Census Shows Minorities Outnumber Whites in Texas

[ensho]

http://www.nationaljournal.com/census-shows-minorities-outnumber-whites-in-texas-20110217


Texas is a majority-minority state for the first time in a redistricting period, according to just-released census data, a fact that could complicate Republicans’ hopes for a partisan gerrymander—and make the state competitive for Democrats in future years.

Whites now account for just 45 percent of the state's population, down from 52 percent a decade ago. The Hispanic population is now 38 percent of the total population—growing by 42 percent—while the African-American population grew slightly and is now 12 percent of the total population. The state gained four congressional seats in reapportionment, largely due to minority growth: Almost 90 percent of the state's growth was from minorities.

The census findings complicate Republicans' hopes for a partisan gerrymander during this redistricting process. The Democratic lean of Hispanic voters and Voting Rights Act requirements that protect the group's voting strength from being watered down means that despite Republican control of the redistricting process, the GOP will struggle to make the map much more favorable to their party.
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the racist white panic will be interesting to watch as this unfolds.

they will even be taking their guns to their home bathrooms, poor boobies.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Our local right wing newspaper had an article about whites being "outnumbered"

by "immigrants" and "muslims". One of those Beck-ish type rants that had a bunch of half statistics and plenty of
racist implications that if we "don't watch out" etc etc.
Must be hell to be a white conservative in these parts...EVERYBODY is out to "get ya".

[ananda]

2. Shouldn't that be: most of TX population growth was due to...

... the growth of the new majority?

[NoPasaran]

7. No, there is no majority group in Texas at the moment

Of the 25,145,561 people counted in Texas in the 2010 Census, 37.6 percent were Hispanic and 45.3 percent were non- Hispanic whites. Yet Hispanics disproportionately fill the ranks of younger Texans. Hispanics comprise 48.3 percent of Texans under the age of 18, up from 40.5 percent in 2000. The percentage of non-Hispanic whites in the same age group fell to 33.8 percent from 42.6 percent in 2000, according to census data released yesterday.

The data confirm Hispanics are on pace to become the biggest ethnic group in the state by 2015, said Steve Murdock, a former U.S. Census director who teaches sociology at Rice University in Houston. A gap is forming, he said, between youthful Hispanics and aging non-Hispanic whites, known colloquially in Texas as “Anglos.”

Non-Hispanic whites now account for 68 percent of Texans 65 years and older, compared with Hispanics’ 20 percent share of that age segment, Murdock calculates. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-18/rising-young-hispanics-in-texas-poised-to-pick-up-aging-tab.html

Hispanics are on track to become the largest ethnic group in Texas in the near future and perhaps the majority further down the road, but it hasn't happened yet.

[Angry Dragon]

3. Perry was talking about seceding

Is he going to petition Mexico to be let back in??

Texas, the new Mexican state.........

[Ohio Joe]

4. I think we did a good job on this

I was a crew leader on the census in MA and we really put a lot of stress on making sure people understood that we did not share any PII (personally identifiable information) we got from them. A lot of mis-information was being spread by the right to try and get people to not participate but we were really pretty well prepared with facts for people. Of the two towns my crew did, we only had 8 residences that absolutely refused to participate and we got them anyway by using proxies.

[KamaAina]

5. And yet it's firmly controlled by (white) teabaggers

:wtf:

[NoPasaran]

8. They're the ones who vote.

It really sucks.

[KamaAina]

12. Well, why is that?

And what can we do to change it?

[NoPasaran]

13. Fair questions, I'll make a few observations

First, the Texas Democratic Party is a weak, dysfunctional. disorganized, underfunded joke of an organization. Rural areas that have very few Democratic voters have disproportionate influence on the State Democratic Executive Committee and at convention. (Party rules provide that districts vote their "full delegation strength" whether or not the actual number of delegates is present.) For the last few election cycles, rather than develop any political tactics the state party has been driven by what a few candidates and their consultants have wanted with a total lack of success is statewide races.

While the state party is a disaster, the county parties range from robust in some of the cities (like Dallas, Austin, Houston), though faction-riven battlefields (cough-San Antonio-cough) and old-fashioned political patronage fiefdoms, to barely existent is some rural areas. While being shut out in statewide races, Texas Democrats had in 2004 reversed the trend of losing seats in the Texas House and by 2009 had almost achieved parity in that body. But 2010 was a disaster, the GOP winning a 100-50 seat super majority. Now, I don't think that that's a permanent loss. We lost a lot of swing districts in what was a very anti-Obama, anti-Democrat year. We should do better next time with a hopefully friendlier political climate combined with blowback from the horrors the current legislative session will generate. However, we need strong county parties beyond what we have now if we're going to win a safe majority in the House and the state party throws up its hands and does nothing to help in that arena.

The electoral strategy of the TDP has been to try to win back a slice of moderate and conservative white voters lost to the GOP over the last couple of decades (with pretty much a total lack of success) while awaiting the "demographic jubilee"---the rise of Hispanic voters who will magically turn the state blue again. In the meantime, though, the TDP has done a piss poor job of relating to minority voters. In 2010, Bill White, our candidate for governor was careful to be in another city when President Obama spoke in Austin, lest he be linked to "that one". (Didn't matter, Rick Perry nationalized the election so well White might as well have had an Obama logo tattooed on his forehead.) I doubt many African American voters were impressed by our guy's reluctance to be seen with our first African American President. And after years of assuming that Hispanics will be the salvation of Texas Democrats, it was only a month or so ago that the TDP hired an Hispanic outreach director. (And the party website still doesn't have any content in a language other than English.)

Now, there are a few things that need to be remembered about the burgeoning Hispanic population in Texas which may limit its electoral impact. For one thing, it's a less-prosperous, younger group, and historically poor people are less likely to vote, young people are less likely to vote than their wealthier, older counterparts. And people who haven't voted before are less likely to vote than those who've already lost their ballot box virginity. So while I'm not denying that they represent a great potential gain for the Democratic side, bringing that vote in is going to require real effort and long-term commitment.

Also I should mention that in some areas which do have a great concentration of Hispanic voters the Republican Party doesn't make much of an effort so the primary becomes the "real" election. Yes, that insures a Democrat will hold that office, but then the local party doesn't put as much effort into GOTV for the general election, so we don't pick up as many votes for statewide and national candidates as we might hope.

[lunamagica]

6. Then why is it such a solid red state? I don't understand n/t

[tpsbmam]

9. Maybe it's a state in dire need of "minority" GOTV & poll watching. nt

[blogslut]

10. Not that solid

The big cities (of which, three are in the nation's top ten) are blue. The problem is the rural/less populous parts of the state. The Panhandle is no slouch population-wise and is still quite red.

[w8liftinglady]

14. because they are working two jobs. Texas is a "Right-to-work" state

so you have to work 80 hours a week to support a family.
We are a "Family values" state... that's what Perry says.

And,yes- my partner's school in the DISD is
49% Hispanic,
25% African-American
25% caucasian
1% other

and 98% below the poverty level.

[tpsbmam]

11. Hence the white bigot freak out. We have an African-American President

(maybe I should start saying "black" in his case since the white bigots can't seem to disconnect Obama from Kenya) and we have a country that is expected to be majority minority by 2050 and a state that has its share of white supremacy militias and just plain white Republican bigots. O.M.G!!!! The sky is falling!! Whites, be afraid, be very afraid!!!1!

Man, to be a fly on the wall of the Republican bigots in office right now. Would I ever love to expose their slithering, Un-American, racist behind-closed-door conversations.

[robdogbucky]

15. IMHO, Future Shock

"...In the book, Toffler defines the term "future shock" as a certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies. His shortest definition for the term is a personal perception of "too much change in too short a period of time".

A documentary film based on the book was released in 1972 with Orson Welles as on-screen narrator.

Toffler argues that society is undergoing an enormous structural change, a revolution from an industrial society to a "super-industrial society". This change will overwhelm people, the accelerated rate of technological and social change leaving them disconnected and suffering from "shattering stress and disorientation" – future shocked. Toffler stated that the majority of social problems were symptoms of the future shock. In his discussion of the components of such shock, he also popularized the term "information overload."

His analysis of that phenomenon is continued in his later publications, especially The Third Wave and Powershift..."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Shock


One of the facts that Toffler looked at in Future Shock lo' those many years ago, was the population demographic in the US and how it is changing over the years. This is exactly what he predicted, that is, in many areas the previously white majority will shift to the whites being in the minority.

We all know what that means. Yikes! The heathens are coming, the heathens are coming!

I think it is already a reality in California, that is the white population is in the minority, or if not yet, fast on its way to being fact.

This is nothing new, we could see this coming from trends. But did we, will we do anything about the adjustments in thought this change can implicate? Probably not. Probably the predictable reaction of increased racism, etc.