1870's Political Cartoon. Anxiety about changing racial demographics is nothing new. White settlers feared that Chinese immigrants took jobs away from white men.
Whatever else may be happening here, the browning of the United States goes forward. The NY Times announced today "Whites to Be Minority in N.Y. Soon."
The article tells us: "What's happening in New York has already occurred in metropolitan areas in the West and South, including Los Angeles, Miami, Houston and San Francisco." But this demographic shift is new to the Northeast. Whites and Blacks moved away from New York in the last six years, while the metro area saw a continuing influx of Latinos and Asians.
Whites (whatever is meant by that designation) will be a minority in the total population by 2050.
Yesterday Professor Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco provided an interesting op-ed article to the Washington Post that contended that this demographic change, insofar as its cause is immigration, is proceeding more smoothly in the U.S. than in Europe. He argued that immigrants to the U.S.
- are not blocked by discrimination from acquiring education and can move into good jobs in the second generation;
- they frequently marry outside their groups rather than importing spouses from the "old country;"
- and they are able to imagine a place for themselves in the national cultural narrative that proclaims this a "nation of immigrants."
Immigrants to the U.S. are often treated badly, but in the aggregate, this country does work at inventing ways of living with diversity. Immigrant populations that were once not "white" -- the Irish, southern and eastern Europeans -- "became white" after time in this country. By 2050, very probably the definition of "white" will have changed yet again.In the United States, the current anxiety is over illegal immigration. In Europe the continuing concerns are cultural practices -- within-group marriage, arranged marriages, free speech, equality between the sexes in Muslim immigrant communities, and the separation of religion from the political process -- all of which, when combined with enduring European xenophobia and labor market discrimination, will prove to be much harder to address, let alone fix.
Not that, as Anne Braden taught, the ideology of white supremacy will not also very probably still be an enduring blemish in the national cultural narrative. The national myth that someone, even if a historically shifting someone, is lesser because "not white" originated with the enslavement of Africans and has been a constant in the country's psyche through waves of diverse immigration. If we cannot find it in ourselves to shake white supremacy completely, "whiteness" will continue to plague us, even as we become brown.
* Author Richard Rodriguez develops a nuanced discussion of "browning" of which my usage is a poor, but convenient, simplification.
2 comments:
Everybody says there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY into white countries.
The Netherlands and Belgium are more crowded than Japan or Taiwan, but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringing in millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them.
Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERY white country and ONLY white countries to "assimilate," i.e., intermarry, with all those non-whites.
What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were brought into EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries?
How long would it take anyone to realize I'm not talking about a RACE problem. I am talking about the final solution to the BLACK problem?
And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn't object to this?
But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives agree that I am a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.
They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white.
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.
"If we cannot find it in ourselves to shake white supremacy completely, "whiteness" will continue to plague us, even as we become brown."
^^^ In response to your article, how would you feel if I labelled "blackness" as a kind of "plague"? I'm sure you would consider me to be a racist biggot - and rightly so.
And yet, you are allowed - with impunity - to make such overt insinuations about the white/European race. You openly equate white identity with evil and far-right fascism - without leaving ANY room for white people to feel any pride in their race and history (there's much more to white history than slavery you know).
This is an extremely inflexible stance to take. The only way for the suppression of white identity and the promotion of "white guilt" to continue, is for the repeated use of "racist!" accusations WITH THE AIM OF SILENCING LEGITIMATE DEBATE.
I come from England (I'm 21 years old) and I am witnessing a palpable shift in the general mood of the public towards the scathingly anti-white PC agenda.
The terrosist attacks on 7/7 and the murder of Dutch film-maker Theo Van Gogh and Pim Fortuyn in the Netherlands, have had a lasting legacy. It caused many people - most notably middle class, white liberals - to re-consider their stance on multi-culturalism and MASS, unrelenting immigration. There is a real sense that mainstream political parties are ignoring public concerns and silencing dabates in order "not to rock the boat".
Instead, they shy away from discussing the difficult issues and tell us to "celebrate" the changing face of Europe. We are supposedly being "enriched" when we see riots erupting in Paris and in suburbs throughout France. 30,000 cars are burned out and hundreds of French police officers are injured in the worst violence in France for 40 years - but we're supposed to turn a blind eye?
Does it mean our nations are becoming more "vibrant" and "cosmopolitan" when we see hundreds of young Muslims in London holding placards that read "Behead those who insult Islam" and "Europe you will pay - your 9/11 is on it's way"?
I suppose we should have been greatful when the Pope was issued thousands of death threats after daring to "insult" Islam?
That is not freedom.
The particuar brand of cultural marxism that is now deeply entrenched in European (and American) politics is going to reach its sell by date sooner or later. It is quickly becoming outdated, naive and downright dangerous.
There are going to be huge social divisions in the coming decades. Tensions are already increasing - but will do so even more as communities become more divided along lines of race and religion.
And all this BEFORE the economic competition from countries like China and India really kicks in.
What do you think will happen when eventually there is an economic crisis, and unemployment increases? "It's the economy, stupid" said Bill Clinton. How right he was. There is a thin venir of civilization and it has been exposed time and time again in times of economic hardship and COMPETITION FOR RESOURCES. When this thin venir is exposed, previously stable nations begin to fragment and engage in civil conflict.
Recent examples: Iraq, Northern Ireland, former Yugoslavia, Algerian civil war, Nigerian civil war, Spanish civil war ... and countless others.
Do you think they're "celebaring cultural diversity" in Baghdad right now? Of course not - ethnic tensions have been allowed to explode.
Europe is not above fragmentation - and we should NEVER forget this fact.
White nationalism will not simply disappear. The ultimate irony is that it is the arrogance of well meaning liberals that will lead to the resurgence of right wing politics in Europe.
I hope you are still reading, because there is one final point I'd like to make which I consider to be CRUCIAL. It's this...
There is an unmistakable contrast between the politics of the older generations and the youth of today. People who lived through the 60's and 70's in their youths are typically much more left-wing/liberal than their younger counterparts (in Europe). Whilst the left is still very strong, the support for left wing, self-hating politics is dropping dramatically amongst young people around my age.
We are the students of today - but the politicians, media broadcasters, and lecturers of tomorrow. Just as our parents took their left wing PC politics with them into middle-management, so too we will take our increasingly assertive politics with us.
It is important not to underestimate that.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post.
Adam, London.
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