming years and that 48 percent of pregnant women are not white. This subject came up because my professor was saying the underlying cause of such violent protests coming from the tea party groups might not be caused solely because of the health care reform, but because of the underlying fears of white republicans that they will soon be of the minority and out of the group of power. I think this is a very interesting thought and it seems to me like it may be correct. So while many of the white people in this sociology class do not see a problem in becoming the minority, I think it is a large fear for many people. I think a considerable part of this fear is coming from the fact that they do not know what could happen once America is not a white male’s country any longer.
I however still disagree with this panic. I agree with some of the other posts that say even in 2050 when there are more colored people then white people, white people will still be the majority. Together Indian people and black people and Asian people and Mexican people, etc will be the mass. But white people as a single ethnic group will still control everything. More and more positions of power in government and business will be given to people of color. That is a definite upcoming change we are experiencing now and will continue to see in the future, which makes sense of course and is a very positive thing so that growing groups will be heard. Still though, after non-white people now fill more positions, I think it will be very far past 2050 until white power truly declines and people of color get to see and feel and truly be considered on the same equal playing field as whites. It is clear that ideas about race are so firmly hammered into American society and individuals’ brains as was made clear by the video about the colored and white dolls.
While some white people are panicking, I am really quite excited to see what is going to happen and if some of my predictions will prove to be correct. It is hard to imagine what a United States will be like when it is not dominated by white people, white power, and white beliefs. Equality will have to become more prominent. There will be no other choice. I also feel proportions of colored people will rise at an even steeper rate as the years go on because interracial marriages will increase.
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Although minorities are accounting for more and more births every year, I still believe that (regardless that I’m White) the world will still be a White man’s world. Even though majority births will become the minority, it won’t change the barriers and stereotypes of the minorities. I do, however, believe that as my generation grows older and we replace the baby boomers entirely, race will slowly have less impact upon relations between persons. Our generation is more comfortable with race, sexuality and being open with all ideas than any of our previous ancestors.
I found this quote to be very thought provoking, “Will America’s older, largely white population — through the ballot box and collective self-interest — support young people who are now much different culturally from themselves and their own children? Will they vote, for example, to raise taxes for schools that serve young people of ethnic backgrounds different from theirs?” This brings me back to previous generations. Currently, they’re the ones who have the voting power, the financial power and the political know-how to bring about change – or halt it for that matter. As the younger generation becomes more understanding and diverse about race relations I am curious if our deeper understanding of each other influences the elders at all. They are the ones who affect how much funding schools get. I would hope that they would be able to support the new generation – regardless of their different morals. I mean, when they were our age they were going against cultural norms by listening to rock and dancing more provocatively than their parents. Maybe they will be able to relate to the constant change that generations undergo and realize it’s a cycle they can’t stop.
As the recession recovers I definitely see an increase in the birth rates. Within the next five years, as the markets turn around (for certain – not just driven by blind hope) people will begin to see it as a good time to start a family. This is where the threshold of minorities becoming majorities will most certainly occur. The simple change of the name minorities being shifted from Asians, Blacks, Browns and every other group that is currently a minority, to being placed on Whites will have an effect on our world, but not enough to bring about true equality. For one, and to lighten the mood, comedians will have a field day poking fun at the matter.
But my most important note is that although there will be a shift Whites will still dominate the political field, financial industry and will continue to be stereotypically better. No matter who is the majority and minority there will always be inequality in our society. People will always find a reason to make the other group feel and believe they are less powerful than the majority. Forget about who is the minority and majority, people need to begin to understand each other more in depth in order to truly bring about a change that will level the playing field.
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I haven’t really thought about suddenly becoming a minority. It’s hard to imagine a situation that is such a stark contrast from what I’ve grown up in my entire life, from what’s been the norm since long before I was born. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t at least a little apprehensive at the idea. It’s not scary of course. After all, by the time we become a minority, race relations will have (presumably) advanced beyond what they are even now. So it’s not as though the “white minority” will have to face any of the hardships that other groups have had to go through.
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I’m not completely sure this is as big a deal as many people think. At least not right now, anyway. There are a few countries I can think of where the minority is in power (South Africa comes to mind). What will make a difference is when Congress is representative of the fact that people of color are the majority. When the actual power shifts, rather than just the numbers, that’s when I feel a large societal change will be upon us. Fortunately with a democracy, the shift in population is a good first step in the direction of social equality.
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After reading this article, I feel quite shocked. I’ve always been used to whites being the majority, and to hear that starting this year they could be considered a minority is kind of mind-boggling. I have only known what it felt like to be a minority a few times in my life. Once being when I student taught in the heart of Philadelphia. I’m not saying that being a minority means that you are inferior, or that you are any worse off, but being a minority can’t help but give you that sort of feeling. I think that it will be really strange to think that our country really is starting to become equalized. We’ve always grown up with this idea of white supremacy, and maybe history is in the making as that is put to an end. So if the ‘majority’ race is about to reach fifty/fifty, does that mean that a ‘majority’ race and a ‘minority’ race will even still technically exist? Maybe America really is starting to be the melting pot in which we were labeled as many years ago.
A census is taken every ten years in America. I think that how majority races and how minority races are measured goes back to a this, because this is how our findings are analyzed. With the census underway this year, I know that there are many issues with people not knowing how to identify what race they are. I believe that with all of the different ethnicities and cultures that America supports today, I think that it is nearly impossible not to have some sort of other race in you. People may be white, but how do they identify themselves? White? Caucasian? How accurate can these readings be about all the different races? So what I’m thinking is that is the white race really decreasing, or is the way people identify themselves just changing? If you had a white father and a Hispanic mother, would you identify yourself as white, or Hispanic? There are so many questions to consider. I’m not trying to deny the fact that the ‘minority’ populations are growing; rather I’m just trying to justify it by wondering just how accurate the findings could be. Also, if the white population has decreased by about 7% in ten years, isn’t it possible to increase that much in the same amount of time? I think our demographics are always going to be changing, and although the white race may become the ‘minority’ race, will they really stay the ‘minority’? I know I may sound bitter, but I’m just trying to play devil’s advocate. If the white race does become the minority, are people of the African American race going to now treat the whites how they were treated many many years ago? There are so many possibilities to come from the white race becoming minorities.
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I think that this story and rate of population growth in the minority races is going to test the social fabric of the United States of America. I think that it will genuinely test the hierarchy that is apparent in our society. There are a number of major businesses that are run and operated by the white race. I think that it will be very interesting to see what will occur when minorities are the majority and what will happen to this hierarchy. I honestly do not feel that the power or hierarchy will shift. I am under the impression that there will be a major social power struggle.
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I, as a white person, am really not too worried about the fact that I may be a minority one day. If that is what is going to happen in fifty years than that is alright with me. We had a good run I guess is what I am saying. America is land of opportunity, and it is a land for everybody. It is a place I think where eventually it will not matter what color your skin is, or what country you are from. That is the beauty of America. On a global scale, the Indians and Chinese have outnumbered us for years, so this white minority issue does come as too much of a surprise.
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I am aware that around the year 2050, white people will have become a minority group. I have heard about this in several classes, and never thought too much about it. Reading the article, “Births to Minorities Are Approaching Majority in U.S.,” really opened my eyes to the amount of change that has been going on in such a short amount of time. It is interesting to actually see that statistics of minority births and non-Hispanic births throughout the years.
It is crazy to see that so much change has occurred since 1990. Twenty years ago, two-thirds of births were non-Hispanic whites, and now in just a year or two, minorities will account for 50 percent of births. It seems to me that the U.S. will be going through a lot of transformations within the next couple of years.
There are a few things that crossed my mind after reading the article. People in today’s society are becoming more accepting of different races, but will this great of a change bring about problems due to resentment? If white people want to try to hold onto their power, how will they do so? I wonder if they will just accept it as unavoidable change, or will violence break out?
Another thing that crossed my mind is this: I understand that whites will soon become the minority, but does that mean they will lose their power? Whites have held power ever since the beginning of time, and I think it would be very hard to shift the power elsewhere.
One more thing that crossed my mind: if the white people lose their power, who will take over as the superior race? Will everyone finally be seen as equal, or will there be a certain mixed race that will be seen with the most power? I honestly cannot make any guesses as to who it will be.
When whites become the minority, will they become discriminated against when trying to find a job?
My mind is racing with all these questions, and to be honest, the future worries me. I wouldn’t care as much if whites lost power, but I would be devastated if white people became forgotten. I want nothing but the best for my family, and I would be very upset if my future white generations will become the center of jokes and crude remarks. No one wants their loved ones to go through pain and hardships.
Although I am worried, I do see the positives in this change. It is showing that the U.S. is becoming more accepting of other races, and are becoming more open to interracial marriages. Not too long ago, interracial marriages were looked down upon heavily, but through the statistics in the article, we can see that we have come a long way since then.
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I have been hearing about this for some time and to be honest it really isn't that great a concern of mine. One it isn't that white people are the minority, there will just be less white people than the other ethnicities combined. It isn't like every other ethnicity individually will be larger than the white population so really this is being made into the white people versus everybody else which in my opinion is completely the wrong thing to do. Everyone wants people to stop looking at race and stop letting us affect our decisions and the way we live our life yet people are pinning all white people against every other race. That is just furthering the problem for everyone and not solving anything. Really smart.
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As a person of color, I feel that it is a good thing. I feel that having more diversity in this country is good. Growing up in a very diverse community, I learned a lot about different cultures and it really opened me up to different things that I would never have been exposed to if it were not for the different types of people I had encountered. I think it is good for America because this way people can learn about and from each other. There will be a wide range of ideas and hopefully will lead us to a better country.
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This article struck me for several reasons. One is that I think it’s going to take a lot more than birth rates to say that people of color will be holding most of the levels of control. I think that it stems from the top, and while the nation is being run by predominately white people, control will stay in the hands of white people. After all, as we talked about in class, white people want to see white people win (King of the mountain-esque). The second thing is that this article is common sense. It’s no secret that the US is welcoming of immigrants and people from the outside. As the immigrants continue to mingle with the whites, it was only a matter of time before that number of people surpassed the number of indigenous white births, no?
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This article was really kind of an eye opener for me. We had been hearing rumors and reports for years that this might happen but up to this point i really hadn't paid attention to it much or gave it much thought. It's kind of a hard concept for me to grasp. Now I don't mean this in a way such as I'm afraid of this or I don't want this to happen, but in a way that I look around at my environments and it couldn't seem further from what I see. I come from a town that I'd say is a good 95% white and now that I go to Penn State it hasn't changed THAT much. While you can find a wide array of nationalities and colors here at Penn State, we did learn in class that compared to other towns and universities that Penn State is still very prominently white. I haven't been to any cities such as New York or Philadelpia that have large numbers of minorties so I really couldn't imagine or see myself as being the minority at any point in my life. This being said, I think studies like this speaks volumes to
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the different lifestyles and viewpoints on family between the races. It used to be that everyone had large families because women stayed at home and could take care of more kids, or that they needed more kids to help on the family farm or so on. Now the trend is changing and you see more and more professional women who don't even think about starting a family until they're well into their twenties or early thirties. This means that they have far less time to have as many kids, resulting in families with one, maybe two kids. Now while I don't think this change is limited only to whites, but I've learned in other classes how it's not just a stereotype but many latinos do in fact still work in the farming industry where having more kids is still an advantage. And for minorties living in cities or underdeveloped areas I think that teen pregnancy and higher rates of pregnancy, resulting in more and more kids being born to younger and younger parents of minorities. What is a concern is exactly what sam said in his post is whether whites, when they become the minority, will be willing to support younger generations that are ruled by what are now the minorities.
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This is kind of a weird idea to think about. I've never really felt threatened by the fact that I might eventually be a minority. Just thinking about it now I had two thoughts. First, I just pictured going to Penn State and then instead of having mostly white people it will be mostly black and brown, and even asian. Although I'm assuming the minorities that will surpass white is probably black or brown. It seems odd to think that most people walking down the street would be black, but not in a bad way. It would just be different because I am used to seeing a majority of white people. I can't imagine going to my hometown and seeing just as many black and brown people as white people. But then I had my second thought: my hometown is like 92% white and it probably won't be changing too much. I am from a rural town and it's surrounded by farm lands, it's a typical while suburban area.
It will be kind of cool to see how my area changes, and even Penn State. It would be weird to see myself as the minority in school or just in general. I haven't ever really been in that kind of situation. Even though we will technically be the minority, I still see the white race having the privileges. Like we saw earlier this year, white people have a higher income than all of the other races. That probably won't be changing even though we will be a minority. It might be easier for black and brown people to get a job but as Sam said, white people get their money and build a business or what have you and then pass it down to their kids so their kids are already in a privileged position. White people tend to start their lives already ahead, even though we will be a minority that probably won't change. It might mean that more black and brown people will be starting off their lives in a better spot though. I am also curious to see how the prison system will change too. If white is going to become a minority and there will be more black and brown people does that mean that prisons will contain nearly all black and brown people. As we learned more black and brown people get convicted than do white, with less white people to convict and more black and brown, does that mean that even more black and brown people will be convicted? Overall, it is kind of exciting to see what changes will occur in the future. I hope that as whites become a minority the racism will completely fade away.
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It’s crazy to think that the current majority race in the United States will soon become the minority. We knew this was gonna happen, but to start to see some of these developments happening today is a bit eye-opening. When the people in my age range are in their 50s and 60s, our children will be a part of a completely different racial breakdown than us. But it’s not anything to be scared of, I think it’s a change that we should all embrace. Our world is evolving, and I don’t think it means that whites will be underappreciated and overlooked. Instead, it means that all races will be appreciated and looked at the same way. Isn’t that what we’ve been striving for anyway?
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I think this is awake up call for racist white people. I am sure their daughter or son will marry a person of another race, and they will be extremely unhappy. The white race will no longer be consider "majority" or "superior". This will awake some evil spirit within the white race and i hope it will not lead to more white people abusing blacks, taking away our freedom,etc.I pray that this does not happen, besides we have come too far for that to occur. I am sure that minorities in America will not lead and allow for such a thing to happen. But I like this blog entry it gives the cloesd minded people something to think about for future references.
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Does this mean that when whites are the minority they can be proud to be white without being considered a white supremacist? And colored people will be considered supremacists if they continue to be proud of their skin color? I think a lot more white people are concerned with this than will say. I think the guilt that is left inside is causing a fear that white ancestors’ actions will be paid for when the power of being white no more. I don’t think anyone knows what’s coming and people naturally want to know what to expect and in this case they may be unnerved for quite a while.
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I think a big potential outcome stemming from minorities becoming the majority is the impact on politics. If this transformation happens, will the new majority groups be accurately represented in the government? Or will the white male standard still dominate? If the former happens, we could potentially see a change in the way our politics work, with a bigger focus on equality and diversity than we have now. Not to say that politicians of different races will act as proponents of their race, rather that there will be a more diverse voice that goes into political ideas and the making of legislation.
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I really do not see this as that big of a deal. The amount of minorities in this country has been increasing for years and I don't think thats been a big deal. If anything I think this could bring about better race relations in the United States. People would be forced to be around more people of different ethnic groups and have the opportunity to change some stereotypes and make things better for everyone. I really do not think that much as far as the politics will change either, well not right away anyway. A majority of those in power are still white and as long as that's the case then not much will change. If this trend does keep going in the way these people are predicting then I'm sure a point in time will come where people the people in power will reflect the population, but I don't think that time will come until the race relations in the public improve. Maybe that will spark a world wide change in race relations, but hey thats most likely just wishful thinking for world peace that'll probably never come close to happening.
There is a downside of this happening is people don't like change. There's a lot of white people who would be pretty upset if the norms and customs they were used to changed. And that might cause a large amount of backlash and possible civil unrest. This change could take longer than the 2050 that is being predicted. Just because the birth rate could change doesn't mean that white people won't be in power and in charge of the policies that govern us will change. Even then it'll probably take years of protests and equality movements to change things anyway. So things changing all of a sudden in 2050 is kind of a joke to me.
The birth rates changing isn't necessarily going to continue on this pattern anyway. Birth rates for whites could increase to match or even over take minorities again and this report won't even matter. All of this seems to be based on assumptions and patterns that could change at any time. There's a number of reasons why they're changing now, but there's also any number of reasons that it could change and turn back the other way.
Well even if this does actually happen, I don't think that it'd be very noticeable on the small scale. In smaller communities I don't think most people would realize that anything happened. Sure on a nationwide large scale people will see the differences, but little communities especially rural ones probably won't have that much of a change. Daily life for most will probably remain the same.
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This is an interesting issue to look at, ever since the arrival of Europeans to America, we have always been the majority here. We maintain our position at the top pretty well. Even when we are no longer the majority as this article suggests, we will still be the largest minority. Instead of all white people accounting for a larger population than all "minorities", we will simply be a larger minority. Because we are all different races, if you want to look at it like that, then we will only be the largest minority. This probably scares a lot of people though, Sarah Palin will soon be urging us to take back our country. Race is race, we need to start accepting that there are other people in this country. We complain about illegal immigrants, but in all honesty, when they have the opportunity to come here to work and make money and live a better life, can we seriously blame them? They take a majority of manual labor jobs because we would rather compete with one another to work at a desk. Whenever this country does become more ethnically diverse, we will need to compensate to this new population. Hopefully we will have a more diverse government by the time whites become a minority. We already have a bunch of old white men primarily making decisions for us, so how much worse could it be if we have some different representation? We are all here in someone else's land, technically we are all illegal immigrants. Indians make up one of the smallest minorities in this country, and they still manage to make it, so I think white people will be alright.__The article mentions that the Hispanic population is growing most rapidly, while the white population is shrinking. I think it will be pretty cool to see this population grow in my lifetime. The majority of Hispanics come here for work, so how can we deny them the jobs that no one else will take? Just grant them citizenship and stop complaining about how they are overrunning our country because this is all borrowed land. We have exploited the most sacred thing to the indigenous population here, Mother Earth. With out economy quickly changing and technology excelling at such a fast pace, we cannot expect the United States to always stay the same. When we have to account the majority, which will soon be made up of minorities, policies will have to change to accommodate these people. As the old white population shrinks, higher level jobs will also need to be replaced. There will only be so many white people, so more and more of these jobs will be filled by people of color.
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this is a subject that i have heard my friends talking about for a long time, and when it gets brought up that white people will become the minority in the united states, i never could wrap my brain around that could be true. i mean i don't want to sound racist, but when you think of the word minority, most stupid people like me, think of a person of color, and to think now that the word minority will be going to white people. Its not a big deal in the scope of important things, its just something that will be changing the course of American history, so i think that's why people are talking about it and bringing it up. i think its pretty insane when i hear white people from my home town worrying about this transition. They say stuff like colored people are taking over and we are going to be extinct and soon enough we will be mistreated, and some even say that we will be not allowed to do anything but labor work. i cant believe people are actually thinking these kind of things. dont get me wrong, i definitely think that white people, once we are the minority, we are going to probably pay for what we did, but not to the extremes that some people are thinking. As a white person it is a little weird to think about this subject, and the only thinking i worry about is when my great grand kids are trying to get jobs, that they are not racially discriminated against. I know that this is obviously going on right now still very badly, but that doesn't mean it should continue when the roles are flipped. i am also not saying that this for sure is going to happen, i am just saying that how awful our race has treated everyone else, that there will be some backlash in the future that white people are going to have to deal with, which isn't fair. But altogether, hopefully people of color will be able to be treated equal and getting to important positions of power in business and politics, where they should be today, instead of the future. i realize this cant happen right away because there is still a whole bunch of white people living in the United states but it will happen but i don't think it will be as dramatically dropping after it hits about 50/50 just because of families white families who are still out there and such. i just hope when this transitions happens that it doesn't get out of control and people realize this is just how things work, and that there is not so much racism on either side and hope that it doesn't get to where we are thinking backwards and not forwards.
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"It doesn’t really matter, mind you, and I’m sure that most people reading this are wondering why it’s being reported on at all." It doesn't matter?? How does this not matter?? Of course it matters!! Have we not been talking about majorities and minorities and the powerful and the not-so-powerful in class this entire time? There is power in numbers. In our democratic society, who wins in the polls- the minority or the majority? The MAJORITY, people! For white people who think that this isn't a concern at all- it's because you've been living in the majority all are life that you don't feel it. Yes, I know that most of you don't think to yourself every day that, "oh I have so much power. Oh man, being white is so great." However, when things tangibly change, you'll feel it. You'll know how scary it is be outnumbered by people who aren't white, because I am sure the majority of the students at Penn State grew up in predominantly small white towns.
For example. Or, first of all, let it be known that I am a small Asian girl who grew up in a pretty diverse suburb right outside of Philly. So. The other day, I went to the Daughtry concert. I strolled into the Bryce Jordan Center expecting a flood of college students. To my surprise, there were older people there. There were high schoolers. There were small children. (Oh and seriously, why are high school girls such sluts? Really? Really now??) Someone even brought a baby in a stroller! Looking around, I only saw a few college students (in relation to people who weren't college students). When the BJC was filling up, I looked around. All I saw were white faces. White white white. Old and young. Seeing as we are in the middle of nowhere, most of these people were either from State College or the surrounding predominantly white towns. You would think that I would be used to seeing white people all the time because I live in America and it's predominantly white and blah blah blah. But no. Penn State is pretty diverse. I have never been COMPLETELY surrounded by white people before. When you realize you're grossly outnumbered, something inside you freezes. I knew nothing bad was going to happen to me. Of course nothing bad would happen just because I wasn't white. It didn't help that the good friend that I went with was white haha. But being the only not-white person (that I was aware of) gave me chills. Imagine being in my shoes and sitting in the BJC surrounded by Asian people or black people. If you think, "oh I won't feel any different", you truly are an ignorant white person.
The article struck on a reason as to why the diminishing white majority is important- "Will America’s older, largely white population — through the ballot box and collective self-interest — support young people who are now much different culturally from themselves and their own children?" Like previously stated, the MAJORITY vote wins. The growing minority is a very young generation. And young generations generally do not vote. Who votes? The old white people. Will they support the minorities? Maybe, maybe not. But seeing how things are going presently- how shitty many predominantly minority schools are- I highly doubt that they will.
Soon however, the old white people will die and the minorities will rise up and PREVAIL!! MUAHAHAHA!
Not.
But things WILL change and the shift of power will occur. Prepare for this- Unpreparedness will mean ALL of our downfall.
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I found this article to be very interesting. Maybe I am just naive or I am not well educated in the subject, but these population demographics surprised me. Of course, everyone knew that eventually the amount of people of color in the United States would grow to exceed the amount of whites. It is inevitable given the fact that individuals of differing races have been reproducing together at a rate that is exponentially larger than it has ever been in our country. I was just sort of caught off guard at how soon the experts say the scales could begin to shift. 2050??? I didn’t think that the change in majority would occur anywhere close to within my lifetime. I guess I thought it was going to be a more gradual process, but given how many “minorities” currently live in our country, and how many different types of people there are in America, I suppose I should have realized that it would not take very long. Being a white person, I can honestly say that I, in no way, shape, or form, find this to be alarming. Why should it be? It’s about time the playing field got leveled in our country. I think it is a very positive thing for our country because even though we have done a lot to overcome our issues with race relations, there is still a long way to go. If white people are not the majority anymore, we will be forced to confront racial issues even more because the people of our nation will demand it.
There is nothing for white people, or people of any kind, to be concerned about. It essentially means nothing. So there are more colored people than white people now…who cares? It’s not like white people are going to end up being oppressed or discriminated against. And it’s not as if white people will be “losing power”; this isn’t a team game where the race with the most players wins. It is truly nothing more than a statistic, a percentage that reflects how the majority of our population looks. And not even specifically…it’s not as if the black population is overtaking the white population, or any other specific race in itself is going to outweigh the Caucasians. It’s just stating that collectively, there will be more colored people than white people. Which, in my opinion, is the image our country should reflect. We consider ourselves a cultural melting pot, a land of opportunity where people from all over the world flock to start a new, American life. Many of the people who come here from other countries are not white. Many of the people who have been here for generation after generation are not white. So, I see this whole thing as being not only interesting, but also exciting and something that should be embraced.
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When reading this post I am really questioning as to why Sam put it up. I could honestly care less as to whether or not white people are going to be the majority at 2050 or not. Here's why. First of all, by the time that white people are not the majority, there will be no concern as to whether or not white people are losing their power, or whatever. We are already at the stage in our country where we have a president that is half black and half white. To most people, that is a great step toward racial equality in our country. So then I start thinking about racial equality in 2050. Who's to say that TRUE racism is going to exist? I have a strong feeling that at the point where whites are not in the majority, our racial differences will no longer be a concern in this nation. Let's be serious, the chances of our next president not being a white male are a lot greater now that we have elected Barack Obama. And I have no problem with this. I hope that whites soon become the minority, and I hope that people of color show that it does not matter who is in the majority because we are all people and we all deserve things equally.
However, maybe some think that, "oh man" if whites are not in the majority, the people of color will put us into slavery or limit us from eating in certain restaurants, or attempt to re-segregate our schools in order for people of color to have some revenge-like advantage. I do not know. I hope this does not happen. I do not think this will happen. But, I fell like some people may fear of this.
This still does not phase me. I honestly do not think it makes a difference who is the majority because all that matters is who is in charge. Oh wait, now I am starting to think different. This blog stuff is kind of cool because you can change your thoughts mid blog, and still keep blogging. Hey, this is weird. But I digress. No, but seriously, what if people of color really turn against us? Like some of them are really pissed off at white people. Sam showed us that video of the crazy black male who said that all white people need to be exterminated. What if this actually happens, what if people of color go into power, change all the laws, and kill all the black people. I am really scared. What are going to happen to my children. Will they live to see 50? holy crap. Good thing it's
Good Friday… Oh wait, I'm jewish. Shit! Okay well, I actually don't think this is going to happen because no person is that sick, no person will actually do that… I hope. Except for maybe Sam. Yeah he would do that, he is such a white hater. God Sam, why do you hate your own people? That is so mean. How would your parents feel about that. Nah, I am just messin with you bro.
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I don’t personally feel any fear of what will happen if white people become a minority. I find it interesting that we are moving in that direction because I think it will come as a shock for those people who have not begun the awakening process that we have discussed in class. I think that there are many areas where people are moving in that direction. I have a lot of family that lives in Arizona and there are a ton of brown people there. Even though a lot of them do more of the hands on work they still are beginning to increase greatly in numbers in that area.
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The first thing I suppose I should address in this post is my skin color. I am white. This is important, I believe, because it is supposed to dictate the way that I should think. As I write this post, though, I do not think that it would matter what skin color I am, what my age is, or any other similar demographic question. I do not believe that this notification is of importance. When I am faced with the fact that whites will be the minority in the near future, I truly have no emotion or feeling as a result. As Sam outlined in his post, I am one of those who wonders why this is being reported at all. I really feel that it is unimportant, and honestly, if I thought that there were another recent blog that I covered that I could have written 450 words about, I probably would have done so. That said, I will outline the two reasons why I suppose that this is important, and the one angle that I think will make the only two things that could be important about this unimportant.
The first reason that I believe that this is important is that the word “minority” will lose its meaning in regard to its most common usage. This word is also used within other subjects, but I believe that its primary use is to define race.
The second reason that I believe that this is important is that some people actually will care, and not just a little bit. I believe that the ones who care will be the ones who will care the most. This will be important because these people will have a very serious problem with something that is such a small issue of imbalance, but who will still be prone to take serious action and be extremely unhappy.
Finally, I believe that the thing that Americans will have a hard time understanding is that this will change relatively nothing and will be simply a number. The power struggles, discrimination, and any other racial issues will remain unchanged by the minority becoming the majority, so the fact that this word will lose its technical meaning and the idea that many people will be mad do not matter. The word will still mean the same thing, relatively, and the individuals that will be displeased will be for no reason. So I guess what I’m trying to explain is the unimportance of anyone being notified of this. It will only cause controversy, and will be relatively useless for any other purpose. Overall I believe that this change will be completely insignificant, and will only have to be prominent if we make it so.
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I was pretty amazed to read that minority births could surpass non-Hispanic white births almost any minute now. I never stopped to think about it but would not have guessed that the country could not be anywhere near that point. I’d like to think that the rate of minority births keeps increasing at least partly because there are more interracial marriages. I would hope that means there’s a gradual increase in the respect and kinship people feel for others, right?
I also imagine there are people out there who would take the news that non-Hispanic whites are on the verge of becoming the minority in the United States as a bad thing, rather than irrelevant news like it really is. Personally, even when non-Hispanic whites dip lower than 50 percent of the population here, I will have a hard time thinking of myself as part of a minority. I wouldn’t be in denial of the fact; I would just feel kind of shocked. Anyone who makes a big deal about this may think that whites are losing control of the country, and people who “don’t belong here” are taking it from us—in a more natural and much less violent way than WE took the country from the Native Americans, however. Do you suppose there are people out there who worry that whites will be put on reservations and have absolutely no power in the future?
I can’t really predict what non-whites might do or say when their numbers become the majority in the United States. I suppose there might be some (not many I hope) who would possibly want revenge for grievances that took place long ago. I hope nothing as radical like that would ever happen, but I know there are extremists in every group and they can cause harm. I also wonder if some minority people who feel persecuted by white society will start to blame some other group for their lack of success when a white majority no longer exists.
I hope some positive things will happen when non-Hispanic whites become the minority. Maybe racist white people out there will be able to see past their ignorant ways after spending more time with non-whites (at work, in the community, etc.) and realizing that this country will run just as well if not better when the numbers shift.
Maybe with this change, people who focus on racism will be able to see that this country is not secretly making decisions based on race and that skin color really doesn’t matter. All in all I welcome this change, because I honestly think that if anything does shift, it will be better for humanity and hopefully will broaden people’s views.
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Reading this article is extremely interesting. I had no clue that white people were even close to becoming a minority. So this article is actually very eye-opening. I am curious after reading this article to whether or not this will actually affect how white people stand in society. Will black and Hispanic people gain more advantages in the business world? Even though white people may become a minority, will their status change in society or will they remain on the “top of the pyramid”? I am going to address these questions and see what I believe is actually going to happen once white people become a minority.
If white people become a minority I do not believe much will change for at least 15 years after. White people hold a large majority of high office positions in the United States. Therefore, it would be difficult at first for people who are not white to advance a lot. However, I do believe that people who are not white would find it easier to live their everyday lives though. Since more minorities would hold everyday jobs, because of the increase in people that are not white, they would be able to aim for more success since there would be more opportunities.
Although white people would become a minority overall they would still have a larger population than any other race in the United States. For example white people would become a minority to all other black, Hispanic, and Asian people combined. White people would still out number any other race in the United States if they were matched up. Which I believe is the ultimate factor in white people no longer being on the “top of the pyramid”. Although white people may not lose any “power” in the race world, but I do believe other races would progress. Like I said before I believe minorities would begin to hold more jobs in different communities. This would show a good image for the youth of these families and more people would begin to grow up with higher hopes.
This article was extremely interesting and I had no clue that white people were becoming a minority in the United States. The fact that I had not heard about this before I read this article was interesting in itself. Is the media trying to hold this from most of the citizens in the USA or am I just ignorant to what is going on in the race relations world? Hopefully white people becoming a minority will help the United States transform and become more accepting to other races. Hopefully as white people become less of the majority in the United States all races will be able to get along and make strides to become more culturally accepting.
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I think that this is a very interesting question. I have thought about this question a few times and I have to say so what? I am white and I think it is about time that we were the minorities for a change. It’s not like the white people are suddenly going to be degraded and put down just because someone else is in the majority. I think that the whole minority and majority thing is stupid anyway. I think the way things are going, there wont be a clear cut minority or majority. I want there to be a country where we’re not defined by race or religion, but by who we are. I know corny right, but its true.
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I mean with so many people opening up to the idea of marrying outside their race, I think more and more people are going to be a number of different things. Not simply, white or black or asian or whatever. To be honest I look forward to that day because in my mind people who are mixed races are some of the most beautiful people. Don’t get me wrong everyone is beautiful in their own way blah blah blah, but truly the most beautiful people are those who are mixed.
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as a white person i am not really worried if we become the minority group of this country because we may not have the same numbers at that point as black or brown people, but in people's minds we will still be the ones who created this country and will always hold a position of power. is this right no but as a white person i do see the benefits of being white. i dont get questioned on as many things, i can say i possibly have more job oportunities, and so on. again this doesnt make it right but it is not going to change anytime soon and i dont ever think it will. there is something about being white that everyone feels we have some type of power and control, when in reality we go through a lot of the same things as everyone else, at least in my opinion, and if we dont im sorry but you are not going to hear me complain about it. i didnt choose to be white and i didnt choose what happened in the past so im going to be me and live my life as i should, whether my race has the most people in one country or not.
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A fact that I found to be really interesting is: “The Census Bureau estimates that minorities will constitute a majority of the nation’s overall population in about three decades and a majority of Americans under age 18 in about one decade.” This fact strikes me because it’s shocking to realize how soon everything will be changing in the world. People get so used to the same things and familiarity that large changes take time to adjust to. At the same time, having a mixture of races can be a good thing and a positive change to the United States and can promote more bonding and less segregation among all of the races.
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. It will be hard to get used to being in a minority, but it must be done because the situation is inevitable. I am extremely interested to see how people will be treated in their different races once the changes take place. Will whites still be treated well when they are the minority? Will the Asians, African Americans, and Hispanics be treated with more respect as the majority? The future will tell us soon enough and we will be able to see where the transformation is going to take us and how the world will be run and managed.
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If and when white people become the minority group, I don’t really feel any concern or worry about it. I feel that while discrimination and race issues are still a problem today, we are working towards equality and I believe and truly hope that one day the color of your skin won’t matter to anyone about anything. I think white people as a minority will definitely be a big factor in getting towards more equality and less discrimination in the United States. Although, the statistics presented in the article do not surprise me. You always hear about teenage pregnancies and a majority of them occur within the minority races. If more minorities are giving birth to more children than white people, we are obviously going to be seeing a shift in percentages in the population of whites and minorities. This inevitable occurrence doesn’t concern me. I don’t think if minorities become the majority over whites, that it’s going to affect white people any differently. My main reason for thinking this is because when you are considering “minorities” that includes several different races… anyone who ISN’T white, so blacks, Hispanics, Asians, etc. If the shift led to ONE specific race being a majority over white people, then we might start seeing more differences in the way white people are treated. I’m not necessarily concerned about not being able to get a job or anything because of white discrimination if this is the case, but maybe this is because I AM white. Since I’m not currently in the minority I don’t have to think or worry about being discriminated for the color of my skin. I may worry about being discriminated as a woman, or for being Jewish, but I just don’t typically think of being discriminated against about anything. Similar to what Sam was saying in class, if you’re not left- handed, you don’t think about the fact that you are right handed and you don’t worry about say, what desk you need to sit in class or anything. Since I’m not a race of minority, I don’t really think about it, at least not on a personal level. When whites become a minority to the minorities today, the thought of being discriminated against for being white probably still won’t cross my mind unless I come into a situation that where I am discriminated against. I just can’t see if, say minorities make up 55% of the US population, how whites are really going to be negatively affected in any way. I’m not trying to justify the fact that whites to typically face issues of discrimination when applying for a job or anything like that, it’s just how it is and I think it’s ridiculous if there is any white person who is actually afraid of becoming the minority.
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