My View of The Atlantic's "The End of White America?"

The Atlantic's "The End of White America?" won't be the last time the changing demographic tone of the U.S. is given front cover status. But with the historic events of next week on our mind, its timing and resonance is extra sticky. Writer Hua Hsu (who, I can proudly say, spent some time in the pages of my magazine URB back in the day) touches on several of the major components of the racial recalibration going on in America. It doesn't take a census taker to notice the trends in this country as we evolve into a beige nation, but Hsu does a great job looking under the hood.

Unapologetically and without any cheerleading, Hsu cuts a careful balance between handing out muted props (Diddy, Russell Simmons, Tiger Woods) and empathetic examinations (the discarded aging white worker; white guilt; the defensive NASCAR crowd). But the sharpest tone of the piece comes in his thread between the fictional character Tom Buchanan, from The Great Gatsby, to modern day confrontationalists like Pat Buchanan. The MSNBC commentator is known to utter what some of the lighter hue think to themselves, that brown means down. That group points to regions like California, which leads the nation in diversity, but is also a state that struggles with a crumbling infrastructure and the perceived societal stresses of a dramatically diversifying population. In California, fears of what Pat Buchanan called a "Third World America" have been brewing for the last decade.

Part of what I always suspect comes out of articles like this, is the affirmation from some that a browner America should also mean minorities can finally stop complaining about inequalities. You've already seen the media discussion of Obama's presidency signaling the end of black politics or some sort of hopeful leap into a "post-racial" society. Don't tell this to the protesters taking to the streets of Oakland over the recent--and virtually absent from the mainstream media--police shooting of an unarmed young black man. Young, gifted and black still equals black. And we're probably a generation away before someone sharing Hsu's ancestry takes residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The end of white demographic dominance doesn't mean the same as a relinquishment of status.

But just the fact that Hsu, an Asian American that honed his early writing skills discussing black hip-hop music, wrote this piece, is evidence of the new paradigm he's discussing. The Atlantic itself represents white hegemony, maybe not through any overt force, but in its default setting. Any look into the workforce diversity in media (and advertising) over the past several years bears this out. Though as evidenced by the swift but still too token tinting of cable news over the past year, the rise of ethnic voices is a very noticeable plus in the so-called Obama generation.

A friend recently asked me why blacks claimed Obama as theirs when it's clear he's a racially transcendent president, and not only due to his ethnic mixture. It's a question that, beyond the pat answer (Well, he's black, so why can't we?), I find it hard to address. Especially since the vast majority of people that inspired me to believe in Obama were not black. In fact, just as many Asian, white and "other" friends of mine saw the landmark ascendancy of a brown faced man to the most powerful job in the world as a shattering of the constrictive racial shackles of this country. And no matter where they fit in the American chromatic graph, Obama's face in the White House is a liberating intoxicant.

But nobody's singing "Kumbaya" just yet, still so fresh from a political race that was as revealingly divisive as it was communal. As Hsu asserts, "It's possible to imagine white identity politics growing more potent and more forthright in its racial identifications in the future, as 'the real America' becomes an ever-smaller portion of, well, the real America, and as the soon-to-be white minority's sense of being besieged and disdained by a multicultural majority grows apace."

No ethnicity ever cedes control gracefully. And in modern times, only in America has the shift towards integration been so rapid. There are bound to be increased tensions and cultural backlashes for decades to come. The gulf between Sarah Palin the clown and Sarah Palin the VP-in-waiting is only growing, much to the delight of Limbaugh fans everywhere, who don't so much as fear the changes in society, as dismiss them. Diddy may get his home in the Hamptons but his music can still get hauled in front of congress or vilified for every ill of urban (and suburban) America.

Whatever the end of white America eventually means will continue to spawn debate. But one thing that seems sure is that no one group of present day minorities is power hungry enough--or monolithically in sync--to battle for some new title. My guess is that the way whites have governed thus far won't be the model for the next generation of ethnic majority stakeholders. The coming wave will be so diffused and blended into such a racial and cultural stew, that even using the simplistic anthropological definitions of the past will seem silly. Regardless, for whites and non, none of this eventuality should seem scary. In his piece, Hsu puts the future in simple nonthreatening terms for all: "This moment was not the end of white America; it was not the end of anything. It was a bridge, and we crossed it."

Can I get an Amen?

This first appeared in my blog.

Comments

[dadumdee]

The usage of white and black to describe people was orginally an adjective to describe the appearance of people. The financial incentives of chattel slavery changed this so that black began including those of mixed race whose lighter skin did not appear 'black'. These 'black' people of all different African countries and cultures began assimilating with each other and became Black people, a proper noun with a shared culture rooted in Africa, shaped by slavery and oppression, popularized by transcendence. By default, the white people who had caused this became White people, a proper noun with a shared culture rooted in Europe, shaped by colonialism and popularized by force. Our semantics has not addressed this transition from inadaquate adjectives describing people to overburdened proper nouns describing culture. What now needs to happen is a correction. The proper nouns should capitalized and the intellectual cultural forces should move to identify what is and what isn't White or Black cultural. The failure to do so has led to White and Black culture being defined by its most notorious or obnoxious components, instead of the beautiful, productive, historical ones.

[ohioan73]

You got it, Roker. Amen! I am hoping that this will be the end of "black" America, too.

My "black" history is American history. It happened in America, not on black planet. My ancestral music is the rock and roll and hip-hop and jazz and blues that the world has embraced. It is not just black music anymore. The ghettos I lived in in my lifetime were not in black town, they were in America. White people, Asians Latino Americans have all their speech peppered with 'black' slang nowadays. They are blacker than we are. Some of us blacks can't dance and don't know any slang at all. We are one. I'm tired of the labels. We all do the same stuff and listen to the same music. What's "black" anymore? Its just a label and an excuse to divide people, IMO>

[luzcannon]

AMEN!

Simplistic anthropological labels ain't cutting it, and complicated ones won't either. The puzzle is how to use our language in ways that don't rely on visual descriptors being equated with culture or behavior, without negating alterity, heritage, and pleasure in our diversity thusfar? Personally I use "Whyte" to designate white supremacists, because I wonder why people can thing that way. And as we make a beautiful mix of humanity, when can we stop talking about Black and Brown and White people, and maybe, if we HAVE to, talk about black People, brown People, white People?The emphasis has been in the wrong place IMHO.

[TommyMcCarthy]

I always enjoy Leon Roker's thought-provoking collumns,....and this one is particularly timely.

Here are four quotes from four great American leaders that seem appropriate to mention in response to some of Leon's points:

"It is impossible for anyone to make you feel inferior without your consent"

Eleanor Roosevelt


"It's amazing how much can be accomplished when one does not care who gets the credit"

Harry S. Truman


"The hope still lives;.....and the dream shall never die"

Edward M. Kennedy


"We are the change we've been waiting for"

Barack H Obama


Hail to the cheif
tm

[arvay]

The one quibble I have about this is lumping all ethnics of European descent into the category "white."

For sure, Republicans and other reactionaries have encouraged this kind of thinking for political gain. But it reminds me of an experience I had -- a Latino called me an "Anglo." I protested -- I'm not an Anglo-Saxon. Nothing against Anglo-Saxons, mind you, but 'm Eastern European and we're not WASPs. For the same reason, I usually check off "other" when asked about my race -- we have mixed Caucasian and Asian genes.

What many people mean by "white" is "not black or brown." Again, that's the backward-looking, outdated, discredited way of looking at ourselves.

I hope Hsu is wrong in predicting that "white" will become some sort of fashionable "identity." Frankly, there's so much richness among the various heritages -- Irish, Italian, German, Spanish, etc. and various mixtures of these in America, that it would be far better for people to pin part of their identity to that.

But fundamentally the REAL identity here is American, we're moving closer to realizing that as a people.

[SeanGardner]

"The one quibble I have about this is lumping all ethnics of European descent into the category "white."

I fully understand your quibble. I do. People have particular identities: Polish-Americans, Italian-Americans, etc. But Mr. Roker's point is spot on: in the not too distant future, Caucasians in this country will begin to define themselves according to color, or group identity. They will be a minority. This may seem like a scenario too hard to envision, but its coming like a tsunami.

I'd bet the farm on it.

[arvay]

I hope the wave arrives as a big yawn. I'm not eager for another way to slice/dice/divide our population.

I notice California still functions, the white "minority" status seems to have changed nothing. I really don't think we're going to see any major conflicts, concentration camps or persecutions, even though other minorities have endured such things here in earlier times. There will always be some group frictions, but that's normal in any society. Could be we're growing up a bit. :-)

[priscianusjr]

I'm not sure you do get his point, which is far from a quibble. There is no such ethnic group or identity as "Caucasian." Thus, people who seriously identify themselves first and foremost as "White" or "Caucasian" have no culture, or at best a bogus one. That's one of the main reasons they are so strident and yet insecure. Unfortunately the Republican Party has dedicated itself to keeping this false consciousness alive. We can see what strenuous efforts of lies and innuendos they made in the last election, and it still didn't work.
WASPS (not "Caucasians") have been identifying themselves as a group ever since there were blacks, American Indians, Dutch, Germans and French in this country -- i.e., from the beginning. They are an ethnic group like all the rest, except that they are the "default" culture.
Roker's (really Hsu's) point is actually pretty subtle. The WASP element is and will remain very strong and prestigious in American culture, no matter what the exact numbers. It will be still be the chief model of assimilation for the foreseeable future. Also, there is a tremendous amount of intermarriage, and it will only increase. There is much more acceptance of diversity all around, that's what the Obama thing is really about. White supremacists are only a tiny minority of "Caucasians," and a shrinking one at that.

[jade7243]

I have a quibble with your quibble. There has always been a distinction -- whether you agree with its origins or not -- between "race" and "ethnicity." While you might not be of Anglo-Saxon origin ethnically, you are, by common definition, "white." And in a society where one drop of "black" blood would be sufficient to classify you as "negroid," that distinction, between "race" and "ethnicity" has been the linchpin of how power has been distributed in this country.

When you take a hard look at how various groups are assimilated in this country, you will see that those who come closest to matching the look and ethnicity of the power dominant culture or ethnicity (the WASPs) are assimilated much easir than those with visible differences. While the Irish or the Italians suffered some discrimination, it was nowhere near that suffered by darker ethnicities and races. The common feature amongst all, including those of Jewish origins is that "white" (or comparatively "white") features predominate.

Your quibble about being "Easstern European" to me (someone of African descent or ethnicity or race) is minor: you descend from the previously desirable "European" stock, Arguing about whether Poles or Romanians or Slavs cannot be classified as "WASP" or white is silly. In the grand scheme of how this country has worked, you're white alright.

[realpolitic]

The end of white America means the end of the Republican party. They will never be able to reach out to other ethnic groups besides their WASP base. It is just not in their DNA.

[SeanGardner]

Thanks for a really great piece Leon.

Whites have always looked at African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans, Arab-Americans, Native-Americans and other non-whites as "a group" and themselves as "individuals". But as whites become a minority, will start to see themselves as a group as well.

And yes, like you wrote, "No ethnicity ever cedes control gracefully. And in modern times, only in America has the shift towards integration been so rapid. There are bound to be increased tensions and cultural backlashes for decades to come." This is true, but the coming demographic shift clearly presents opportunities for dramatic coalition building that this country has never seen before. Coalition building that just may deepen the depth and scope of domestic cultural exchange that may start incrementally with the presidency of Barack Obama.

[singforpeace]

Majority or minority is only part of the issue. Power and privilege are the two issues that will take much longer to equalize. Even with Obama in the White House. True power and privilege and the standards upon which success is measured remains unquestionably "white."

[renatam]

Bush and Cheney, failing upward on an epic scale - unaccountable to anyone - and, unapologetically GREEDY - prove the point. Neverthelss, we are moving forward because it is impossible for anyone to do worse by the American people and our Nation -- than these amoral frat boyz of privilege. Impossible.

[mommadona]

As a very white, freckled, red-headed woman, let me put this point out:

"White", in this nation's context, means "Monarchy"...European Royalty.

Just look at the East Coast (especially in those original 13 colonies) and what is 'preserved'.

I was watching Laura Bush as she introduced the new china for the White House.

It was a snapshot of the mindset of what is "right".....proper. painfully Caucasian.

I live in California and proudly observe the "Heinz 57" population - it gets more 'latte-colored' every generation.

Now, THAT'S the America I love.

Change is inevitable.
Growth is optional.

Yes, U.S./We Can!

[Balzac]

Well, those of us whites who've been counter-acting injustice perpetrated by the subjectively euro-centric institutions in the US will gain status relative to our less diplomatic brethren.

I want to get my money back from that pale, privileged aristocracy who is plundering our economy. Just because I'm white doesn't mean I'm not getting ripped off by "the man".

[renatam]

The privileges of whiteness are carefully woven into the tapestry of America. Whatever you have lost - has been measured compared to what so-called minorities have - at the hands of the designated and established norms. With that said, we are moving forward - together - because no greater damage could/can be done than the epic saga of the Reagan/Bush dynasty of the privileged frat, legacy boyz failing upward - and repatriating trillions from the American people to their privatized coffers. It is painfully obvious this non-American dynastic imitation of Euro monarchy - is toxic, greedy and dysfunctional to the extreme.

America is about to fulfill her promise -- for real. That, is a good thing.

[smittie]

Amen!
But it sure has been a long bridge to walk from there to now.

[SusanPF]

I don't think they ask if you are a minority, for food stamps. Maybe if you're old enough...they do have a special section for the elderly in the prescreening tool on line, and they have a section for immigrants. What seemed to make a difference for me in this prescreening was owning my own home, combined with my income, which I think is pitiful but they don't see it that way.
Food stamps are often used, wrongly, as a put down for minorities, but they can be used by any disadvantaged person who meets the criteria. And any assets you may have are just that, assets, and could conceivably be used to raise money for food. If you don't qualify for foodstamps it is not because you are not a minority, it is because you simply don't qualify.