Census shows US is diversifying, white population shrinking

[u/Double-Anteater228]

https://apnews.com/article/census-2020-house-elections-4ee80e72846c151aa41a808b06d975ea?utm_source=Twitter&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP

[u/Getoffthepogostick]

Isn't that pretty much the same in most Western countries? White people only account for around 10% of the world's population, and have one of the lowest birth rates. I'm sure the UK census when it's released next year will make for some interesting headlines in our redtops.

[u/reality72 → u/Getoffthepogostick]

By comparison in 1950 whites made up 25% of the world population.

[u/vodkaandponies → u/reality72]

Depends on your definition of "white".

[u/Worried_Thylacine → u/vodkaandponies]

Per the US census Arabs and Iranians are white.

[u/jctwok → u/Worried_Thylacine]

The courts ruled Arabs, Syrians, Middle Easterners, and Armenians as not white in the following cases: In re Halladjian (1909), Ex parte Shahid (1913), Ex Parte Dow (1914), In re Dow (1914), and In re Ahmed Hassan (1942). The courts ruled Arabs, Syrians, Middle Easterners, or Armenians to be white in the following cases: In re Najour (1909), In re Mudarri (1910), In re Ellis (1910), Dow v. United States (1915), United States v. Cartozian, and Ex Parte Mohriez (1944).

[u/queerhistorynerd → u/jctwok]

dont forget the greeks! according the US government Greeks were mixed race until the Patriot act passed in 2003!

[u/bilekass → u/Worried_Thylacine]

Caucasians. As in from Caucasus. They are definitely more Caucasian than swedes, for example. Which just illustrates how fucked up and useless the US categorisation is.

[u/Souletu → u/Worried_Thylacine]

I feel like white people that aren't Iranian or Arabic would disagree with that, may just be my American perspective though

[u/poopyheadthrowaway → u/Souletu]

American perspective

Keep in mind that Americans didn't consider the Irish or Italians to be "white" not too long ago.

[u/frogbertrocks → u/poopyheadthrowaway]

Peter Griffin : We will have equal rights for all. Except Blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Jews, Gays, women, Muslims. Uhmm... Everybody who's not a white man. And I mean white-white, so no Italians, no Polish, just people from Ireland, England, and Scotland. But only certain parts of Scotland and Ireland. Just full blooded whites. No, you know what? Not even whites. Nobody gets any rights. Ahhh... America!

[u/runthepoint1 → u/frogbertrocks]

So so good. I love Mcfarlane’s political commentary. He actually makes a ton of sense and he attacks hypocrisy/bullshit on all sides of the political spectrum

[u/PoolNoodleJedi → u/runthepoint1]

Seth McFarlane seems like your weird but fun, functioning alcoholic uncle. I would hang out with him.

[u/ButtsexEurope → u/poopyheadthrowaway]

Hispanic also wasn’t a thing not too long ago and were considered white.

[u/BabePigInTheCity2 → u/ButtsexEurope]

Mmmm not really. “Hispanic” isn’t a racial descriptor — it just means “of or relating to Spanish-speaking countries.” Within Hispanic societies they always have their own racial categorizations. For example, the are white Mexicans, black Mexicans, indigenous Mexicans, and Mestizo (generally referring to people of mixed, usually indigenous and European, heritage) Mexicans, who represent the majority of the population. The majority of Mexicans who migrate to the U.S. are white Mexicans, but Americans generally view Mexicans on the whole as some sort of non-white other, so we’ve taken to using the language of “white Hispanic” and “non-white Hispanic” to help maintain some degree of distinction between “typical” white people and Hispanic white people.

But yeah, all this still works in service of the point that racial categorizations are unstable, constantly changing and scientifically meaningless.

[u/sirfuzzitoes → u/BabePigInTheCity2]

To a finer point- white is considered race, Hispanic considered ethnicity. "You don't look like a Rodriguez." is a common phrase for a white Hispanic to hear.

[u/DogVacuum → u/poopyheadthrowaway]

It was interesting to watch a lot of my family, descendants of Irish and Italian ancestors, cheer on a man who turned this country against immigrants the exact same way that they did to my great grandparents.

[u/awesomesauce1030 → u/DogVacuum]

I've noticed this in my family too. My great aunt whose father came over from Germany and whose mother came over from Italy now has this insurmountable anti-immigrant stance. To me it seems like they're "in the club now" so to speak, and they want to keep it exclusive so they keep the benefits. The whole thing is wack

[u/Evenstar6132 → u/Souletu]

From my East Asian perspective, it makes much more sense to group West Asians with Europeans because they share a common ethnic and linguistic heritage (Indo-Aryan), as well as a religious one (Abrahamic). Historically both regions were heavily intertwined; they were all part of the Mediterranean cultural sphere. They even look alike, at least in my East Asian eyes.

Yet most people group West Asia with East Asia ("Asian") and put Europe in its own category, which makes no sense IMO.

[u/TheRealSlimThiccie → u/Souletu]

I honestly can't meaningfully tell between Levant/Persian people and Mediterranean people. In classical times, southern Europeans would've considered themselves to be more related to Arabs than Germans.

[u/mces97 → u/Souletu]

They would but you'd be surprised at how some white Arabs look. Like you wouldn't know sometimes. Blond hair blue eyes isn't completely uncommon.

[u/falconzord → u/mces97]

It's those Alexander the Great conquest genes

[u/Raspberry-Famous → u/Souletu]

The idea that Arabs were white was pretty uncontroversial up until we found out they had our oil underneath their countries. Racism is funny that way.

[u/Painting_Agency → u/Raspberry-Famous]

Yes, even Nazis go along okay with Arabs when it suited their purposes. It might have been in a "we'll kill you last" way, but still.

[u/TracyMorganFreeman → u/Worried_Thylacine]

Many Central Asians do have more in common with Europeans than with Africans or East Asians though.

This is especially true for a large portion of India.

[u/PomegranateSurprise → u/Worried_Thylacine]

Hispanics also rate as caucasian

[u/x10schick → u/vodkaandponies]

Exactly. According to the Census Bureau, latinos who do not specifically identify as white and people of mixed races, including those of hispanic and latin heritage, are excluded from the white category, which significantly devalues that claim. I was floored when I heard this on NPR.

[u/spicysalsandchips → u/vodkaandponies]

Latinos/hispanics are white even though we don't identify as white or are acknowledged as white by the people calling us white 🤔

[u/Generic-VR → u/spicysalsandchips]

Fun semi unrelated fact, tons of Cubans self identify as white

[u/standard-issue-man → u/vodkaandponies]

They'll just move the goalposts when whites become a minority. Italians and the Irish weren't considered "white" until the 40s.

[u/Jbw1011 → u/standard-issue-man]

Because the Irish and Italian aren’t Anglo Saxon. I guess. Idk.

[u/soundecember → u/reality72]

You could also consider that data being potentially skewed in 1950. In the early turn of the century, and post wwII, there was socially a push to assimilate. I’d be willing to bet that a whole lot more people listed themselves as “white” than actually were.

[u/TracyMorganFreeman → u/soundecember]

Well before that. See Italian and Irish immigrants.

Hell, a big part of why Columbus is celebrated was because of Italian Americans pushing for it, showing how being Italian is just as American as being German or English.

[u/Magikrat → u/TracyMorganFreeman]

Don't forget Bohemians and Slavs as well.

[u/KenDefender → u/Getoffthepogostick]

I had a stats professor who, when discussing the census, said something to the effect of "The white population is going to shrink, because Obama is considered black. A white person and a black person have a kid and most of the time they are considered black. We have historically widened the definition of white though, maybe someday even I'll get to be white!" He's half black/half Japanese. Funny guy.

[u/flakemasterflake → u/KenDefender]

You can check multi racial on the census, which is a group that has increased since 2010

[u/Salty_Paroxysm → u/Getoffthepogostick]

To quote the Big Yin, "I'm not white, I'm a kind of pale blue. It takes me two weeks in the sun to reach white".

[u/ThePatioMixer → u/Salty_Paroxysm]

My pallor could be described as something akin to fish-belly white. With a nice translucent finish.

[u/McPutio → u/Getoffthepogostick]

It's not, travel to any part of rural Europe and you'll always a majority of people whose ethnicity goes back several centuries, the only multicultural places are the capitals. USA is an exception on account of its particular inception and expansion on the XX century.

[u/mewehesheflee → u/Getoffthepogostick]

Depends what you count as "white". What about people in the ME and Pakistan?

[u/StrawberryFields_ → u/mewehesheflee]

I can't speak for anyone else but I don't feel or believed I'm perceived as white.

[u/Boner_Elemental → u/StrawberryFields_]

Well yeah, you're vegetation. Green with red berries stands out

[u/SucksToYourAssmar3 → u/Boner_Elemental]

But they are forever.

[u/itty53 → u/mewehesheflee]

This is the real takeaway here. There is no such thing as "white", it's a moving target and always has been. I'm pasty with French and Italian heritage; if I were on the East Coast 60 years ago I wouldn't be considered white on account of that Italian blood. 50 years prior to that the same would be said of Irish people.

"White" is a social construct.

[u/POGtastic → u/itty53]

if I were on the East Coast 60 years ago I wouldn't be considered white on account of that Italian blood.

My wife didn't think that Italians were white as of 2014.

Source: She made a casual remark about our "interracial relationship." I almost fell over in the Costco parking lot, I was laughing so hard. I will never, ever stop giving her shit for that.

[u/FunnyItWorkedLastTim → u/POGtastic]

I'm 1/4 Italian and my wife referred to me as "Latin". I assured her that I am as white as processed ham on wonder bread, but thanks for trying.

[u/ScreenElucidator → u/FunnyItWorkedLastTim]

You should just bust out in Pitbull or Livin La Vida Loca every so often. Start talking like Tony Montana.

[u/timrobbinsissopunk → u/POGtastic]

Please tell me you're the one of Italian decent. Paints a picture of thought like "just another way I am not racist, I married an Italian."

[u/POGtastic → u/timrobbinsissopunk]

Yep, I'm the Italian. I'm not full-blooded Italian, but I have an Italian last name, I tan pretty dark, and you don't have to go very far back in the family tree before you find pictures of guys playing seven-card stud and drinking grappa (ewwwww).

Culturally, I'm whiter than the time that Vanilla Ice rode into Honkeyville on a whitecycle.

[u/SucksToYourAssmar3 → u/POGtastic]

Dennis Hopper had a theory on this

[u/Obi_Wan_Benobi → u/POGtastic]

Word to your mother.

[u/WiscSissySaving4Op → u/POGtastic]

Lol Spaniards are the only dago left that face any discrimination and even then its just when we talk and are confused for Mexicans~

[u/onwee → u/POGtastic]

I am Chinese/Taiwanese American and my wife is Japanese Mexican, I too claim our marriage is inter-racial and I’m only 50% joking—my family and people back in Taiwan would definitely consider us a mixed couple.

[u/mikeash → u/itty53]

Barack Obama: “first black president,” 50% English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, German and Swiss ancestry.

[u/75dollars → u/mikeash]

If Obama was alive in the 1950s in Alabama, could he sit in the front of the bus?

[u/mikeash → u/75dollars]

Short answer, no. Long answer, noooooo.

[u/breath_mentz → u/mikeash]

While Obama certainly has a mixed heritage, you will find that most black people in the US hover between 15-30% European

[u/8to24 → u/breath_mentz]

Biracial people where a parent is white are always considered whatever the non-white parent is. Whiteness doesn't accept biracial child as white.

[u/0b0011 → u/8to24]

White is really just a descriptor. If the person is light enough they're considered white. That was an argument they made against slavery back in the day. You had people that were 1/4 black 3/4 white that looked white but were technically in slavery because they were born to slaves albeit 1/2 white slaves. They argued that the kids that were light enough to look "white" were white and thus shouldn't be slaves and thus the whole thing was fucked up.

[u/jert3 → u/mikeash]

Ya, I personally always found that weird, how Obama is considered black. And solely black. Even though he said it himself, he’s as black as he is white, he’s a mix.

But if your skin is black, even if you are less than a 1/4 black genetically/racially, then the media & the general public (it appears) considers the person black. Not half white or whatever, just black, like a 100% African person.

[u/Imaginary_Medium → u/jert3]

It's all such a ridiculous false construct anyway isn't it? People are silly about melanin.

[u/pinkfootthegoose → u/Imaginary_Medium]

yes it's a silly construct but it has real world consequences. i.e. being pulled over by the cops or getting a job.

[u/mikeash → u/jert3]

It’s the legacy of the One Drop Rule.

[u/leffertsave → u/jert3]

Many biracial people often proudly consider themselves both biracial and Black, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Having a wide range of skin complexions and racial heritage diversity has become a part of the Black experience in America (I can’t confirm it’s exactly the same in other parts of the world, but I imagine it probably is).

If people who are 50% (or even less) Black, who have distinctly African facial features and skin tones (and even those who don’t) want to identify as Black, it’s not your place to tell them they can’t.

[u/raanne → u/jert3]

Much of this is based on time-frames - before 2000 you could only select one race, and schools also had to report to the federal government with just one race. Now kids can select more boxes, and if you look at data there will be a separate section for multiracial, or "two or more races".

[u/ClownholeContingency → u/mikeash]

Yeah and of course when a cop sees him driving a nice car, they just activate their standard-issue 23andMe Scanner, confirm that he's half white, turn off their sirens, and allow him to go about his day.

😂

/s

[u/Legally_Brown → u/[deleted]]

Fun fact, presidents, current and former, are not allowed to drive themselves.

[u/fafalone → u/Legally_Brown]

Just on public roads. Biden drove around a pickup truck a few months ago, dubya drives all around his ranch.

And it's just a secret service policy, not an actual law. Though nobody has forced the issue yet.

[u/itsonlyastrongbuzz → u/ClownholeContingency]

You laugh, but there was absolutely something called the “paper bag test” dating back to the 19th century. African Americans lighter than a brown paper bag were treated like second class citizens, and I say that as a compliment.

They couldn’t intermingle freely in white society, but had privilege and access that darker African Americans could only dream of.

[u/Derperlicious → u/itsonlyastrongbuzz]

That actually was mainly internal to the black community but did grow from a concept in teh white community that the darker you were the more primitive you were.

[u/Jerutix → u/itsonlyastrongbuzz]

Took me a minute to realize “lighter” was color and not weight. Was legit confused, lol.

[u/ButtsexEurope → u/itsonlyastrongbuzz]

There’s still the paper bag test for historically black frats.

[u/SoDakZak → u/itty53]

As a South Dakotan construction worker, I’m Norwegian and german by heritage but my Hispanic teammates always laughed because I showed up darker than them to two-a-days.

Who cares about a flipping pigment. Share a juggling session, a beer, a campfire with anyone and everyone around you who will treat you with respect and just lift each other up.

[u/Ematio → u/SoDakZak]

I vote sodakzak for world government president.

[u/SoDakZak → u/Ematio]

My Reddit history immediately disqualifies me from any platform, creed, or belief system lmao

[u/Imaginary_Medium → u/Ematio]

Got my vote.

[u/PolicyWonka → u/mewehesheflee]

Yep. Arabs, Iranians, and other folks from the Middle East are all considered “white” according to the US census, but that’s not the standard perception.

[u/Szimplacurt → u/Getoffthepogostick]

I had a very conservative coworker at my old job. Absolute nutjob. On my last day like 5 minutes before I left he asked me, "so are you and <wife> having kids?" And I was like "yeah we plan to. Probably just one"

Coworker- "one? No. Have more. Have like...4 or 5. We need more white people. We are being outnumbered."

And I was like "ok...." and left. That was the last thing he said to me.

[u/OurOnlyWayForward]

Is this going to affect our rank in the next racial draft?

[u/TacoSmutKing → u/OurOnlyWayForward]

Colin Powell is not white

[u/OurOnlyWayForward → u/TacoSmutKing]

I guess we’ll have to see where the picks land ;) I’m optimistic

But he is white as per the trade involving OJ Simpson and Condoleezza Rice

[u/clouds31 → u/OurOnlyWayForward]

The Hispanic community chooses...

Ariana Grande!

[u/Why_You_Mad_ → u/OurOnlyWayForward]

The black delegation is probably going to try to grab Eminem this year. They're still upset that they lost Tiger Woods and they need a win.

[u/OurOnlyWayForward → u/Why_You_Mad_]

I’ll be dammed if we give up Eminem, though it would be interesting to hear what rap he comes up with if able to use the n word

[u/wildcardyeehaw]

unsurprisingly metro areas continued to grow and rural counties continued to shrink or stagnate.

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/stories/2021/08/more-than-half-of-united-states-counties-were-smaller-in-2020-than-in-2010-figure-1.jpg

[u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist → u/wildcardyeehaw]

Interesting that the rural decline is largely East of the Rockies.

[u/Chubs1224 → u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist]

Small family farms are dying. In the 21st century agriculture profits are marginal so it takes large amounts of it to support a family.

Where 100 years ago you could easily support a family on a 40 acre farm now a days it takes at least 100 with many farms measuring in the thousands or tens of thousands of acres.

Pork farms especially suffer from this as one of the least efficient input/output forms of farming in America (raising a pig costs stupid close to what it pays to slaughter a pig).

Dairy farms have become more and more focused into the few large farms as seen by the death of the local creameries (the people that drive from farm to farm collecting milk).

This adds up to much sparser population in true rural areas and in small town USA why live there when you can live in the Suburbs and work in the cities to make 20-30% more at your jobs and have access to better amenities.

It is a natural flow of economic decisions and the trend is likely to continue in the future.

[u/ty_kanye_vcool → u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist]

Out West we've got the two Ms: Mormons and Mexicans. They have more kids than your average rural family.

[u/andropogon09 → u/wildcardyeehaw]

What's going on in western N Dakota? Is that all due to fracking? If so, it's gonna be short-lived.

[u/AidenStoat → u/andropogon09]

Oil boom between 2010-2015. It already ended, but much of the population growth hasn't gone away, it's plateaued since.

[u/DepletedMitochondria → u/wildcardyeehaw]

NYC's and Texas's growth is insane

[u/Spunyun4funyuns → u/wildcardyeehaw]

Is this why my rent has tripled and the air quality in my city has been the worst in the nation for 30 days. I’m dreaming of a rural community right now

[u/ragingbuffalo → u/Spunyun4funyuns]

Good luck getting a good job in a rural community. Thats the problem

[u/pyuunpls → u/ragingbuffalo]

If only we could get good internet out there. I feel like a decent chunk of people would prefer to work their 9-5 office job from home, suit up, and go ATVing after work.

[u/notveryoriginalname2 → u/pyuunpls]

That would require breaking up a group of powerful local monopolies, and your paycheck isn't as important as their campaign contributions.

[u/SpaceCadetriment → u/notveryoriginalname2]

Also not enough companies have adopted remote work even though it's possible in so many sectors.

We spent a year working remote during pandemic and my job could not wait until they could force everyone back into the office. Productivity was higher when we could work from home. Now that cases are higher than they were in February we are still forced to be in the office. I brought up potentially going back to working remotely and management just laughed at me. Apparently since the vaccine is available there's no reason to allow remote work anymore, or ever again.

Upper management across the world is still stuck in the 1950s white collar worker idealism and thoroughly is terrified of change and not being able to control and physically monitor the average worker.

[u/ImpossibleParfait → u/SpaceCadetriment]

My job us moving offices to a smaller location and wanting people to come in at least 3x per week. I know a good portion of people just laughed and said no. If we all say no they don't have a choice. The fact of the matter is if you are good at your job you probably won't get fired over this. If you aren't good, well, you pobably you will be. I can't believe more places haven't been pushing for remote work. In my company in a high cost area and the rent for our space millions a year and for what? 90% of people in corporate America work and go home. They preach bullshit like family and corporate culture but nobody cares. If its a big deal enforce that everyone needs a Webcam and it's the same thing. I do kind of miss some people and chillen at the office with them but I'm overall happier and more productive at home. I save 3 hours a day commuting, I work longer hours, and I'm overall happier. Should be a slam dunk for companies. Don't have to pay ridiculous rent prices and your employees for the most part are happier. My company is a market research company and did internal surveys and it was over 90% people in favor of working from home and they never officially released the results. Also through the pandemic we still had quarterly growth after q1 of 2020 when every company was scaling back just in case.

[u/cruznick06 → u/pyuunpls]

One of my friends had to use satellite internet because no ISP would lay line to his house. He offered to pay for it and everything. He had to drive into town to use internet to do bookkeeping for the farm.

[u/IntrovertedIntrovert → u/ragingbuffalo]

What? You don't wanna do back breaking labor for $7.25/hr?

[u/Q_Fandango → u/IntrovertedIntrovert]

$7.25/hr? My dad paid me with a coke and a candy bar and no breaks. Kids are cheap labor 😩

[u/andropogon09 → u/ragingbuffalo]

Also shopping, food, internet, entertainment, and god forbid you experience a medical emergency.

[u/AlphaTangoFoxtrt → u/andropogon09]

Entertainment isn't bad, you just have to like outdoorsy things. Hiking, camping, fishing, shooting, ATVs, dirt bikes, snowmachines, cookouts.

Shopping isn't bad in the days of e-commerce. By yes the nearest ambulance /police are like a minimum 20 minutes out if you're lucky.

[u/TaliesinMerlin → u/ragingbuffalo]

If we can expand internet in rural communities, then more people can work remotely while living in low COL areas.

[u/weedysexdragon → u/ragingbuffalo]

Also the only entertainment is high school football.

[u/Satanus616 → u/weedysexdragon]

And opiates

[u/prailock → u/Satanus616]

Hey now, the more rural the area, the more likely they are to produce meth.

[u/[deleted] → u/Spunyun4funyuns]

As a person living in a rural area there are many disadvantages to be had; lack of jobs, infrastructure, lack of network effects, etc. but being without light pollution and being able to see the stars every night, the air and quiet are quite nice.

[u/__GayFish__]

Well, now that I can check more than one box and they've separated Asian and Pacific islander...

[u/thoselusciouslips]

I'm curious if Hispanic will integrate similar to Italian/Mediterranean in a few generations to where it isn't really considered different to other white Americans. Considering Non-hispanic white to Hispanic is almost half of all interracial/interethnic marriage in the US. we could be headed that route.

[u/Derperlicious → u/thoselusciouslips]

well thats why they ask teh questions the way they do on the census.

they ask if you are of hispanic origin. meaning did you come from places the spanish occupied long before the US became a country. and then they ask what race you identify as. So you can be hispanic white, or hispanic black or hispanic indian.

so its not really even considered a race more of a racial modifier.

[u/RegularOrMenthol → u/thoselusciouslips]

I’ve heard a statistic that by the end of the century, there will be more Americans with some kind of Latino ethnicity than those without.

EDIT: hispanic to Latino

[u/thoselusciouslips → u/RegularOrMenthol]

I wonder if that is counted by a sort of "one drop" rule or if they mean actively engaged with any amount of any Hispanic culture.

[u/DataMan9 → u/thoselusciouslips]

Actively engaged with any amount of Hispanic culture accounts for 100% of Americans

[u/Culverts_Flood_Away → u/DataMan9]

Hells yeah. I was telling my husband while we got dinner tonight that I think the taco truck is one of America's greatest contributions to international cuisine. He looked at me like I'm insane.

He's American from Dominican parents, lol. He's not a big fan of tacos, but I love 'em.

[u/dubbsmqt → u/thoselusciouslips]

I wonder how long it takes until "American" becomes a race in itself. I'm not sure how many years back one looks when determining an ethnicity

[u/-Mamba- → u/dubbsmqt]

For that to happen America would have to go through a long period of little to no immigration, which won't be happening any time soon. Although if it were to happen I'm sure the typical American and the typical Brazilian would end up looking pretty similar.

[u/NotErnieGrunfeld → u/dubbsmqt]

“American” was the most commonly marked down in Tennessee and Kentucky already. Some people have also made the argument that there’s a distinct Appalachian ethnicity

[u/LR_111 → u/dubbsmqt]

I think it would have to reach some form of mixing and stability.

[u/robbdavenport → u/dubbsmqt]

If it happens, it’s going to be a really long time. First, interracial marriage becoming the majority would have to happen. A few generations later would lead to a very interesting debate.

America has for a long time based it’s identity on being a melting pot, a nation of immigrants. How quickly that mindset changes or even to what extent it exists in younger generations is a pretty interesting topic to think t.

[u/TheShishkabob → u/dubbsmqt]

Canadian is already at that point. It's the most selected ethnicity in our census. We don't have the same social structure wherein we identify as what our grandparents (or further back) were in response to that question on a census.

[u/DerSturmbannfuror → u/thoselusciouslips]

Hispanics can be and are a mixture of many ‘races’ and some are considered and are white now. I’m thinking class will be more important than race if correct trends continue

[u/natnguyen → u/thoselusciouslips]

Yeah agreed. At every job application I identify myself as “hispanic or latino” but my roots are from Spain so I’m white AF.

[u/pheisenberg → u/thoselusciouslips]

That was the historical progression: grant “white” status to new groups as needed to maintain tyranny of the majority. I’m not sure it will continue, since white people are becoming less interested in that identity.

[u/cajunaggie08 → u/thoselusciouslips]

All of my family is from Louisiana going back over 100 years, but some of those relatives came over from Spain. I checked hispanic on the census because I do have family from spanish origin. I wouldnt consider myself hispanic on a day to day basis, but I techincally meet the definition the census was asking for despite the spanish relative being over 100 years ago.

[u/NYG_5 → u/cajunaggie08]

That's why I hate these census questions. By "blood" I'm 50% puerto rican and 50% mexican, but did I learn spanish? In high school and work, a little, but not from my family at all, except for how to say cunt. Do I know any particular traditions? No. Have I ever been to Mexico or PR, or have any real ties there? No. Whatever Hispanic stuff I really got into was from all the Peruvian friends I had, but I was always a bit of an outcast compared to all the immigrant and second generationers between them.

So what's a general new englander american supposed to put on the census? I just put white now, since I got all the recessive genes that make me look sort of russian/turkish if anything, and hispanic if its on there.

[u/GoArray → u/NYG_5]

I just put... since I... look sort of...

Sums this all up pretty well.

[u/PrizeReputation]

I mean... Isn't this obvious by virtue of how genetics work? White guy and black woman have child and it's... Black (according to society and census). We don't call Obama the nation's first semi black president

[u/EssoEssex → u/PrizeReputation]

Yes the number of people identifying as 'white alone' has gone down, but the number of multiracial people with white parentage has increased the total number of white-heritage-havers to its highest level in history (up 4.4 million from 2010). They may not be seen as white, but they are technically the progeny of white people, and the Census has kept a tally on that.

[u/rj20876 → u/PrizeReputation]

It really depends. Mixed people span a spectrum. I could pass for a tan white person unless it's mid-summer. And Obama at the other end.

[u/zhode → u/PrizeReputation]

Race is kind of a socially defined thing and what we considered white has shifted a lot over the years. And by the way we define white (we as a culture, not we as a government or anything since the census is self-reported data) it's inevitable that the number declines.

Half of this is because we seem to think that whiteness is a blank slate and that anything added to it removes the whiteness, which we can see in historical cases where we labelled people by the varying degrees of black descent (we had white, mulatto's, quadroons, and so on). Realistically most of these people were white and the majority of their family were white, but because we used to consider 1/8th black enough to be disqualifying the census data reflected it. And even though the census has since changed, culturally I don't think we've ever gotten over this notion.

Edited: As evidence of this point, another poster pointed out that descendants of 'white heritage' are up by about 4.4 million. So, descendants of white people that we don't culturally consider white.

[u/moonlightful → u/PrizeReputation]

That's the opposite of genetics

[u/Thomaswiththecru → u/PrizeReputation]

The Census tracks mixed race people. Genotype and phenotype are different things and should be regarded separately. Consider Augustus Hawkins. Would he be considered Black?

[u/Euntus]

Census bureau put out an interactive that you guys might find interesting:

https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html

Insanely, New Mexico and California lost nearly 25% of their white population. That’s a massive decline for just 10 years.

[u/GrafZeppelin127 → u/Euntus]

25%? Pssh. That’s nothin’. Look at how many black people North Dakota got! An increase of 236%!

Presumably a black family of five moved there!

[u/astanton1862 → u/GrafZeppelin127]

Actually it was the Portland Trailblazers flying home after playing the Twolves when the census man happened to be in North Dakota.

[u/x-Wild]

I think this article while technically fact, is a really good example of a horrible way to apply the word diverse and probably the worst way to judge diversity on.

[u/JimBrady86 → u/x-Wild]

For the last 15 years or so, "Diversity" has meant either fewer men or fewer white people so it would seem you're a little late to the party.

[u/BillionTonsHyperbole]

"So the meth, heroin, and suicide rates have been working according to plan."

-The Black CIA, probably. /s

[u/Gemmabeta → u/BillionTonsHyperbole]

Not to mention putting spices in food.

[u/apocolyptictodd → u/Gemmabeta]

I hate this meme. If white people didn’t like/want spices on their food explain to me what the hell the Dutch were doing in Indonesia.

[u/BroadStreetElite → u/apocolyptictodd]

It really came moreso from the depression and rationing, they didn't eat boring food because they wanted to, they were poor AF and didn't have access to what we have now, not to mention the US was not nearly as diverse in our grandparents time.

Source: Grandparents lived through depression/WW2 and I grew up poor. Now that I have money I try lots of different foods from around the world.

[u/MikoyanMaster → u/apocolyptictodd]

Or Cajun, Italian, and Hungarian cuisine in general. It's mostly self-loathing whites saying it, too.

[u/jeffro1476]

It’s the great melting pot. Most Americans like me are mutts anyways. Probably in a couple of hundred years people won’t even identify that they’re great great grandfather x5 was from another country. Probably will be state related, like grandmom was from New York.

[u/SpaceCadetriment → u/jeffro1476]

It was a surprise to me when I asked my friend and old roommate from Pisa about his family history in Italy and he's like "We really don't care, it's just been dozens of generations of Italian's."

As an American I was baffled because I thought Italian's were all about ancestry and roots. Turns out that is a very Italian American thing, the average Italian has family going back centuries, not decades.

[u/Diggledorgle → u/SpaceCadetriment]

As an American I was baffled because I thought Italian's were all about ancestry and roots.

Only Italian-Americans care about that.

Only Americans really care about our ancestry, since everyone aside from Native Americans came from immigrants. Also it seems to have been beaten in to our heads that our ancestry somehow matters and is important, there's commercials for DNA tests to trace it, it's brought up in school a lot, in casual conversation, it's odd.

[u/Vallkyrie → u/Diggledorgle]

It'll die down over generations I'm sure. I still have living relatives here in the US whose primary language is Italian, and up until maybe 10 years ago there was the same on the other side of my family speaking Canadian French. The immigration wave is still in recent memory so it's closer to home for many of us. Lots more history over a longer time span for those in Europe, so it starts stagnating.

[u/frevensakes → u/jeffro1476]

I was very surprised to find that my family has a Native American genetic component.

That story of a French Canadian trapper who came into town for a brief season may have some validity...

[u/VersaceSamurai → u/frevensakes]

I have Native American DNA as well. I’m a 10th generation Californian and my family has quite literally been living in the same area for hundreds of years (San Bernardino county). One of my distance relatives, Antonio Maria Lugo, was one of the first landowners of Rancho San Bernardino way back in the 1840s.

My grandma and her mom kept incredibly detailed records and we even have a plotted out family tree that actually goes back the 10 generations. When I got a 23 and me test it completely matched up with her records, it was amazing.

[u/DepletedMitochondria → u/frevensakes]

Happens a lot in the US with someone maybe has 1 black great grandparent or so because there was an interracial marriage somewhere along the line (or in the South)

[u/realmastodon2 → u/jeffro1476]

My great grandmom is from the North American territories. While they live on a space station.

[u/camdoodlebop → u/realmastodon2]

sigh. how many times do people have to say this? just because your grandparents were born on earth, doesn’t make you an earthling.

[u/wynnduffyisking]

To quote Larry Wilmore: “that’s what happens in a melting pot - the stew gets darker.”

[u/DwightDEisenhowitzer]

“If you’re afraid about becoming a minority, that says a lot about how you think minorities should be treated.”

I don’t give a shit if my skin color is no longer the majority. If you truly live by judging someone on character merit rather than skin color, neither should you.

[u/-cochise → u/DwightDEisenhowitzer]

I’d say it’s more like you’re aware of how minority groups actually are treated across the world and across history.

[u/foretolder → u/-cochise]

Exactly. Most people don’t think minorities should be mistreated, but it would be naive not to recognize reality. In pretty much every country and culture throughout history, being a minority means being treated like shit.

[u/6_Hours_Ago → u/DwightDEisenhowitzer]

I want a world where vitiligo is the most common and we're all zerba people.

[u/earthgreen10 → u/DwightDEisenhowitzer]

I judge people based on the clothes they wear, not their skin color

[u/MalcolmLinair → u/DwightDEisenhowitzer]

Same here. Hell, I've lived in LA my whole life; I've never been the majority anyway, and I still don't care.

[u/ContrabassMayo → u/MalcolmLinair]

I guess the question is, are you really a cultural minority or encounter genuine diversity in your personal life? Or are you just surrounded by people who have different ethnic backgrounds but are really members of an emergent cosmopolitan culture we just don't have a good label for yet? Maybe it doesn't bother you because you were surrounded by your "tribe" this whole time and never realized it?

This would explain why some people embrace "diversity" while simultaneously express disdain towards anything that's not. "Diversity" is actually a specific culture, their culture, and it's winning, so they are happy.

You'd think someone who really appreciated diversity would recognize that globalism in general is erasing a lot of unique culture and heritage around the world and that is kind of unfortunate. I am very much willing to bet same kind of anxiety that white people in the rural midwestern US feel probably exists in rural India or China too.

[u/MeowMeow9927 → u/MalcolmLinair]

I also live in LA. I get surprised by these reports because sometimes I forget how white other parts of the country are. It certainly doesn’t bother me though. Diversity is my normal.

[u/napincoming321zzz → u/MeowMeow9927]

I will never forget meeting my college freshman roommate on move-in day. We were both white, the two girls in the room next to ours were international students from China. My roommate was flipping out (like she was so amazed) because omg that's the other side of the world! Aight, I jokingly ask her if she's even seen an Asian person before. I shit you not, her answer was 'I've seen some Jackie Chan movies.'

What. Turns out she was from a reeeeally tiny, really white town. College had a lot of culture shocks for her!

[u/reality72 → u/napincoming321zzz]

Funny enough if she went to China rural people would have the same reaction to her.

[u/michiness → u/reality72]

Yup. I lived in China, and I’m a pretty plain-looking white brunette. I got a lot of attention, especially when I went to smaller towns (or even went to touristy areas in big cities, where lots of small-town people were visiting). But my friends who were gorgeous and/or blonde or whatever got absolutely gushed over.

[u/DepletedMitochondria → u/reality72]

Exactly right. A friend of mine interned in Taiwan (tall blonde guy) and he was a popular attraction

[u/griffy013 → u/DepletedMitochondria]

I lived in Taiwan as a blonde child. Strangers would pet me.

[u/MrFrumblePDX → u/napincoming321zzz]

And stories like this where rural folks' eyes are opened the reality of different kinds of people is why people with college degrees skew to the left side of the political spectrum.

[u/the_average_homeboy → u/MeowMeow9927]

I'm so used to seeing an equal variety of people daily in LA that it feels kind of strange to travel to a place that's not diverse, like Pico Rivera. (Jk Pico, lol)

[u/Hunlea → u/MeowMeow9927]

I live in a rather diverse area myself and I have driven across the country a few times. The differences in racial breakdown hits you in the face like a board. I’m not even sure I saw a single black person the last time I drove between Salt Lake City and Iowa.

[u/myrddyna → u/Hunlea]

they're there, but you'd have to search them out, which would be sus.

[u/MihalysRevenge → u/MeowMeow9927]

I'm from New Mexico Diversity is normal and Hispanics are the Majority so it was an adjustment went I went to the midwest and the east coast.

[u/banaguana → u/DwightDEisenhowitzer]

Nah, look, it's normal to feel anxiety when most of the people around you no longer look like you, speak like you, worship like you, have the same interests as you.. when you're the predominant culture it's easy to take everything for granted. When you're not you start becoming more aware. There's going to be an adjustment period that's going to be especially hard for older people who were used to the way it was.

[u/Bagellord → u/banaguana]

Being nervous/anxious when your surroundings change is normal. It's how you act on it that determines your character.

[u/The_ranting_spider → u/banaguana]

It’s funny…

The whitest people I know are sometimes more “ethnically cultured” than myself or other POCs.

They can speak better spanish, diverse at home cooking, or even know world politics than me.

All because minorities are sharing their culture.

I don’t feel ashamed of my skin color like I use to as a kid.

The anxiety only happens to people who are sheltered.

[u/DigitalSterling → u/The_ranting_spider]

The anxiety only happens to people who are sheltered

I have family that live in predominantly white areas (im talking 90%+ white) and they have this fear of this imaginary racism they're going to be subjected to. Like one day someone is going to come to lynch them or their kids because they're white.

There's not going to be some 'great reckoning' where POC murder white people in mass. I have no idea where these people get that idea. No matter how hard I try I can't explain that the diversification of America isn't a problem but actually our life blood, my family members refuse to believe otherwise

[u/HenryWallacesGhost → u/DigitalSterling]

The poster was kinda elaborating on it, but long story short it seems this example is afraid of having done to them with what their group did to POC in the past.

[u/Jean_Zombi]

Strangely the headline also doesn’t mention the black population shrank as well. I guess that doesn’t get as many clicks.

[u/dr-dog69]

Its almost like white people are a minority on the planet

[u/Uaebliug]

Reddit: masterbates aggressively.

[u/mewehesheflee → u/Uaebliug]

No one is kink shaming you, you do you.

[u/camdoodlebop → u/mewehesheflee]

my kink is kink shaming

[u/Redraven1]

Can't wait to get to claim minority status.

[u/SuicidalTurnip]

One drop rule probably doesn't help these sorts of statistics.

[u/Hrekires]

Nothing really shocking here... population growth slowing, and people are leaving rural areas for the suburbs and cities where jobs are.

Rural areas could try to stem the brain drain, but I'm guessing the plan instead will be doubling down on the culture war shit that makes a gay person like me never want to move there.

[u/Topie2k]

I don’t necessarily believe the number of white people is shrinking; I think the number of pure bred white people is shrinking. The mixed population is increasing. For example, I’m about 75% White and 25% Latino descent. The Census would count me as a White Male with Latino descent. Even though I am still mostly white, they count me as a minority. I imagine there are tens of millions of people like me.

[u/JohnWilder1]

The headline is racist as hell. Stop acting like diversity means anything that is non white. The USA has always been the most diverse nation on earth. White people are not one single group that is all the same. We are a mix of many different cultures, languages, skin tongues etc. It seems like diversity these days means non white only. Aside from that, articles like these also act like minorities are a single group that is the same. Stop this bs.

[u/stankybones → u/JohnWilder1]

Welcome to the idiocy of using race rather than geographical markers

[u/aaa-7 → u/JohnWilder1]

Thank you I am tread of people saying the us is not diverse enough

[u/Werpoes]

Little confused about the headline tbh.

Wouldn't white people be part of the diversity? Or is it only other ethnicities that are diverse? Wouldn't that make white the 'default' ethnicity?

It's kind of gross and feels like the article is supposed to spawn controversy.

[u/safely_beyond_redemp]

That headline is gross. So all white people are the same and not part of the "diversifying". In other words when white people from all over the world get together they are just white people but everybody else is diversifying.

[u/totenbananas → u/safely_beyond_redemp]

Yeah I never understood that. As a white person in a white majority area, of course I’m not a minority. But if I went to Zimbabwe I’d suddenly become a minority. Minorities are based on surroundings, not necessarily skin color. A college that’s 90% black is stated to be diverse, when it really shouldn’t be.

[u/wildcardyeehaw → u/safely_beyond_redemp]

in this particular instance we dont distinguish between someone from guatemala and mexico any more then we do france and england.

[u/vipergirl → u/safely_beyond_redemp]

Indeed white people are not culturally homogenous at all. White is not an ethnic group.

Someone from an Italian American neighbourhood in NYC is not the same as someone from southern Appalachia who is likely to be part, if not in total, Scots-Irish, English, German, and some African Americans.

[u/Trorbes → u/safely_beyond_redemp]

First time learning about race? Yeah it's arbitrary and nonsensical, and we'd be much better off not caring, but for some reason it's super important to a lot of people.

[u/worldnews0bserver → u/safely_beyond_redemp]

In the US people don't make as big a deal about varying white ethnicities as they do in Europe.

It is what it is.

[u/Prysorra2 → u/worldnews0bserver]

I wonder if people realize a LOT of this is due to sharing a single language.

[u/HypeTrainEngineer]

This has been the trend for decades