The monochrome society

Public Interest, Fall, 1999 by Amitai Etzioni

Various demographers and social scientists have been predicting for years that the end of the white majority in the United States is near, and that there will be a majority of minorities. The issue has moved to the center of American political discourse: CNN has broadcasted a special program on the subject; President Clinton has called attention to it in his national dialogue on race relations; and numerous books and articles in recent years have addressed America's changing demography from vastly different - and frequently antagonistic - perspectives.

Some have reacted to the expected demise of the white majority with alarm or distress. Dale Maharidge, author of The Coming White Minority: California's Eruptions and America's Future, claims that by the year 2000, California's population will be less than 50 percent white. As he explains, "'Minorities' will be in the majority, a precursor to the 2050 state of racial composition nationwide, when the nation will be almost half nonwhite." According to Maharidge, "whites are scared," especially in California:

The depth of white fear is underestimated and misunderstood by progressive thinkers and the media. Whites dread the unknown and not-so-distant tomorrow when a statistical turning point will be reached that could have very bad consequences for them. They fear the change that seems to be transforming their state into something different from the rest of the United States. They fear losing not only their jobs but also their culture. Some feel that California will become a version of South Africa, in which whites will lose power when minorities are the majority.

Fearing the "browning" of America, many whites have already formed residential islands surrounded by vast ethnic communities, foreshadowing, Maharidge claims, what the rest of America might become. Whites and nonwhites alike recently passed the anti-immigrant Proposition 187, which Maharidge links to these same fears about the end of the white majority. "There is ample evidence," he concludes, "that white tension could escalate."

In contrast, John Isbister, a professor of economics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, asks us to ponder whether America is too white. He contends that the decline in the white proportion of the population is a healthy development for the country, because it will gradually replace a majority-minority confrontation with interactions between groups of more equal size and influence. He further notes that "the principal case for a falling white proportion is simply this: it will be easier for us to transform a society of hostility and oppression into one of cooperation if we are dealing not with a majority versus several small minorities, but with groups of roughly equivalent size."

One people

As I see it, both views, that of alarm and celebration, are fundamentally wrong because these positions are implicitly and inadvertently racist: They assume that people's pigmentation or other racial attributes determine their opinions, values, and votes. In fact, very often the opposite is true. America is blessed with an economic and political system, as well as culture and core values, that while far from flawless, are embraced by most Americans of all races and ethnic groups. (To save breath, from here on, race is used to encompass ethnicity.) It is a grievous error to suggest that as America's racial mix changes so will its core values. Of course, nobody can predict what people will believe 50 years from now. But it is clear that today the races share the same basic aspirations and principles. Moreover, current trends in attitudes that are concomitant with increases in the proportion of the nonwhite population further support the thesis that while American society may well change, whites and nonwhites will largely change together.

A 1992 survey finds that most black and Hispanic Americans (86 percent and 85 percent, respectively) seek "fair treatment for all, without prejudice or discrimination." One may expect that this principle is of special concern to minorities, but white Americans feel the same way. As a result, the proportion of all Americans who agree with the quoted statement about fairness is 79 percent.

A poll of New York residents shows that the vast majority of respondents consider it very important to teach our common heritage and values. One may expect this statement to reflect a white, majoritarian view. However, minorities endorse this position more strongly than whites: 88 percent of Hispanics and 89 percent of blacks - compared to 70 percent of whites. A nationwide poll finds that equal proportions of blacks and whites, 93 percent, concur that they would vote for a black presidential candidate. Another national poll finds that over 80 percent of all respondents in every category - age, gender, race, location, education, and income - agree with the statement that freedom must be tempered by personal responsibility. Far from favoring a multicultural curriculum, approximately 85 percent of all parents, 83 percent of African-American parents, 89 percent of Hispanic parents, and 88 percent of foreign-born parents agree that "to graduate from high school, students should be required to understand the common history and ideas that tie all Americans together."