The End of White America

Demographic experts predict that by 2043, white people will no longer be a majority in America. (Although they will still be the largest racial segment of the population). The reaction to that fact depends, as with most things, on who you talk to—some, (though not all) conservatives seem to feel as though this is a bad thing, while many (though not all) liberals think that, if anything, this is a positive development, with lots of opportunities for diversity.

The perils of a non white majority America are overblown—Irish, Italians, and Chinese are quite different racially and culturally from the Anglo-Saxon men who originally settled America, but they assimilated, and with the possible (and unfair) exception of the Chinese, now make up a great deal of American culture. In fact, of all the immigrant groups to have come to America, African-Americans are the only one not to have assimilated fully into mainstream culture, and it is possible, even probable, that they would have had it not been for Reconstruction.

Irish and Italians (and others) were, when they first emigrated from the Old World, considered not quite equal to the good patriotic WASPs—after all, they had a different religion, and different language, and different customs. The fear that they wouldn’t assimilate with mainstream America and form their own country within a country was very real.

But, of course, it didn’t happen. All the immigrant groups who have come to the United States so far have assimilated quite well. There is no reason to think that it will be different for immigrants who come here today.

In fact, given the ubiquity of American pop culture around the world, assimilating is even easier. In times past, first-generation immigrants were utterly ignorant of America culture. Now, rice farmers from Thailand idolize Britney Spears. In the past, people came to America ignorant of the culture but wanting the economic opportunity. Now they come for both the culture and the money.

What would a non-white majority America look like? Probably not much different from the way it does now. Hispanics and Indians would probably have become more or less accepted as white, pop culture will probably look much the same, but with a some Mexican and Asian influences, and our Judeo-Christian value system will probably look pretty similar to what we have today. (In fact, it would probably be more conservative if anything, given Mexico’s Catholicism).

The liberal view of immigration, simplified, suggests that immigrants shouldn’t try to assimilate and should keep their original national identity and culture. That hasn’t seemed to have caught on very well among most immigrants—it’s all very well to have an unsullied culture, but it’s not (unless you happen to own an ethnic restaurant) very lucrative. It is mostly white intellectuals who seem to favor this strategy (as opposed to actual immigrants) and it’s hard to see it catching on.

Liberals might mean well, but the one way to guarantee complete white control over America is to discard the melting pot. Even if non-whites outnumber whites, that would only mean a nation in which a large, wealthy elite race controls the government and businesses, while the other races get the scraps. If the liberal vision of a “diverse” America ever comes to pass, it won’t be what they expect it to be.

But in the mean time, there is little to worry about. Our current immigration wave will assimilate, our culture will remain intact (if subtly altered), and our society will look much the same. And when (and if, considering the inherent unreliability of demographic predictions) America no longer has a white majority, America will still be America, and stronger for the new blood.