The Changing Face of America Minority Babies now Majority

The U.S. Census Bureau provides the numbers but to many this is not surprising news.  With the recent uproar over gay marriage, many have said that America attitudes were changing and now we see that it is not only attitudes but the color of this nation as well.  We find ourselves looking directly into the eyes of history and it appears to be one void of the past division of color.

Dylan Stableford of Yahoo Lookout reports in his article titled U.S. Census: Minority babies now majority, surpassing whites for first time reports that “for the first time in history, there were more minority children born in the United States than white, according to 2011 census data released on Thursday.  The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 50.4 percent of children born in a 12-month period that ended July 2011 were Hispanic, black, Asian-American or from other minorities groups, while non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in that span. In 2010, minority babies accounted for 49.5 percent of all births.  Overall, minorities in the U.S. increased 1.9 percent to 114 million, or 36.6 percent of the total U.S. population. But with the weak economy resulting in fewer Hispanics entering the U.S., demographers project that the tipping point when minorities become the majority in America may not happen as early as some predicted.

The New York Times said it best when they said “the census report signals "the dawn of an era in which whites no longer will be in the majority," the Washington Post said.  "Such a turn has been long expected," the New York Times noted, "but no one was certain when the moment would arrive--signaling a milestone for a nation whose government was founded by white Europeans and has wrestled mightily with issues of race, from the days of slavery, through a civil war, bitter civil rights battles and, most recently, highly charged debates over efforts to restrict immigration."  Followed by the Wall Street Journal which said "the 2008 election of Barack Obama as America's first black president was in some ways emblematic of the nation's changing face, but as the population evolves toward a more-varied mix that includes fast-growing Asian and Hispanic populations, the black/white divide that characterized the civil-rights movement has itself become a relic."

To some who may see this as the lost of the white race, I can only say that change is never easily accepted but I offer you this.  A child born of mixed race must now be allowed to celebrate every part of their heritage and by allowing this to happen they will now be more inclined to judge others by the “contents of their character than the color of their skin”.  The more we concentrate on the things that unites us is more important than the things that divide us.