The US census is out (NPR), and the rightwingnuts are worried. Very worried.
For the first time, the white population is in decline. While the percentage of Black people has remained constant, there are increased percentages of Latinx and Asian people (who nearly doubled). It’s likely within the next 10-20 years that the Global Majority (I love that new term) will outnumber whites in the US.
Beau of the Fifth Column is feeling jovial about it. He says,
I watch a lot of conservative talk shows and listen to conservative talk radio, and they have told me my entire life that “it’s not hard to be a minority in this country”. I don’t know what hey’re concerned about, unless of course, they’ve been lying this whole time. They knew it was unjust, and they spread the lie in an attempt to uphold it.
[. . .]
All of a sudden there’s a lot of people that are afraid because they may be the minority race in the United States. They’re truly concerned about this. If that is a concern, it is an acknowledgement that there are systemic issues in the country dealing with race that work to disadvantage certain groups. If you’re afraid of that, maybe you should start working on correcting those problems now.
[. . .]
One of the things that has always amazed me about the people in that fight is that they’re fighting for equality. They’re not fighting for vengeance.
This no doubt also explains the ludicrous “idea” republicans threw out last month, saying that only white people who have white babies should be allowed to vote. (They didn’t say the crossed out words, but you know that they meant it.) They “think” the fear of being racially outpopulated would spur on white people to outbreed non-white people, but it won’t. $50,000 cash handouts might make young white people have kids, but if it’s only given to white people, there’s no way that would pass. Not even amongst the majority of republicans.
Two of the fastest growing US cities are temporary phenomenon: The Villages, Florida and Phoenix, Arizona, the latter of which has surpassed Philadelphia as the fifth largest city in the US. Both are a result of boomers (1946-1964) retiring and moving there, but as boomers begin a mass die-off after 2025 (when their median age will by 70) their numbers will decline. Boomers may temporarily turn those states republican, but in ten years it could be a permanent reversal. The Damage Report (youtube) also has a breakdown and opinion on the census.
Remember Fox Nuisance mouthpiece John Gibson’s “editorial” from May 2006? A refresher, courtesy of Media Matters:
On the May 11 edition of Fox News’ The Big Story, host John Gibson advised viewers during the “My Word” segment of his program to “[d]o your duty. Make more babies.” He then cited a May 10 article, which reported that nearly half of all children under the age of five in the United States are minorities. Gibson added: “By far, the greatest number [of children under five] are Hispanic. You know what that means? Twenty-five years and the majority of the population is Hispanic.” Gibson later claimed: “To put it bluntly, we need more babies.” Then, referring to Russia’s projected decline in population, Gibson claimed: “So far, we are doing our part here in America but Hispanics can’t carry the whole load. The rest of you, get busy. Make babies, or put another way — a slogan for our times: ‘procreation not recreation’.”
By “we”, he obviously meant Fox Nuisance’s white audience, and white people in general.
The far right wanted a race war, and they got it. But they wanted and expected it to be a violent war they could win, since they control the weapons and the cops. Instead it was a war of hearts and minds, of ethics, decency, and concern for other people. That’s a war they could never win.
I’m pretty sure the bit about babies was just straight up trying to rig the voting population in favor of the Republican party. It would favor the Republican party in two clear ways. Republicans tend to have more children then Democrats and people with children tend to be older.