After years of predictions, it has finally come to pass: In a few years, the United States will be a nation in which whites no longer make up a majority of the population. For the first time, the U.S. Census Bureau has determined that 50.4 percent of all babies born between July 2010 and July 2011 were of African-American, Hispanic, Asian or some other ethnic origin.
Whites a minority in their own country? That’s the almost demonic perception of right wing America. There’s a vehement debate going on in blogs on the topic, not particularly surprising in xenophobic circles. The difference is that up to now, it was only discussed as a future possibility that was open to debate. Now, it’s a statistical fact that can’t be simply wished away.
The Stereotypes Run From Illiterate to Criminal
Many right-wing bloggers are trying to blame the messenger. The Eagle Forum, for example, accuses the New York Times of traditionally supporting an immigration policy that eventually led to the increase in the number of non-white immigrants. As a result, the forum claims, there has been a loss of traditional American values such as hard work, respect for the law and patriotism.
The Eagle Forum claims, “The U.S. is being transformed by immigrants who do not share those values, and who have high rates of illiteracy, illegitimacy and gang crime, and they will vote Democrat when the Democrats promise them more food stamps.” The forum also notes, “The immigrants do not share American values, so it is a good bet that they will not be voting Republican when they start voting in large numbers.”
The reference to probable voting preferences is likely to prove dead accurate, but that’s not the fault of the immigrants: It’s solely the fault of the Republicans themselves, as the liberal-leaning blog Daily Kos points out. Over recent years, the Republicans have time and again proven that their immigration policies are, in fact, isolationist. A cultural war is being waged in American political blogs that show partisan leanings; the weapons of choice are slander and humiliation. What’s the use of reading the opinions of Mary C. Curtis? The African-American multimedia journalist wrote in the Washington Post that one has to look at the list of Fortune 500 companies to determine who really wields the power in America. It’s surely not the immigrants, according to Curtis. She says she wasn’t in the least surprised by reports that non-whites would soon be in the majority.
And that’s why it didn’t cause her to hyperventilate. “If a tectonic shift in the identity of the United States of America occurred overnight, I slept right through it,” she wrote.
American “values” — the ones which the whole world supposedly admired — disappeared long time ago (if, indeed, they ever truly existed).
The ruling elite has always been careful to see that Americans’ anger is directed at one another, rather than the establishment. Thus has racism been extremely useful.
There is now a white revolt brewing, and all of the many white power groups on the fringes will start moving to the centre. We’ve already seen some of them in the Tea Party, who now have representatives in Congress. There will be even more elected over time.