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Since the settlement of Jamestown in 1607 and the start of the Colonial period, the U.S. has been predominantly white.
But the white share of the U.S. population has been dropping, from a little under 90% in 1950 to 60% in 2018. It will likely drop below 50% in another 25 years.
White nationalists want America to be white again. But this will never happen. America is on its way to becoming predominantly non-white.
The U.S. federal government uses two questions to measure a person's race and ethnicity. One asks if the person is of Hispanic origin, and the other asks about the person's race.
A person is defined as white if he or she identifies as being only white and non-Hispanic. A minority, or nonwhite, person is anyone who is not solely non-Hispanic white.
[...] Whites were not the first people to settle in what is now the U.S. The first immigrants were a people known today as American Indians and Alaskan natives, also commonly referred to as Native Americans. They arrived in North America around 14,000 years ago.
When Christopher Columbus arrived in America in 1492, there were around 10 million American Indians living in the lands north of Mexico. But by the 1800s their numbers had dwindled to about 1 million. They are now the smallest race group in the U.S.
The first sizable stream of immigrants to what is now the U.S. were whites from England. Their arrival at Plymouth in 1620 in search of religious freedom marked the start of large waves of whites coming to this land.
When the U.S. was established as a country in 1776, whites comprised roughly 80% of the population. The white share rose to 90% in 1920, where it stayed until 1950.
[...] Although the majority of the U.S. population today is still white, non-whites account for more than half of the populations of Hawaii, the District of Columbia, California, New Mexico, Texas and Nevada. And, in the next 10 to 15 years, these half dozen "majority-minority" [PDF] states will likely be joined by as many as eight other states where whites now make up less than 60% of the population.
Census Bureau projections show that the U.S. population will be "majority-minority" sometime between 2040 and 2050. Our research suggests that this will happen around 2044. Indeed, in 2020, there are projected to be more non-white children than white children in the U.S.
Source: phys.org; original at The Conversation.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by sshelton76 on Thursday May 02 2019, @10:58AM (25 children)
Article claims demographics are changing. They are changing.
I'm willing to bet that it is mostly that people have stopped caring what they put down on the race card or they put down whatever they think will get them an advantage,
My oldest boy is white as snow and had trouble finding work.
He came up with the idea of switching up the race on his resume and applications and the job offers flowed in.
People can self identify gender which has a strong genetic basis, and now there are advantages to the race card you're going to see a lot more of this pop up.
https://www.cnn.com/2015/06/16/us/washington-rachel-dolezal-naacp/index.html [cnn.com]
So I dunno, I think maybe the source data is getting munged. My kid is not the brightest bulb, he can't be the only white kid to figure out that now days you never, ever, ever put down "white" as your race in America.
Having a discussion about it changes nothing, but at least it's reasonable to talk about it.
How is this article any different than the myriad of articles on how bad gentrification has been on low income inner city housing?
https://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/affordablehousingnyc/the-effect-of-gentrification-on-affordable-housing/ [cuny.edu]
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/27/upshot/diversity-housing-maps-raleigh-gentrification.html [nytimes.com]
People hate change. People hate vegetables too.
People are afraid of change but change is good, it makes them face their fears.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 02 2019, @11:13AM (4 children)
I put down "American" for race on the last Census cause fuck em for even asking. Which is sort of like the recipe for gumbo. i.e. "Yeah, throw some of that in there."
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by sshelton76 on Thursday May 02 2019, @11:38AM (2 children)
I agree. The fact we are trying to implement racial division in our country is bothersome to me.
We used to be a melting pot. It's reflected in our food choices if nothing else.
People would come here and they would assimilate, but it was a two way street, we would get some of theirs and they would get some of ours.
Now it's different. I've talked with immigrants and refugees and they do want to assimilate, but the message they are getting from our culture is "go back where you came from" instead of "Welcome to our country, please wipe your feet on the mat on your way in".
Immigration is what really made this country great. Most of the great inventors and scientists of the past 200 years either were immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants.
I look forward to a day when skin color is held in the same regard as hair color.
Except for gingers of course because everyone knows they have no soul.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 02 2019, @12:19PM (1 child)
I used to think that but this guy [youtube.com] changed my mind. He ain't no Aretha but he's got a small but undeniable amount of soul.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday May 02 2019, @01:34PM
(Score: 2) by isostatic on Thursday May 02 2019, @12:15PM
I've always put Human
(Score: 1, Interesting) by sshelton76 on Thursday May 02 2019, @12:47PM (15 children)
Whoever modded this troll, when I posted with my own username and explained facts as I see them.
Care to explan the troll mod?
What specifically do you see as trolling in that reply?
(Score: 1) by sshelton76 on Thursday May 02 2019, @01:09PM (7 children)
Thanks for the upmod! Would it be possible, in the future to either add a feature to show who's modded you what, or at least require an explanation / comment for a mod?
Mod points are kinda hard to come by, I just don't understand why someone would waste them on a downmod as "troll" when there's obviously no trolling intended and disagree would be a much better mod if you disagree with someone.
In truth, if I managed to somehow offend someone, I'd like to know in what way so I can look at ways of rephrasing things in the future. But honestly, this is a discussion site, where we do value a diversity of opinions. If someone is being sincere, whether you disagree with them or not, it's not helpful to the conversation to simply mod them as a troll and walk away. Own your opinion, convince me why you believe I'm wrong. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to convince you why you're wrong, or maybe we can agree to disagree.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @04:27PM (6 children)
This! So much this! I am getting sick and tired of the drive-by [down,up]mod! These don't add anything of value to the conversation. It would be much better to tell us why you (dis)agree with someone's comment rather than just voting someone up/down because their comment conforms (or not) to your worldview.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday May 02 2019, @05:09PM (5 children)
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Thursday May 02 2019, @05:13PM
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday May 02 2019, @05:25PM
Ooh, I get to live rent-free in your head? And it's so huge and spacious and empty, too!
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @07:10PM (2 children)
When has that ever happened? Seriously, can you give us a few examples? Frankly, mostly I've seen you prance about and posture and get a whole lot of ass whacks for it. And let's just be clear: it's not just Azuma who has given you a bunch of ass whacks and side swipes for what we might laughably call your "contributions" to the discussion. Just sayin'.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday May 02 2019, @08:23PM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @10:23PM
Your personal sock puppets don't count.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @01:16PM (6 children)
Having been looking for work myself recently, I have also learned that fudging the truth is often the ONLY way to get a resume past the automated systems. For example, standard practice these days is to NEVER say that you are unemployed - you always say you are SELF EMPLOYED. Another example, you NEVER say that you were fired at some job, instead you always use some bullshit term like "restructuring". More recently, I have been under pressure to identify myself as "disabled" due to "autism". Apparently just because I don't kiss ass and shoot the bull with every shithead makes me autistic and that somehow is a disability.
(dis)honestly, changing race does not seem like such a bad idea in comparison. Sadly, if I could paint myself golden brown I would probably get a job in a heartbeat.
In retrospect, it probably would have been a good idea to have had my penis removed too.
This world is fucked up.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by sshelton76 on Thursday May 02 2019, @01:34PM (2 children)
Speaking as someone who hires people as part of my job, it's pretty much expected that you fudge things like that.
Look, if you're keeping your skills sharp just start contracting. This way you are legit self employed. If you can't find a place that will have you as a contractor then either start or contribute to an open source project. Honestly when I'm reviewing a resume the thing I look at most is activity at github and I'm not alone on this.
Even if your activity is mostly limited to opening issues and bug reports. The fact that there are aspects of the job that actually interest you so much you are willing to do them regardless of pay, is a strong indicator you're a good fit.
Also about the disability thing. Autism is a spectrum, not a binary. The fact you are here on Soylent is a good indicator you probably are a little autistic, especially if you're here in lieu of Facebook and Twitter. However these autistic traits are beneficial to the IT field. You need to be able to tune out the BS goings on around you in order to focus on the tasks at hand. This is a lot easier if you don't care about the water cooler chit chat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @07:26PM (1 child)
Uhhh, I work for the government. While not strictly forbidden, there are a whole bunch of hoops to jump through in order to do contracting work on the side. It's not something that can be hashed out on a lazy afternoon. (As I understand it, a lot of lawyers quickly get involved.) I wouldn't be at all surprised if it is similarly hard to do if you are working in the private sector.
(Score: 1) by sshelton76 on Thursday May 02 2019, @07:33PM
The premise of my statements had a foundation in the claim of the parent's unemployed status. Yeah if you've got a govt job or really any job then of course my advice doesn't apply. But it wasn't intended to either.
(Score: 1) by sshelton76 on Thursday May 02 2019, @01:40PM
Just a follow up. I don't work there, but if you are who i think you are, you might be a good fit for this...
https://automattic.com/work-with-us/ [automattic.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @07:16PM (1 child)
Frankly, if you are relying on the automated systems to get you in the door then you are doing it wrong; those automated systems are overseen by a bunch of dittohead drones who wouldn't know their own ass from a hole in the ground. You need to find the people who would be the front line manager you would be working for. Get your resume to them and you may have a better chance at getting an interview.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 04 2019, @04:52PM
Ok, please disclose how one is supposed to do this, keeping mind mind that we are talking about technology companies with security guards at each entrance and strict policies against talking about the business to outsiders, not some restaurant where one can just stroll in and talk to a manager.
(Score: 2) by Alfred on Thursday May 02 2019, @02:02PM (3 children)
(Score: 4, Insightful) by sshelton76 on Thursday May 02 2019, @03:02PM (2 children)
I gotta be honest with you here.
Humans are one of the least genetically diverse animal species on the planet.
Everything we call "race" depends on less than 4MB of genetic material.
Even that is overstating it, since that is the information the differentiates a Native American, say Navajo or Hopi, from a far flung inaccessible race such as an Aboriginal Australian or someone from Paupau New Guinea.
https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fbioinformatics%2Fbtn582 [doi.org]
If you have a cat, or a dog, that animal has less in common with another cat or dog born in the same city, than you do with any human being born in the last 70k years.
Now realize that I am calling "species", any two critters that could mate and produce viable offspring that could then go on to mate with the general population and also produce viable offspring.
At some point in the last 70k years our species was nearly wiped out. This resulted in a population bottleneck of no more than 10k survivors, down from perhaps as much as 100M if you count all the "close enough to humans that we could breed with them" species such as Neanderthals and Denisovans. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2009.1473 [royalsocietypublishing.org]
Knowing that the difference between me and anyone else I could produce offspring with would fit on a couple of floppy disks uncompressed and 1 floppy if compression were used, it becomes extremely hard to look at what we call race as anything more than an inbuilt cultural bias against people who look different. But where the hell did it originate?
Racism probably did serve a legitimate purpose for much of human history and seems to be genetically selected for. Even chimps will kill chimps from rival tribes if they get too close. But human racism is different, we will hunt down and kill people who look different, or we will simply put a lot of distance between us and this is not something chimps do.
The reason is probably post-bottleneck genetics.
If you lived in an isolated tribe and you encountered someone who was not from your tribe but who looked like you, then you were very likely to be safe. Perhaps not you personally, but the tribe as a whole would have no problems dealing with even a handful of outsiders so long as they were "same enough".
But if you encountered someone who had been separated from your tribe long enough to no longer look like they belonged, it was probably a sign that death was coming soon. Either they were invaders from some far away place, or they were carrying new and novel diseases that would soon kill off your people. Likely both.
Yet fast forward to the modern era and this concern, this fear, is no longer valid.
The fear is still genetically hardwired into you, it's hardwired into me and it's intellectually dishonest to deny it and claim you never feel it. But the reasoning behind that fear is no longer consistent with the world in which we live. A world where you can literally step foot in 7 continents in 7 days and have a day long meaningful relationship with any random person in that time. A world where business is no longer 9 to 5, but runs 24/7. The sun never sets on the modern empire of the global economy.
Thus, we are dealing with a vestigial organ whenever we try to justify anything about race. Yes there are cultural issues, language and what not that also get in the way. But the deep seated, "they look different and therefore are bad and I do not want them near me", serves no useful purpose. Denying it will make it worse, so the best way to deal with it is to acknowledge they are different and that these differences are an opportunity learn something new, which should be pretty damned exciting in it's own right.
Like I said, people fear change, but change is good because it helps them to overcome their fears.
Right now America is collectively clutching her pearls in fear because fear gets people to click and see the advertisements. But if people just stop responding to the fear narrative, to the divisiveness and the outright hate mongering and instead reach out to their neighbors and welcome them with open arms, then those who seek power over us by dividing us will fall because they cannot stand against us if we are united.
Strange how quickly many people forget that whole "United we stand, divided we fall" thing the founding fathers were on about.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @06:35PM (1 child)
Best post in this thread, thank you!
(Score: 1) by sshelton76 on Thursday May 02 2019, @07:28PM
Thank you, and you're very welcome!