The news that DC is shifting from blac k majority to black plurality (via Sommer Mathis) is kind of interesting, but further down they get onto a more intriguing issue, the oft-heard claim that the USA will be "majority-minority" (i.e., plurality white rather than mostly white) by 2040:
But Lang questions whether the term "minority" will be defined the same way by then. Nearly 2 percent of the population is identified as multiracial, he noted. And that percentage is likely to rise with intermarriage among races and ethnic groups. The notion of what is "white" is also likely to shift as it has since the 1900s, when Southern and Eastern Europeans were not counted as white.
"I don't think that officially there will ever be a moment where we're at majority-minority status, because long before you get to that point, the meaning of the term majority will be completely redefined," he said.
Interestingly, I knew the history of shifting definitions of whiteness but managed to never consider the possibility that it might further shift in the future. But, of course, when you think about it that makes a lot of sense.
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Heads in the Sand
I'm not one to think that we'll ever intermarry (interprocreate?) enough so that there are no races, and I also don't think that increasing numbers of interracial people will eliminate racial conflict (let's all just make babies until there are no mare races, man!)
That said, working in an urban public school, I' amazed at the number of kids I see who I have absolutely no idea what their ethnic makeup is. And I can't help but think that that's a good thing.
Posted by Freddie | May 17, 2007 11:57 AM