Changing the Trajectory of Race

By DON ROLLINS

Oh boy. The news for white supremacists just keeps getting worse. First came the unprecedented galvanization of forces in response to the latest spate of unjustified police shootings; then the toppling of monuments to famous but clay-footed historical icons; and now the confirmed reality they’re living in a country fast becoming, and led by, the one they so vehemently oppose.

Its not as though resident racists weren’t paying attention a decade ago when non-partisan research firms predicted a non-White majority by mid-century. Even Fox News gave faint resistance to the obvious trends, focusing instead on this browning of America as evidence of a society gone to hell in a handbasket.

But beginning earlier this summer, residual supremacist denial of the facts is being eroded as research, such as that conducted by the US Census Bureau confirm a racist’s worst nightmare:

• Non-Whites and Latinos now comprise a majority among those 16 and younger;

• Deaths have surpassed births among non-Latino Whites;

• The median age for non-Latino Whites is nearly 44, higher than any other group;

• The percentage of persons of Asian descent has increased 30% over the past decade;

• The Black population grew by 12% between 2010 and 2020;

The White population grew by 4.3% during the same period.

Even factoring for changes in one or more of these indicators, clearly the white supremacist worldview becomes less sustainable as the century unfolds.

But there is a second siren of pending doom for racists and the institutions they aim to maintain: liberal non-Whites with federal power. The current headliners for this new wave of progressivism are congressperson Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ritchie Torres, Democratic candidate for New York’s 15th District. Both have progressive credentials, both have reputations for getting things done.

Add to the growing list Democrat Mondaire Jones, candidate for New York’s 17th District, who, if elected, would become one of the first openly gay Black men to serve in either chamber.

As with his allies from New York, the 33-year-old Jones holds a portfolio that reads like a progressive manifesto: Green New Deal; $15 minimum wage; Medicare expansion; policing reform.

He grew up in poverty and knows the sting of homophobia. Clearly Jones would be a first-person force for moving his party leftward.

Yet, more threatening to White supremacists for the long-haul, Jones and other 21st century progressives are casting a mold tailor made for a nation poised to take on a new identity - an identity rooted in diversity, intersectionality and deep personhood.

Taken together, these changes in demographics and political clout will over time change the culture of an otherwise middle-lane, middle-aged Democratic Party. And dare we be so optimistic, maybe even the trajectory of racism in America.

Don Rollins is a Unitarian Universalist minister living in Hendersonville, N.C. Email donaldlrollins@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, October 15, 2020

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