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Michael P. McDonald

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The Changing Face of America

Posted: 08/11/2011 7:37 pm

"Time keeps on slipping into the future." -- Fly Like an Eagle, The Steve Miller Band

What a difference a decade makes. A new online tool from the Center for Urban Research at the City University of New York visualizes the changes in demography that have occurred between the 2000 and 2010 censuses in local communities situated in fifteen of the country's largest urban areas: Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington D.C.

The tool is simple to use, as described by the folks behind the site. The racial and ethnic composition of census blocks -- which are about the size of city blocks in urban areas -- are displayed by different colors. There are three ways to view the maps. My favorite employs a divider in the center of the screen which separates a view created from 2000 census data with a view from the 2010 data. Dragging the mouse moves the map across the divider and reveals a decade of population change.

When I use the tool to visualize the Washington D.C. area and my home county of Fairfax, Virginia; I see patterns that are playing out in a similar manner as other urban areas. Latinos and Asians -- who are experiencing population growth -- are forming new communities. In Northern Virginia, new Latino communities are emerging in Manassas and Woodbridge and new Asian communities near Fair Lakes and Reston.

Countervailing the Latino and Asian growth trends are decreasing concentrations of African-American in their communities. Demographers that I have spoken with attribute this to two factors: gentrification and children seeking job and housing opportunities outside their neighborhoods when they come of age.

As African-Americans disperse into the suburbs and Latinos and Asians move in, the percentage of Whites is decreasing throughout the entirety of Fairfax County. This is likely a contributing factor to how the region has been drifting from Red to Blue politically in recent elections, which has profound political implications for the region, the state, and the country.

The "Real Virginia" -- as George Allen infamously described it -- is giving way to the Real America, a racial and ethnic melting pot where no one race or ethnicity dominates. The Census Bureau projects by 2050, Whites -- who currently are about two-thirds of the population -- will constitute the slimmest majority in the country as a whole. So, over the next decade, expect the face of the nation to continue to evolve in a similar direction.

Try out the tool. I'm sure that you will be fascinated -- and perhaps surprised -- at how your favorite urban area is changing.

 
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01:13 AM on 08/18/2011
Well, I'm shocked! Uummm, which race exactly is having the most babies?
Now, wasn't that simple.
10:33 PM on 08/17/2011
The late, great United States of America....RIP
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
liberalbarbwire
living for the day!!!!
03:08 PM on 08/16/2011
i can see why. when you have every body under the sun jumping the border and fying in from just about every point on the earth
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MikeDu
Both salubrious and lugubrious concurrently.
01:42 PM on 08/16/2011
I'm somehow reminded of the final days of apartheid South Africa. The white government went with the line that they weren't a 'minority' governemnt, they were a majority government if you counted whites as a single large 'tribe' and subdivided the rest of the population into 5-6 other seperate tribes.
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Edward Wilkes
Poet/Stage Actor
04:46 AM on 08/16/2011
Maybe they should free Warren Jeffs so he could help to change statistics!
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liberalbarbwire
living for the day!!!!
03:05 PM on 08/16/2011
now that was funny
05:47 PM on 08/15/2011
Can't wait to become a minority, then I will finally be able to get a small business loan and help expand my business so I can hire more employees. I will never forget the day I was laughed at when I went to talk to an employee of SBA about a loan to expand my business. He laughed at me because I was a white male US Citizen and taxpayor. He said if I was a black male it would help but only a little. If I was a black female I would have a better chance, if I was a male foreigner even better chance, A female foreigner no problem.
People think that a white male business person has it made, not correct. The only questions that needs to be on any application when seeking help for the SBA iare you a US Citizen? and that should be a good thing not bad.

Jack
12:54 PM on 08/16/2011
When you apply for a SBA you go to the bank, not the SBA.

Your entire story is a lie.
01:58 PM on 08/16/2011
Sorry Steve, You need to learn facts before deciding your opinion.
My story is a fact that I will never forget
I was required to fill out application within the SBA office located in the Federal Building in my area. Then I met the SBA peson who was the person that laughed at me. You just don't know what you are talking about.

Jack
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Dbaggins
Yes, I am a model
01:22 PM on 08/20/2011
Yea, you've really really really had it tough. One day it'll all change for you. Praise the lord.
10:53 AM on 08/15/2011
In the corporate world minority/race is just a term for African Americans. Any truthful diversity executive would tell you this fact. The term minority is a meaningless word because it's not about numbers of people, but about influence/cash.
02:04 AM on 08/15/2011
So, it sounds like, in the future, that the majority of people living in America will not speak english, and will not be able to provide for their large families, Sounds like we will become Mexico!
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MikeDu
Both salubrious and lugubrious concurrently.
01:50 PM on 08/16/2011
200 years ago or so the Hudson river Dutch were worried about all the English speakers flooding the country. My paternal grandmother only spoke French and watched the county go all English during her lifetime. Language patterns shift and evolve. Nothing at all threatening about it. Its not like we're doing much with the language anyway. White suburban middle-class high school regularly flunk out of English classes despite it being their own mother tongue and the only language they know!
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Margaret Rhode
05:46 PM on 08/14/2011
The immigrants that originally settled this country loved it enough to learn the language and its laws. They initially fought the same adversities all new immigrants face-persecution and disrespect. The Irish, the Italians, the Germans, the Poles, the Scandinavians, and yes, Mexicans, were called names, refused jobs and even denied housing, but they didn't give up and earned the respect of those already here by melding in. America became their new home and they proud to be a part of it. That is what made this country great!

While some old wave of immigrants congregated in their own communities in cities-Chinatown's for example, it added to our understanding of their cultures. That tenacity to melt in and become part of America is missing in the new immigrants. They have succeeded in our voting ballots printed in different languages. The Hispanic population has succeeded in having telephone systems, "press one for English, press two for Spanish." There are whole towns in the United States where you swear you've crossed the border into Mexico. The problem is not their race, but their refusal to become a part of mainstream America. If besides their languages, they bring the same corruption to government they left behind, America will be left in the dust bin of history. Even now, kid's are being taught a far different version of America's history. The ones doing the teaching are dividing us as a nation. History cannot be changed based on someone's prejudice.
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Chi Man Sam
Newtown's tragedy can easily become your tragedy.
01:38 PM on 08/15/2011
You do realise english is not the official language of the US. If you can prove it is provide a link.
It was different when europeans came here, they had to learn english, back then you were beaten
for less. Do you know how long it takes to learn a new language?
As far as becoming part of mainstream america. Who defines what mainstream america is?
What is mainstream america, is your view of it the right one, what mainstream in florida my be compleatly different in Omaha.
Yes corruption of Goverment, really, we just had a president lie about WMD's and base on those lie's invaded a country kill over 100,000 of there people most of them innocent, at a great financial lost and lost lives. By the way how can they bring corruption to goverment if they are not a part of it, hell according to you they don't speak the language, so please tell me how did they get elected to corrupt the gov.
America is going to change, leave the past behind and become part of the process that moving forward. History will change from His Story to our story.
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Margaret Rhode
05:45 PM on 08/15/2011
You are correct that English is not our "official," language because congress has failed to pass a law that establishes it as such. And because of that, we are becoming a Tower of Bable which will lead to a lack of communication among people-one of the most important tools in a democracy. English is easy to learn if it is taught in school from kindergarten on through high-school. If a student has not learned the English language by then, they don't have much hope for success, and we see that now, based on our current education system.

You have only to look at Mexico's government and those in some Asian countries and the Middle East to understand the sort of corruption I'm speaking of. They have held the people down for centuries-with dictatorships and tyrants. While we never should have invaded Iraq, Iraq is glad to be rid of one of the worst tyrants in history, along with his evil sons.

America and its immigrants from all over the world showed the world that different races and cultures can live together in peace by becoming one nation out of many. That is the history that is changing because the new immigrants have no desire to leave the old ways behind and embrace and adopt their new country, as did past immigrants. Asians are accomplishing more because they have adapted to America much better than Latinos whose refusal to adapt is costing their children an education and success.
01:32 AM on 08/18/2011
"History will change from His Story to our story." You lost me here.
That *&^% Bush is to blame for all the citizen who don't understand or get the concept of the term/word "mainstream", in English or any other language!
We all want to move on, I personally would like it if we were moving in the right direction...
I'm just sayin'.
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TarzanaGirl
05:15 PM on 08/14/2011
I was only 3 years of age when my family moved to Los Angeles. At that time "Caucasians" were the majority. As the years passed, however, I watched Caucasians go from Majority Status to Minority Status. The majority of today's Californians are without question - "Latinos." That's why the term "minority" needs to be readjusted, depending on which part of the country you live in. The only negative factor that I've personally encountered with today's "MAJORITY" is discrimination in the job world (at least here in California) for not being bilingual. Although it would be wonderful to speak other languages (I can think of at least a dozen I'd love to be fluent in), I shouldn't have to speak anything other than English to find employment in the USA.
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1blujay
Congress belongs to the highest bidder.
01:16 AM on 08/13/2011
I hope we get a Caucasian history month before all the months are taken.
01:59 PM on 08/13/2011
Why would you need a month when white privilege is an everyday benefit?
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austinreid
Cheers, Prost, Campai, L'chayim
04:48 PM on 08/14/2011
He is saying we should have Caucasian history month when we are the minorities and we won’t have the “white privilege”. By the way “white privilege” is a thing of the past if anything now we have white burden: for example so many scholarships are not open to us. Federal and state jobs have to have certain percentages of minorities meaning some whites lose a job opportunity because they are white. That’s all fine mind you by don’t say we whites have privilege.
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Dbaggins
Yes, I am a model
01:23 PM on 08/20/2011
Whoa, methinks the concept of white privilege is a bit too complex for 1blujay
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SPQR1775
12:13 PM on 08/14/2011
WHEN YOU BECOME A MINORITY THAT WOULD BE MEANINGFUL!
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robert horwitz
09:44 PM on 08/12/2011
By the year 2050 I will have long since checked out. Frankly I won't care if Aliens from Outer Space are the dominate population in the US then.
11:48 PM on 08/11/2011
It has been estimated that "whites" will become the minority around 2050.

That means so called "minorities" (all of them total) will be the majority.

Some people (unnamed) are NOT going to get "their" country back.

What they will get is a bigger melting pot (of mixed Americans).
Yes, it is happening now.
Some refuse to see or admit it.
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SPQR1775
12:14 PM on 08/14/2011
The "socalled minority" is ALREADY the majority, but by 2050, will be the majority in overwhelmimg numbers where states like Texas will be 80% minority and places like Alaska and Montana and Dakotas will increase as the caucasions move there and to oregon, Utah and IDAHO!
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Bettaman
Former Republican - now sane
01:07 PM on 08/14/2011
Good. The more of a melting pot we become, the stronger we become, imo. Anything to rid us of that 'good ole boy' mentality is a big plus!
01:36 AM on 08/18/2011
Yep. I can tell; you really are a Proud Liberal.