Young Americans more diverse than older generations

White supremacists, already spooked by a demographic future where they are not in the majority, probably won't like this bit of news from the Census.

For the first time, people of color were a majority of people under age 16 in 2019, a sign that for this generation, the future is already here. The demographic shift is expected to grow over the coming decades, according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Thursday.

“We are browning from bottom up in our age structure,” William Frey, a senior fellow at The Brookings Institution, told the Associated Press. “This is going to be a diversified century for the United States, and it’s beginning with this youngest generation.”

It's not a new trend but the numbers mark a turning point that demographers have been predicting for decades. In 25 years, when today's young people, Gen Z and Gen Z+, will be 26 to 51 years old, the white population in the U.S. will no longer be in the majority but will still be the largest ethnic group in the nation. 

As the white population has gotten smaller, the ranks of people of color, swollen by immigrants from Asia and Latin America, is getting larger.

Of the racial groups, Asians had the biggest growth since the last Census in 2010. The Asian population has grown almost 30%, spurred by migration from Asia. India and China are the biggest contributors to the immigration rate.

Hopefully, younger generations having grown up in a  society in which diversity is a common thing in everyday life, will have a better handle on how to treat race than the generations that preceded them.

SUNDAY READ: Shift away from white majority underway in Gen Z

• 14 states already show a minority-majority of under 15-year olds. 
• The under-15 population is 50.1% nonwhite
• Today's white backlash is a result of the shifting demographics

TUFTS UNIVERSITY

Students from Tufts University hold an empowerment meeting with young Asian Americans

For the first time, non-Hispanic white residents now make up less than half (49.9%) of the nation’s under age 15 population, newly released 2018 U.S. Census Bureau estimates show. 

As population trends move away from a white majority, the popular image of what an American looks like will change. For centuries, the default identity of an American has been the white male, followed closely by the white female. We see that identity already changing among the under-15-year-olds, Gen Z.

The new census estimates, coupled with longer term projections, paint a picture of a country with an aging white population that will exist in tandem with rising racially diverse youth, according to the Brookings Institute.

There's a bit of irony in that the older, majority-white segment of the US will have to depend on the work ethic and earnings of the younger workers of color for their Social Security benefits and security of their pensions.

That bit of news should rile up the white supremacists and widen the divide between Donald Trump's insecure white supporters fearful of losing what they believe is their god-given right at the top of the heap and the growing diverse demographic seeking a piece of the American Dream.

The new data compiled by Brookings, highlight the increasing racial diversity of the nation’s overall population, for which non-Hispanic whites now comprise only slightly more than three-fifths (60.4%) of all residents. But the fact that white children under 15 have already become a minority in their age group underlines the factual trend that the nation’s diversity is percolating from the “bottom up” as the white population ages. 

Government workers and nonprofit agencies are already struggling for this demographic. Working in the public sector, I often had to smooth out the interactions between the nonprofits and county agencies adjusting their services to the new clients. The struggle is in part one of funding. In California's case, the tax dollars are not there because of Proposition 13, which limits the ability to raise taxes in order to provides these services as well as to maintain infrastructure.

This population phenomenon, which is projected to continue, emphasizes the need for institutions that focus on children and young families to proactively accommodate the interests of more racially diverse populations, as the latter will be key players in the country’s demographic and economic future.

Shifts in the nation’s racial/ethnic make-up show smaller shares of whites since 1980, when African Americans were the most dominant nonwhite group. Since then, especially large gains were made in the Hispanic population, and then later in the Asian population. In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, Asians are the largest ethnic group in two of the nine-county region and edging up in the other counties.

According to the Brookings Institute, in 2018, for the first time, the combined nonwhite population – blacks, Hispanics, Asians, persons identifying as multiracial, and other races–comprised the dominant share of the under-15 population (50.1% compared with 49.8% in 2017), with Hispanics accounting for more than a quarter of this youth demographic. This is partially due to the growth of some of the latter populations.

But these trends are also a consequence of declines in the numbers of young whites as the white population ages. In California, the population shift is hastened by white flight, as whites move to nearby states like Arizona, Oregon and Nevada, because --- well, because they can.

This under age 15 population is part of the Gen Z population, ages 21 and below in 2018, and helps to make this generation (which is 50.9% white) more racially diverse than Millennials (55.1 % white) and Gen Xers (59.7 % white).

Gen Z is also quite distinct, in terms of its race-ethnic profile, from the Baby Boomers and earlier generations, which each exceed 70% white, according to Brookings.

Visible evidence of the growing diversity among youth 15-and-under is more noticeable in some parts of the country than others. Led by Hawaii, where only 14.6 percent of these children are white, the list includes the nation’s four largest states, California, Texas, Florida, and New York. Altogether, 14 states show a minority-majority of under 15-year olds.

Eleven more states, including Illinois, Connecticut, Washington, and Colorado house under age 15 populations where racial/ethnic minorities comprise at least 40% of their residents.

A similar dispersion has taken place among the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, where the under age 15 populations are minority white in 42 metro areas and no more than 60% white in another 22. Someone from Hong Kong or Manila would feel comfortable walking around downtown San Francisco.

Those 42 metro areas include most of the nation’s major cities, and many of the most youthful diverse population areas, located in the Southwest (Houston, Dallas) and West (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas) house substantial Asian and Hispanic populations. Other metro areas back East, such as in Atlanta or Washington, D.C., two metro areas where young blacks outnumber Hispanics by 2 to 1.

Adding to the shift of a more diverse population is the slowing down of the birthrate among whites. It reflects an aging of the white population that has led to proportionately fewer women in their childbearing years. Census projections show white child losses for decades to come, with more young whites aging past 15 than being born or immigrating to the U.S.

The browning of America will be bolstered by immigration. If current immigration rates continue, most of the new immigrants will be coming from Asia. They tend to be younger and more prolific, industrious and eager to give their families their share of the American dream.

Reports like the Brookings report raises the obvious point that institutions need to adjust their services to the needs of a new and more diverse population in education, health needs, training, businesses and marketing.

The Brookings report concludes: "These demographic trends make plain that, as racially diverse younger generations become part of the labor force, tax base, and consumer base, the nation will need to balance these groups’ distinct interests and needs in areas such as education, family services, and affordable housing with the health and social support requirements of a large and faster growing older population that will be entering its post retirement years."

Beyond the world of statistics, we see real-world implications happening before our eyes.The wild-eyed violence we see at white supremacist rallies and (let's be truthful) at Trump events too, is one way that the country can react, especially when they are goaded on by racist tweets from the White House and other conservative leaders. The most vocal of Trump's supporters, afraid of losing their status and power -- politically, economically and socially -- are doing whatever they can to stop, or at the very least, slow the inevitable changes in the United States.

Short of a kumbaya moment, all of us -- no matter what ethnic group we belong to -- we have to find ways to make sure that transition from a majority white population to one that majority-minority is nonviolent and is smooth as possible. The give-and-take and push-and-pull that is sure to take place can be uncomfortable at times, but in the end, a new America will emerge. The future of the United States depends on how our country faces the greatest test since the Civil War -- a nonviolent transition.

Gen Z represents the future of America.

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Asians make up largest group of foreign-born Americans

THE NUMBER of foreign-born people in the United States grew last year to its highest share in over a century, according to Census Bureau data published on Thursday  (Sept. 14). Compared to past decades, America's newest immigrants are most likely to come from Asia, continuing a trend first noticed earlier this decade.

Overall the number of foreign-born residents in the United States is now the highest it has been since 1910, according to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Demographers analyzed the census data for the years 2010 to 2017,

Researchers found that 41 percent of immigrants during those years arrived from Asia, while 39 percent came from Latin America, reports the New York Times. Though foreign-born U.S. residents as a whole are primarily Latin American—50 percent of the population, as opposed to the 31 percent who are Asian—recent data suggests that tides are shifting.

William H. Frey from the Brookings Institute, a demographer and professor at the University of Michigan’s Population Studies Center, explains the growing demographics of Asian-American communities in the U.S. in his recently published book Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics Are Remaking America.

According to the data, Chinese and Indian residents make up the largest and second-largest portions of America’s Asian population, with the greatest numbers of both groups residing in New York City.

Los Angeles is home to the country’s largest Filipino, Vietnamese, and Korean communities, who make up the next biggest Asian populations in the nation. With the rise in immigrantion from Asia, however, Asian American communities have sprung up in Atlanta, Austin, and Raleigh, according to National Geographic.

PEW GRAPHIC

The increase took the number of foreign-born residents to 44.5 million in 2017, up 1.8 percent from a year earlier.

The administration has proposed new restrictions on legal immigration and wants to reduce the number of newcomers by 50%. Immigration authorities have stepped up efforts as well to detain and deport immigrants in the country illegally since Trump took office in January 2017.

The data also shows that 45% of the foreign-born come with college degrees, which contradicts the Trump administration's view of immigrants. 

Many of the immigrants from Asia work in the medical fields, often fulfilling the health care needs of Americans in underserved areas; school districts are importing teachers from the Philippines because fewer U.S. residents are becoming teachers because of the low pay; and addressing the positions in the high tech industry because not enough U.S. students are entering the science and math fields.

“We think of immigrants as being low-skilled workers from Latin America, but for recent arrivals that’s much less the case. People from Asia have overtaken people from Latin America,” said Frey.

Immigrants who entered the U.S. in the early part of the decade have fulfilled the five-year residency requirement prior to becoming citizens and becoming voters. Most of the new immigrants are registering as Democrats because of the anti-immigrant policies being proposed by the Republican-led administration.

According to a Pew Research Center report, all of the states with the highest proportions of foreign-born voters (California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York) are states where Democrats are making their greatest gains. Many of these states — including California, Illinois, and New Jersey — used to be fairly competitive but are now overwhelmingly blue. Others – such as Florida and Nevada — once leaned Republican but are now fairly competitive.

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ORANGE COUNTY REPORT: AAPI are a lot more complicated than a simple stereotype

Westminster in Orange County, Calif. is home to Little Saigon.

IN 2016, the Asian population became the largest ethnic group in California's Orange County, according to the Census. In the last two decades, the huge influx of Asian and Pacific Islanders has dramatically changed the character of the region. 

The relatively sudden population boom the county's institutions largely remain ignorant of the disparities and differences between the various Asians ethnic groups. At the same time, Orange County experiences ongoing anti-Asian sentiment, discrimination, and segregation.

“Despite these numbers and the rapid growth of the AA&NHPI population, there is little research available that describes the distinct cultures and histories across ethnic groups, their social, political, and economic contributions to the county, or the needs of a population whose majority is immigrants and refugees,” said Dr. Linda Trinh Vo, study co-author and UC Irving School of Humanities professor of Asian American Studies. 

A new report, Transforming Orange County: Assets and Needs of Asian Americans & Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, provides a deeper, more intimate look into the complexity of the AA&NHPI community that belies long-held stereotypes as the “model minority" or “perpetual foreigner.”

Orange County is home to the third largest Asian American & Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AA&NHPI) community in the United States comprising 21 percent of its 3-million residents. The county serves as a microcosm of the major demographic shifts taking place across the nation, placing it squarely in the midst of the growing scrutiny on the family-based immigration system. 

From 2000 to 2010, the local Asian American population jumped 41 percent, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders increased by 17 percent, compared to the county’s 6 percent total population growth, making it the fastest-growing population. With 62 percent born outside of the country, AA&NHPIs are also the county’s largest community of recent immigrants.

“Our most important policy recommendation is the collection and reporting of disaggregated data in order to better understand the nuanced diversity of the AA&NHPI community, because aggregated data conceals disparities affecting specific ethnic groups, especially Southeast Asians and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders," says Vo, one of the report's authors. "We hope this will improve understanding of the specific experiences of AA&NHPI communities and race relations more broadly in Orange County.”

 Through interviews with 20 key community leaders representing different ethnic groups and interests, the report examines the major needs and assets of the AA&NHPI population in six areas: building sustainable communities, economic development and disparities, K-12 and higher education, health care services, political participation and civic engagement, and civil rights advocacy.

“In each chapter, we share key policy recommendations that will further strengthen our community’s assets and better address needs to help promote equity and improve the quality of life for everyone in the county,” says Sylvia Kim, regional director of Advancing Justice-OC. “We hope this report can be a stepping stone for business owners, elected officials, educators, healthcare professionals, and policy makers, to enhance their understanding about the complexity of AA&NHPI communities.”

Additional policy recommendations include providing culturally and linguistically accessible outreach and counseling for each area addressed in the study, and continuing to strengthen AA&NHPI-serving community agencies, cross-ethnic coalitions and organizations that amplify the assets, needs and voices of AA&NHPI community members.

“The idea for this study began in 2016 when Sylvia Kim and I discussed the need for a baseline study of the Orange County AA&NHPI communities and their economic, social and health care needs,” said social sciences dean Bill Maurer.

A South Asian couple wed in Orange County.

Some other findings of the report:

• Homeownership among Asian Americans (58%) and NHPI (46%) is overall lower than non-Hispanic Whites (67%).6 In such an expensive county as Orange County, this disparity in homeownership is masked by the focus on wealthier overseas Asian homebuyers.
• In 2012, AA&NHPI businesses brought nearly $26 billion in revenue and over 100,000 jobs to the county. 
• 12% of Asian Americans in Orange County live in poverty (below general poverty rate of 13%), certain ethnic groups, including Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, and Cambodian, have higher-than-average poverty rates. Countywide, poverty rates for Thai Americans (20%), Vietnamese Americans (16%), and NHPI (15%) are particularly high.
• AA&NHPI could potentially represent up to 20% of Orange County voters but only currently comprise 14% of voters.
• An estimated 52,000 undocumented immigrants in Orange County identify themselves as Asian.

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Some thoughts on MLK Day 2018: be not afraid

CNN Graphic

WELL -- THIS HEADLINE should keep white nationalists awake at night. CNN has posted an article titled: 

America is changing. Bigoted slurs, immigration bans and racist rallies can't change that

The article is worth a read. It shows graphically that the standard definition of what is American is changing. 

The racist animus dividing our country must have civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. turning over in his grave. Today, (Jan. 15) on Martin Luther King Day, 2018, our country is facing the worst race relations since the 1960s.

When Donald Trump and his supporters chant "Make America Great Again," they are referring to an era that never existed for people of color. 

It was a time when many states still had laws on the books outlawing interracial marriages, racial covenants were common in deeds forbidding home sales to nonwhites, laws were still prevalent that prevented black Americans from voting, separate but equal was the law of the land, doors were closed o golf clubs, schools, businesses and social institutions to nonwhites and the opportunities for advancement to an education or in a career were few except for the privileged insiders.

During the presidential campaign, Trump exhorted his predominantly white followers to vote for him because "it's your last chance." He was able to tap into the deep uneasiness held by many white Americans of the demographic shift that is changing the face of our country that historically placed them at the top of the heap.

In the back of their minds, Trump supporters knew the coded meaning of "Make America Great Again." That campaign slogan caused the majority of white voters to cast their ballot for Trump. White men voted for him overwhelmingly.  Surprisingly, a majority of white women -- especially the suburban moms -- voted for him despite the number of women who accused Trump of sexual misconduct. 

RELATED: Who is Gary Lee? Another MLK Day, another President

In the 2016 presidential election, Trump won the majority of all the white votes in almost every category. Race trumped common sense. Race trumped the lies and playground insults that came out of Trump's mouth. Race trumped the economy. Race trumped the obvious racist attacks against Muslims, Mexicans, Blacks and immigrants.

It is not just the recent vulgar remarks Trump made about immigrants from certain countries that mark him as a racist. Even before he launched his campaign with a tirade against Mexican immigrants, his life has numerous examples of what he thinks of Blacks, Latinos, Muslims, Asians and other people of color. What makes Trump's brand of racism so frightful, is like so many other whites, he is unaware of his racism.

Based on what Trump said about the immigrants from Haiti, Africa and El Salvador, Trump continues to use race to divide our country by stoking the fears of the white majority, fears based on ignorance and racial stereotypes.

CNN is not alone with its conclusions, According to the nopartisan Pew Research Center, immigrants are driving overall workforce growth in the U.S. As the Baby Boom generation heads toward retirement, growth in the nation’s working-age population (those ages 25 to 64) will be driven by immigrants and the U.S.-born children of immigrants, at least through 2035.

CNN GRAPHIC

This demographic trend scares the bejeebers out of white supremacists.

To quote President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the "Only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Trump would have us believe that if people of color were in the majority it would mean losing the American dream, that the Constitution would no longer be the law of the land, that equality, justice and opportunity would disappear from our core values. 

I wish there was some way to convince white people that there is really nothing to fear. Those  dreams and values are universal that all men and women -- no matter what race -- cherish and hold for their families, communities and our nation.

Even though the changes are inevitable -- as CNN notes -- and most likely it will be uncomfortable. That doesn't mean it has to be turbulent if white people would just accept the colorization of our country. They need to learn to get along with a wider range of people -- something that we people of color have had to learn to do for a long time, even when it meant sometimes biting our tongues.

CN

I was at a college reunion recently, and as old college friends, we BS'd a lot. I was asked by a white friend I used to share a house with a few blocks from campus, "What was the biggest problem facing America?"

Oh, hell! I hate having to represent all the people of color in the country, I thought to myself.  But the question wasn't patronizing. It was asked in all seriousness. It didn't take long for me to answer. I said, "The truth?"

"We'd expect nothing but the truth," he said.

"White people have to learn to accept the inevitable changes that are occurring demographically and learn, that in the end, not much will change ...,: I paused ,as I tried to read his face to see if I was risking our friendship.

My friend jumped in and finished my thought: "... Except we (white guys) won't have that white privilege," he smiled.

"Right, right, right," I said in surprise. 

He gets it. His response gives me hope.

Happy MLK Day!
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