I remember in the nineties when demographers and futurists predicted the day would soon come when -- because of the growth in minority populations -- whites would become the "new minority." Combining all the minority populations -- African-American, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern and others -- would equal a number greater than that of European-Americans.
Although we're not quite there yet, that day is still approaching, and the pace of that growth is quickening due to the rapid influx of Mexicans into the U.S. in recent years.
Pundits in the nineties suggested that whites would lose some of their political influence because blacks, Latinos and other minorities would forge political alliances, becoming a unified minority population and outvote the whites on critical civil rights, social and economic issues. But the blending of minorities -- the social and political forging of black and brown -- has not been occurring as many had hoped it would. Nor are the new minorities of Middle Eastern or Asian descent creating significant alliances with blacks or Latinos.
In fact, rather than coming together, minority groups in America seem to be isolating themselves in their own communities, maintaining their own languages and cultural traits. The new Latinos arrivals, generally are not assimilating into American values and language. The government-led multicultural movement has facilitated this separateness by encouraging Spanish as a second U.S. language and the private sector has bolstered this with the rapid growth of Spanish and Arabic language radio and television programming. This isolationism is enabled further by our diversity ethos that celebrates separateness more than it does inclusion. These are generalizations of course, pointing to a trend. To be sure, many new arrivals, legal and illegal, are making sincere efforts to assimilate and become Americans at least in life-style.
Some tension is being felt between the black and Latino communities across the country, especially between newly-arrived Mexican immigrants and blacks. Mexicans are moving into previously all-black urban neighborhoods and the usual friction between black and Mexican youth and young men is occurring. In extreme cases, Mexican gangs are attacking and killing black gangs members and even killing blacks who are not involved in gangs as a way to intimidate. This may end up being just another episode in the long history of neighborhood youth gangs in America. But for now it is doing nothing to foster togetherness between black and brown people. Luckily, inter-ethnic gang activity has not emerged as a problem in Detroit as it has in Los Angeles, Florida and Virginia. Many blacks are now sensing that illegal immigrants -- especially Mexicans -- are taking jobs away from blacks. We're not talking about low-paying seasonal work picking fruits and vegetables. The jobs being filled more and more by Latinos are in steady work with contract landscaping companies, building and road construction, home improvement, and nonunion trade jobs. The new workers are willing to work for less than American workers, and many employers are candid about their belief that the (mostly Mexican) immigrant workers work harder than Americans -- white or black. I am not sure how much of this occurs in Metro Detroit. But I still see few blacks working on construction crews in a city that's 90 percent black (see below). Make no mistake, legal immigration is good for America. In Southeast Michigan alone, immigrants add 15-20 percent of our gross domestic product. The poor condition of our state and city economies dictates that legal immigrants from all countries with talent, education and skills -- and those will little skill but a willingness to work -- should be encouraged to come here and help us rebuild our communities. But I'm not yet seeing any coming together of minority groups to forge a political monolith to challenge white people on social and political issues. See related posts:
