Alliance of White Anti-Racists Everywhere – Los Angeles
Demographics
Bridging the Ethnic Generation Gap: Why an Aging Population Will Depend on a New Generation of Workers
04 months ago
There is a generation gap in the United States and it is not only a difference in age. It is a difference in color as well. The predominantly white Baby Boomers are just this year beginning to reach retirement age. As they leave the labor force and the tax base over the next two decades, a new generation of Latinos and Asians will take their place in the U.S. economy as workers and taxpayers. It is the tax dollars of these immigrants and children of immigrants which will sustain the Social Security and Medicare programs upon which the Baby Boomers will rely. And it is these immigrants and children of immigrants who will become the doctors, nurses, health aides, and countless other workers upon whom so many aging Baby Boomers will depend.
This demographic transformation of U.S. society is well underway. According to analyses of Census data by William Frey of the Brookings Institution, the number of white children in the United States declined by 4.3 million between 2000 and 2010, while the number of Latino and Asian children increased by 5.5 million. As of 2010, 23 percent of all children in the United States were Latino, up from 12 percent in 1990. Only 53 percent of children were white, down from almost 70 percent in 1990. White children are already the minority in 10 states and 35 large metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, Dallas, Orlando, and Phoenix. In 2010, 49.8 percent of all infants under the age of one belonged to a racial/ethnic minority group, up from 42.4 percent in 2000.
The anti-immigrant crowd is frightened by these trends. They worry that their tax dollars are being used to pay for the education and healthcare of immigrants and the children of immigrants. In other words, they miss the point. The cost of education and healthcare for minority youth is not an “expense”; it’s an investment in the future work force and tax base of the U.S. economy. And it’s an investment in the future security of an aging white population that will become increasingly dependent upon minority workers and taxpayers in myriad ways.
Viewed from this perspective, the anti-immigrant movement looks sadly self-defeating. At the heart of the anti-immigrant agenda is a desire to somehow turn back the demographic clock to the 1950s, when native-born whites were at the top of the social hierarchy and outnumbered everyone else. But the past half century of immigration and ethnic diversification cannot be undone. Even if it could be undone, what would we gain? A smaller workforce unable to support a burgeoning population of elderly retirees? We would find ourselves in the same position as Japan, where the government is desperately trying to lure workers from abroad because one-quarter of the population is age 65 or over.
Immigrants and the children of immigrants, Latinos and Asians, are an economic resource upon which the entire U.S. economy depends. Policymakers would be well-advised to recognize this fact and invest in that resource to ensure that today’s minority students are tomorrow’s successful and productive workers. And aging white workers who are approaching retirement should recognize that this new generation of workers is an ally, not an enemy.
Photo by Christiana Care.
Nearly Half of All Babies are of Color, 2010 Census Shows
05 months ago
Only 50.2 percent of babies in the U.S. under the age of 1 are white, according to new Census data analyzed by USA Today. A sharp decline from 57.6 percent just 10 years earlier.
“We are almost at a minority-majority infant population,” Brookings Institution demographer William Frey, who analyzed the latest Census data, told USA Today. “We probably have passed it since the Census was taken” in early 2010.
In states like Texas and California, young people of color have been the majority for more than two decades. In Texas, the majority of people under age 47 are minorities, in California, under 52.
New York, Florida, New Jersey and Georgia now join 11 other states in the nation where the white population is a minority.
“These little babies … by the time they get to be in their 20s and 30s, the current racial and ethnic categories … won’t have anything close to the meaning that (they have) today,” Frey says. “When they think about white majority, it’ll be something in the history books.”
New research by Colorlines.com’s publisher, the Applied Research Center, found that in a survey of 2,400 people, the majority of respondents had no feelings one way or the other about the changing face of the U.S. (See graph to the right.) But those who said they were concerned about it were more vocal about their fears than others in the survey.
“The people who are most inclined to contribute their voices to the collective narrative on our national identity are those who are most pessimistic about it.” wrote researcher Dom Apollon of the survey findings.
What Does Record Low Migration From Mexico Mean for Immigration Reform?
07 months ago
In what could be an historic event, the number of unauthorized immigrants coming from Mexico to the United States has fallen drastically in recent years—dropping from 525,000 annually in 2000-2004 to fewer than 100,000 in 2010. In fact, unauthorized immigration from Mexico has dropped to a net rate of zero—meaning that the number of new migrants entering the United States each year is roughly equal to the number who leave or die. That is one of the central conclusions to emerge from new research by the Mexican Migration Project (MMP) at Princeton University and the Universidad de Guadalajara.
The MMP also found that the vast majority of unauthorized Mexican immigrants already in the United States are not returning to Mexico. This calls into question the effectiveness of the “attrition through enforcement” strategy promoted by restrictionists, in which SB 1070-style laws are passed in an attempt to forcefully persuade unauthorized immigrants to “self-deport.” The findings of the MMP suggest that now might be an ideal time to implement immigration reform that includes a legalization program for unauthorized immigrants living in the United States.
The MMP found that the reasons behind the drop in unauthorized immigration from Mexico are far more nuanced and complex than either anti-immigrant or pro-immigrant activists commonly believe. Mexicans have opted to stay at home not only because of the anemic U.S. economy, not only because of heightened immigration enforcement, but for a host of other reasons: the growth of educational and economic opportunities within Mexico; the high costs and dangers of being smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by violent cartels; and streamlined consular processing of certain nonimmigrant visas, allowing Mexicans greater opportunities to visit or work temporarily in the United States. Moreover, Mexico has reached a demographic milestone: its birth rate has now fallen to only two children per woman, which means far fewer job seekers in the future.
It remains to be seen how all of this will affect migratory patterns between Mexico and the United States in the future. If and when the U.S. economy picks up again and jobs become plentiful, it is likely that unauthorized immigration from Mexico will increase to some degree, just as it has in the past. Whether or not it increases enough to match the U.S. economy’s demand for workers is unknown. As the MMP research shows, this will depend in part on economic and social conditions in Mexico, not just on the health of the U.S. labor market.
Regardless of what the future may hold, it is nearly certain that the roughly 11 million unauthorized immigrants now living in the United States are not going anywhere. Approximately three-fifths of them have been here for more than a decade. Three million came here as children. And 4.5 million native-born, U.S.-citizen children have at least one unauthorized parent. In other words, most of the unauthorized immigrants now in the country are part of the U.S. social fabric. As the MMP research reveals, the recession didn’t force them out of the country, persistently high unemployment rates haven’t forced them out, the enforcement-only measures implemented by the Bush and Obama administrations aren’t working, and neither are the numerous anti-immigrant laws passed by state governments.
It is time to try a different approach. Perhaps, now that there are so few new unauthorized arrivals with which to contend, we can offer a chance at legal status to those unauthorized immigrants already living here. This would end the needless waste of billions of dollars spent each year on ineffective enforcement measures; would bring all unauthorized workers into the formal economy and tax system; and would boost the wages and purchasing power of newly legalized immigrants. This is the most practical and cost-effective way to deal with the millions of unauthorized immigrants who now call the United States home. The alternative—an endless series of costly enforcement measures that never quite work—is a dead-end.
Photo by stocksnap.
New Americans Are Among the Nation’s Top Entrepreneurs, Report Says
07 months ago
Anyone who fails to recognize that immigration fuels a sizable chunk of the U.S. economy would be well-advised to read the report released this week by the Partnership for a New American Economy, entitled The “New American” Fortune 500. According to the report, two in five Fortune 500 companies (41%) “had at least one founder who was either an immigrant or raised by someone who immigrated to the United States.” Collectively, these companies had $4.2 trillion in annual revenues and employed 10.9 million people worldwide. This is compelling evidence, argues the report, that “immigrants and their children create American jobs and drive our economy.” Yet, the report concludes, our immigration laws all too often force immigrant workers and entrepreneurs away, rather than welcoming them. As New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently put it, that amounts to “national suicide.”
Among the more detailed findings of the Partnership’s report are that Fortune 500 companies founded by immigrants:
- account for 18% (or 90) of all Fortune 500 companies.
- generate $1.7 trillion in annual revenue.
- employ 3.7 million workers worldwide.
- include AT&T, Verizon, Procter & Gamble, Pfizer, Kraft, Comcast, Intel, Merck, DuPont, Google, Cigna, Kohl’s, Colgate-Palmolive, PG&E, Sara Lee, Sun Microsystems, United States Steel, Qualcomm, eBay, Nordstrom, and Yahoo!
Fortune 500 companies founded by the children of immigrants:
- account for 23% (or 114) of all Fortune 500 companies.
- generate $2.5 trillion in annual revenue.
- employ 7.2 million workers worldwide.
- include General Electric, Bank of America, Ford, Citigroup, IBM, Costco, Boeing, Home Depot, State Farm, UPS, Apple, Walt Disney, Amazon.com, Staples, McDonald’s, Loews, Office Depot, Estée Lauder, and Harley-Davidson.
The report points out that the contributions of the “New American” entrepreneurs who founded these companies “have been essential to American prosperity.” But the report argues against complacency, saying there is “no guarantee that the next generation of top entrepreneurs will build their businesses in this country.” Other countries are becoming increasingly competitive with the United States in attracting the best and brightest from around the world. And some countries have “more welcoming immigration systems” than do we.
The report concludes that, in order to compete globally,
“we must modernize our own immigration system so that it welcomes, rather than discourages, the Fortune 500 entrepreneurs of the 21st century global economy. We must create a visa designed to draw aspiring entrepreneurs to build new businesses and create jobs here. We must give existing American companies access to hire and keep the highly skilled workers from around the world whom they need to compete. And we must stem the loss of highly skilled foreign students trained in our universities, allowing them to stay and contribute to our economy the talent in which we’ve invested.”
In short, we need an immigration system that acts in the best interests of the U.S. economy, recruiting and retaining the entrepreneurs and workers we need in order to fuel innovation and growth for decades to come.
Photo by Jorge Quinteros.
More Immigrants are Educated, Skilled Than Ever Before, Report Finds
08 months ago
A new report released by the Brookings Institution dispels the myth that all immigrants are unskilled, uneducated, and illegal. The report, entitled The Geography of Immigrant Skills: Educational Profiles of Metropolitan Areas, finds that the share of working-age immigrants in the United States who have at least a bachelor’s degree is greater than the share who lack a high-school diploma. Moreover, immigrants with college degrees outnumber immigrants without high-school diplomas by wide margins in more than two-fifths of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas.
These findings run counter to the popular perception of immigrants in the United States. As Benjamin Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Council, told the Washington Post: “Too often the immigration debate is driven by images on television of people jumping over fences. The debate has been stuck in the idea that it’s all about illegal and low-skilled workers.” However, as the Brookings report reveals, immigration to the United States is far more multi-faceted than the stereotype of the uneducated, illegal border jumper suggests.
Among the highlights of the Brookings report:
- In 1980, only 19 percent of working-age immigrants in the United States had a college degree, while nearly 40 percent lacked a high-school diploma. By 2010, however, 30 percent had a college degree and only 28 percent lacked a high-school diploma.
- In 44 of the 100 largest metropolitan areas, immigrants with college degrees outnumber immigrants without high-school diplomas by at least 25 percent. These cities include Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, Knoxville, Madison, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle, Syracuse, and Washington, DC.
The Brookings report concludes that “despite popular perceptions, there are just as many high-skilled as low-skilled working-age immigrants currently living in the United States, and the growth rate of more educated arrivals to the United States now outpaces that of immigrants with little education.” This is a crucial fact to keep in mind in the debate over immigration reform. If reform is to be truly comprehensive, it must address shortcomings not only in the legal channels for less-skilled immigration, but for high-skilled immigration as well. Immigrants fill multiple roles in our economy, at every level of skill and education. Our immigration system should reflect that reality.
Photo by Will Folsom.
A Picture of America’s Changing Demographics
010 months ago
The Center for American Progress has produced some gripping infographics illustrating emerging demographics, based on the 2010 Census data. There’s also an interactive version. The graphs highlight the huge growth in ethnic and racial diversity across the country that’s been much discussed as Census numbers have trickled out. Both the Hispanic/Latino and Asian populations have increased 43 percent respectively, while the Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander population has grown by 35 percent.
There has also been major growth in people identifying as multiracial, and 85 percent of net population growth has been of people of color. CAP also highlighted trends among youth and young adults, interracial marriage, and digital communication.
So what do all these numbers add up to mean? Thus far, mainstream media has largely declared them proof that America is increasingly post-racial. But population counts don’t speak to equity within the numbers, and multiracial identities don’t change graduation rates, for instance.
Jamilah King interviewed Colorlines co-founder Jeff Chang, author of “Who We Be: The Colorization of America,” following the November 2010 elections. Chang offered some context for these big shifts in demographics and explored the political implications of those changes.
“Boomers are 75 percent white, while those are under 18 will become a majority non-white in the next decade or so. The frontlines of the new culture wars will not be in Washington, D.C. and New York City, but the states where there is the greatest disparity in racial proportions between the generations. Brookings Institute demographer William Frey points out that Arizona, Nevada, California, Texas, New Mexico, and Florida top the list. These will be the real battleground states in the years to come,” Chang said.
Interestingly, CAP’s infographics show significant increases in Americans of color in some of those very states, and not all among Latinos, as is often the caricature offered by rightwing fear mongers. For example, California has seen a 30 percent increase in its Asian population in the last 10 years, and Nevada has seen a 115 percent increase in its Asian demographic.
Progress 2050 also made some projections based on the newly released data. According to their findings, the U.S. is set to surpass Mexico in the number of Spanish speakers by 2050, and we will also see a surge in the Muslim American population in the next 20 years.
Police Forum Recommends Limitations on Investigating Immigration Status
011 months ago
The role of local police in immigration enforcement continues to be a complex policy and legislative issue at both the state and federal level. State legislatures, for example, are contemplating bills designed to increase the role of local police in immigration enforcement while federal legislation targets cities with so-called “sanctuary policies.” And as programs like 287(g), Secure Communities and other federal/local partnerships continue to expand, local police are now more involved in identifying undocumented immigrants than ever before. Many law enforcement officers, however, find that enforcing federal immigration law may interfere with their ability to prevent crime and keep neighborhoods safe, so they have designed tailored local policies to ensure that they maintain the best possible relationship with their communities. In a new report by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), local police speak out on the difficulties of enforcing immigration laws and talk about best practices for navigating immigration issues in the future.
In Police and Immigration: How Chiefs are Leading their Communities through the Challenge, (PERF) looks at several case studies (New Haven, CT; Prince William County, VA; Montgomery County, MD; Minneapolis, MN; and various law enforcement agencies in Phoenix, AZ) to show how police efforts to engage with immigrant communities makes cities safer.
Each of these cities works with ICE in one way or another to aid in immigration enforcement. However, these cities have worked with local police on policies regarding the way police enforce federal immigration laws, i.e. when police officers can question arrestees about immigration status, when cops contact ICE, and how witnesses and victims of crime are treated. While each of the policies is different, each one was developed over time with input from various stakeholders and was custom-made to serve the best interests of the local community.
However, federal, state, and local policymakers continue to impose policies and responsibilities on local police without getting their input. In the interest of looking tough on illegal immigration, some policymakers continue to claim that these localities are giving “sanctuary” to unauthorized immigrants and to criminals, and seek to undermine all of the hard work and thought put into designing their community policing policies.
At the same time, ICE continues to expand the Secure Communities program, forcing local police to send fingerprints to DHS to be matched against immigration databases. When there’s a hit, local jails are asked to hold those individuals that ICE is interested in, at the expense of local taxpayers. While the police aren’t deputized agents making arrests for immigration violations, the effect on the community can be the same—immigrants fearful of reporting crimes to the police, endangering everyone. DHS is not giving local police jurisdictions the ability to opt out of Secure Communities, even if the locality determines it is in its own best interest to do so.
PERF’s report offers many excellent recommendations for ensuring that federal agencies consult with state and local police as they craft immigration policies—not just impose something on them after the fact. They also recommend ICE increase coordination with and responsiveness to local police agencies and be more engaged and active in explaining their policies and actions to local communities. Furthermore, the role and authority of local police needs to be more clearly defined by the federal government.
As for the police, PERF recommends officers be prohibited from arresting or detaining persons just to investigate their immigration status. Police must uphold Constitutional and civil rights, and protect crime victims and witnesses regardless of their immigration status. Similar to their recommendations for ICE, local police must engage their communities in dialogue about their policies and programs, educate their communities about their authority and actions, and develop clear, written policies and procedures regarding the handling of unauthorized immigrants.
Enacting these recommendations would go a long way toward ensuring that police and policymakers are on the same page, and that the best interest of the entire community is front-and-center in the immigration debate.
Photo by Lester Public Library.
The Wrong Side of History: Why the Anti-Immigrant Movement Will Always Lose
011 months ago
The anti-immigrant movement’s current motto could be “Desperate times call for desperate measures.” As evidence mounts that the demographic makeup of the country is changing, the current crop of immigration restrictionists know that they are gradually losing their committed base. Thus, they are pulling out every trick in the book to motivate that base to scream even louder. Most recently, House leaders of the movement tried to pit minorities, including Latinos, against immigrants by claiming that they are stealing all the low wage jobs. They are also trying to sell the point that America’s health care, public education and even environmental problems would all go away if we just deported 12 million people—desperate arguments, from a desperate group.
What are they so afraid of? The same thing that prior anti-immigrant movements fear—the loss of power for one group as its share of the population declines. Case in point: Texas.
McClatchy reports:
Texas will gain four new congressional seats based on the 2010 Census, and much of that growth was fueled by the increase in the Hispanic population, up 41.8 percent since 2000. The number of illegal immigrants in Texas is estimated at 1.6 million out of the total state population of 25.1 million.
The Washington Post’s Harold Meyerson writes:
Texas joined California as a majority-minority state: The percentage of whites in the Texas population declined from 52 percent in 2000 to 45 percent in 2010, while the percentage of Latinos rose from 32 percent to 38 percent. Nearly half of all Texans under 18 – 48 percent – are Latino.
Texas is hardly alone in this epochal demographic shift. In the first four states for which the Census Bureau released detailed information – New Jersey, Louisiana, Mississippi and Virginia – the number of whites under age 18 actually declined in the past decade. The numbers of Latinos and Asians among the young, by contrast, are soaring, and they are highest among the youngest. … Nationally, whites are now a minority – 49.9 percent – of Americans age 3 and under.
In response to these changes, pitting different ethnic groups against each other becomes an easy out, making it possible to oppose immigration while seemingly protecting minority populations. No wonder the anti-immigrant movement is resorting to selling the myth that immigrants are costing Americans money and threatening our safety. Perpetuating these paranoid hypotheses may win elections in the short run, but they won’t secure the political future. That future is more and more up for grabs, as both parties recognize that addressing immigration in a sane way is important to many of those who will come of age as voters in the next decades. Republican or Democrat, the changing face of America requires rethinking whether an anti-immigrant frame will play with people whose immigrant roots are still relatively new.
So while the anti-immigrant movement clearly has the will and the ability to keep dusting things up for the foreseeable future, their influence will fade as more and more people come to realize that you can’t stop change, you can’t win elections without being inclusive and you can’t deport your way out of our immigration problems.
Photo by Salina Canizales.
The Aftermath of the Ellensburg, WA Immigration Raid and Lessons from Past ICE Enforcement Efforts
012 months ago
BY JUAN PEDROZA, THE URBAN INSTITUTE*
On Thursday morning, January 20, ICE agents descended on mobile homes in the Ellensburg area, east of Seattle, WA. Federal agents drove in with 11 search warrants and a helicopter search light, making simultaneous arrests at 22 different locations. The coordinated effort followed an investigation involving eight federal, county, and local law enforcement entities. ICE agents arrested 14 Mexican immigrants for criminal charges (for instance, using false documents or falsely claiming U.S. citizenship) and then 16 others for non-criminal “administrative” violations. But the aftermath of the recent raid in Ellensburg replayed familiar scenes of trauma from past enforcement efforts—enforcement efforts upon which ICE can and should improve upon.
An ICE spokesperson quickly pointed out that the operation was “not a raid, not a sweep.” The arrests, however, represent a hybrid of ICE operations—something between paper audits and home arrests. During audits, employers identify unauthorized workers, who typically end up jobless (but not under arrest). During raids, Fugitive Operations Teams (FOTs) visit homes, often arresting fugitive absconders and non-fugitives alike. The January 20th arrests resemble aspects of audits and fugitive operations, and the coordinated enforcement approach has familiar consequences.
Accounts of the January 20th Ellensburg area arrests bring to mind three key findings from our studies at The Urban Institute. (See: Facing Our Future: Children in the Aftermath of Immigration Enforcement.) Between 2008 and 2009, we cataloged the experiences of 85 immigrant families in six locations across the country.
First, ICE can apply humanitarian release guidelines to worksite raids which result in at least 25 arrests. These guidelines have a positive impact on communities since reunited families typically fare better than separated families. In our study, early release dampened child- behavior and parental mental health problems. Families who remained intact were also better at coping with challenges after members’ arrest. Given such results, ICE should start applying humanitarian release guidelines in all itsoperations.
Take the recent Ellensburg, WA operation, for example, in which ICE applied humanitarian release guidelines even though the arrests were scattered across nearly two dozen homes. Three immigrants (none of whom face criminal charges) were released on the same day and await an immigration hearing. Within a week, ICE granted pre-trial release for 13 others. School officials contacted ICE and identified children at risk of being left unattended, which helped reunite families.
Second, arrests at family homes traumatize children and youth. An earlier study of ICE home arrests by the Immigration Justice Clinic (Cardozo Law School) cited instances where ICE agents kicked doors down while wielding firearms. We learned about these types of operations through interviews with 11 families affected by home arrests. In these cases, ICE agents nearly always arrested immigrants at gunpoint and usually in full view of children. Parents relayed how their children later displayed extreme withdrawal and dramatic behavior changes. Similarly, Ellensburg area parents reported the following: children have trouble sleeping; a child developed a nervous tick following his parent’s arrests; a baby lost weight after his breastfeeding mother was detained; and distressed students were unable to focus at school.
ICE agents entered family homes (in some cases, with guns drawn) during the Ellensburg area arrests. They arrested two parents and handcuffed their two teenage sons. Ricardo, 17, witnessed the entire event and recalled, “I opened the door and they pointed at me with a gun,” he said. “And I said, ‘can I please put a shirt on,’ and they said, ‘put your hands in the air.’ Then when I came out they handcuffed me and they did that to my 15-year-old brother.” Although never arrested, Ricardo told a reporter , “My heart was destroyed. I knew my life wasn’t going to be the same,” he said. “I felt bad for my older brother, because he’s almost 20 and he has to take care of a family now.” Given the damaging aftermath of home arrests, ICE should be mindful when executing warrants in people’s homes.
Finally, ongoing community support can help stabilize families’ economic and emotional distress after immigration arrests. Predictably, isolated families struggle more than those who receive assistance. The outpouring of support in Ellensburg can give families at least a toehold. Absent sustained material and in-kind donations, households go hungry and lose their homes. Amid these households’ uncertainty about the future, educators and counselors have an important role to play re-instilling a routine for families with school-age children.
ICE agents arrest hundreds of thousands of immigrants each year. Immigrant families and their communities live on the frontlines of enforcement operations. Potential opportunities such as early release and ongoing community support and the challenges associated with home arrests both argue for applying humanitarian release guidelines universally, great caution in executing warrants, and greater community involvement.
*Juan M. Pedroza is a Research Associates at The Urban Institute. The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization that examines the social, economic, and governance problems facing the nation. The views expressed above are those of the author and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.
Photo by ICE.gov.
Youth Identifying As "Mixed-Race" Doesn’t Make America Post-Race
01 year ago
The Web is still buzzing with chatter over a New York Times feature last weekend that explored how and why an increasing number of young people identify as “mixed-race.” The Census Bureau will release race-based data from its 2010 decennial count later this month, and everybody from sociologists to marketers are eagerly waiting to see what the next generation of Americans, dubbed the “Millennials,” looks like. If the Times story is correct, a whole lot more of them are people who aren’t invested in a racial identity–or, at least not a singular one.
But the story got me thinking about focus groups I’ve been conducting for the Applied Research Center, which publishes Colorlines.com, over the past few months. We’re talking in Los Angeles with separate groups of 18 to 25 year old African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans and Whites. Our project is not yet complete, but already the conversations we’ve heard within our four groups, including with a handful of respondents from multiple racial/ethnic backgrounds, suggest a significant gap between the sort of individual identities that the Times explored and the broader reality in which those young, post-identity people live.
It’d be easy for the casual reader to conclude from the Times piece that this growing group of individuals who refuse to be pigeon-holed into distinct racial or ethnic classifications will inevitably transform our society into one without racial prejudice. As the Times’ reporter explained, optimistic observers “say the blending of the races is a step toward transcending race, to a place where America is free of bigotry, prejudice and programs like affirmative action.”
Well, that sounds so nice and inevitable, doesn’t it? The problem is, it’s an optimism born of our society’s collective, subconscious yearning for relief. Relief from what, you ask? Relief from the deep discomfort we continue to feel about race, and the continued racial disparities (in high school and college graduation, unemployment, wages and work standards, homeownership, etc.) that challenge America’s understanding of itself as a place defined by equal opportunity.
As we’re finding in our focus group discussions, many young people instinctively see these disparities and, as such, continue to believe race does matter considerably in key areas of their lives and those of their peers of other races and ethnicities.
“Nothing says that you can’t go on the other side of La Brea [Avenue],” said one African-American male who was raised and went to school in South L.A., where blacks and Latinos live at poverty rates exceeding most other areas of the region. “But it’s a different world over there. [I visited] Beverley Hills High School once. They had a gym that had a pool under it. … My school didn’t even have books,” he said about his resource-poor institution.
A young Latino male from the same area had similar thoughts on racial disparities in education. His friend who was on the high school honor roll had no money for college. “He’s an immigrant,” he explained, and after being unable to afford higher education, “he fell into drugs.” “The system is not giving [immigrants] a chance to get that education” was another sentiment we heard from Latinos about racial differences in opportunities in young people’s lives.
Young Latinas we listened to spoke about family members who stay at home sick instead of going to the hospital because they don’t have money to pay for health care. An Asian participant told us about a community college classmate who worked for a mortgage company that was “less likely to give someone a loan if they had a last name that was different. Or if they did have an American last name then they felt more comfortable maybe letting them slide if they didn’t fit one of the other requirements,” she recounted. “There are certain ways they can manipulate rules to treat people differently.”
And young people of all races, including many of the white youth we’ve held discussions with so far, acknowledged that the criminal justice system is racist, given experiences with racial profiling that they or others they know have had and plainly inequitable incarceration rates.
These are all examples of how our increasingly diverse youth population understands very concretely that race does still matter in the systems (education, health care, housing, criminal justice, etc.) that surround their lives and their communities.
Do all young people readily identify contemporary racism in the opportunities and outcomes of all these systems? No. Some young folks continue to see race only as a rare inter-personal phenomenon, and some believe that money, gender and class have more influence than anything else.
But the fact that some young folks are ticking off multiple boxes on surveys to express their racial and ethnic identities doesn’t mean much if the opportunity gap between whites and people of color throughout society is not changing, too. When we see less disparity in outcomes in education, in health and health care, in housing and more, then we’ll know we’re approaching something close to a “post-racial” society.
Just as the “mixed-race” students in the Times piece have experienced some conflict with their peers of other more “traditional” racial identities, the young people we’ve interviewed in Los Angeles also spoke to us about the interracial conflict, even violence, that they’ve witnessed or experienced in their neighborhoods. Some choose not to associate with people of different races, but the ones who have built bridges across racial lines agree that “it’s about the relationships you build.”
They understand that racial progress in America will not just happen naturally over time because their generation is diversifying our population. It will take deliberate work, not a passive, collective assumption that everything will work itself out if we all just check different boxes on the Census form.