In 1970, when I was 3, there were 170 million non-Hispanic white Americans, and they represented 83 percent of America’s population. Today, there are 197 million non-Hispanic whites in this country, and they represent less than 64 percent of America’s population.
If current trends continue at the same pace — and if my life isn’t cut short by overconsumption of oysters or cigars — I will live to see the 2050 Census measure an even more wonderfully diverse America, where my own demographic subgroup has become a minority.
Without this increasing diversity, America’s population would have been largely stagnant. Over the last 40 years, our country’s population has increased by 106 million people. Seventy-four percent of that increase, 78 million people, came from the growth of the minority population.
Over the last decade, the non-Hispanic white population increased by a paltry 2.26 million, less than a tenth of the overall population increase of 27 million.
While this change may scare some (racist) white people, anyone with a brain in the Republican party (if any remain) might want to quit demonizing minorities and start working with said brown people to help make government work for them to improve their lives in this country. If not, the Republican party will continue to be the rump party of aging white rural and suburban folks, albeit with less impact on this country. Well, when said that way, maybe things will work out well for the country.
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