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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: 3, Interesting) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 02 2019, @11:08AM (8 children)
The phrase "white privilege" is no less racist than teaching your parrot to say "nigger want a foodstamp". It's pre-judging someone (you know, like the literal definition of the word "prejudice") because of the color of their skin. It's bullshit no matter if you're talking about black folks, asians, mexicans, white folks, or anyone else.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @02:27PM (3 children)
do you think that there needs to be a white history month so that kids in that group have a month too?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday May 02 2019, @03:56PM (1 child)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 02 2019, @04:47PM
April is a better month for this - I choose April - April it is
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 03 2019, @01:01AM
Not particularly but they do need to teach more American history in, you know, America. Kids are growing up knowing fuck-all about the history of our nation today.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday May 02 2019, @05:47PM (3 children)
Wrong. The concept is abused, but at its root, "privilege" just means "how well society 'defaults' to what you are." In China, for example, the default is Han male; there is no "white privilege" there and just ask any Hmong people how they feel about the Han.
This isn't a difficult concept. Privilege isn't evil, it's just the emergent result of what you are interacting with the society you're in. I have white privilege, for example, and can mimic a straight woman well enough to mostly have "straight privilege" on account of being femme and not traipsing around with a backpack covered in rainbow pins or dual Venus-sigil patches.
Basically, privilege is not having to think about how well you mesh with your own society's default settings. It's not something to feel guilty over. It *is* something to be aware of, and to make you think "you know other people don't have certain advantages I do; what can I do in day to day life to keep that in mind and coexist with them?"
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday May 03 2019, @01:11AM (2 children)
No, privilege means private law. Discrete rules for you that others cannot take advantage of. White folks have no such thing in the US, with the possible exception of being able to join the Klan.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday May 03 2019, @01:41AM
De facto does what de jure don't...don't delude yourself.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 03 2019, @02:29AM
Yup, TMB is still an idiot, contrary to his loudmouthed assertions of superiority.