Demographics and right wing panic

There’s a number of reasons that we’re experiencing our current bout of right wing extremism taking over the Republican Party, causing them to primary anyone who is seen in public with a Democrat and pushing them to do things like, oh, side with people who think it’s just awful that women leave husbands who beat them. Having a Democrat in office who is also the first black President is right at the top of the list, of course, but it’s also just the changing face of America in general that is causing the surge of “take our country back!” sentiment. If you ever wonder what that means—specifically “from who?”—well, these statistics that were released today might be illuminating.

After years of speculation, estimates and projections, the Census Bureau has made it official: White births are no longer a majority in the United States.

Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 49.6 percent of all births in the 12-month period that ended last July, according to Census Bureau data made public on Thursday, while minorities — including Hispanics, blacks, Asians and those of mixed race — reached 50.4 percent, representing a majority for the first time in the country’s history.

The rational, non-racist reaction to this news is to say, “Huh,” and then go about your day. Not that there aren’t ramifications for this sort of thing, but mostly they stem from how racist our country continues to be. If we could get our heads straight about this, demographic changes would by and large not be a big deal, but just evidence of the fascinating evolution of American society.

Read the rest of this article at Pandagon.