archive

The changing demographic face of America

Joel Perlmann and Patrick Nevada (Bard): Ethno-Racial Origin in US Federal Statistics: 1980-2020. Mixed marriages are changing the way we think about our race. Eric Liu on an America that’s more than white. Pamela Newkirk on how American democracy sustains racial inequality. Eduardo Porter on how racial identity, and its hostilities, are on the rise in American politics. There’s powerful evidence that racial attitudes drive Tea Party support. No, Trump’s anti-Muslim proposals aren’t anti-American — they’re just the latest entries in a history of American religious and racial persecution. Democrats are freely talking about systemic racism — Republicans have Donald Trump. Democrats who simply ignore the reality that people expressing concern about the changing demographic face of America are in fact concerned about the changing demographic face of America do so at their own peril. Noah Smith on how the left talks about race. White Americans’ attitudes on whether blacks and Hispanics are “givers” or “takers” is affected more by their politics than their class (and more). “My god: only 7% of conservative whites say Black people are net contributors to society”. Michael Harriot on the caucasian’s guide to talking about race.

Roy Mill (Stanford), and Luke C.D. Stein (Arizona State): Race, Skin Color, and Economic Outcomes in Early Twentieth-Century America. “Still a city of slaves”: Selma, in the words of those who live there. Donna Bailey Nurse reviews The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race in America by Michael Eric Dyson (and more and more). Rachel Charlene Lewis interviews Darryl Pinckney, author of Blackballed: The Black Vote and US Democracy. Do black political activists need to make a radical break from the conventional politics of the past, or do mainstream politicians offer the best hope for racial advancement? Jelani Cobb on the matter of black lives: A new kind of movement found its moment — what will its future be? The Rihanna generation: Daniel Rivero on how black immigrants are reshaping America.

The truth about Mexican-Americans: Julia Preston reviews Mexicans in the Making of America by Neil Foley; A Nation of Nations: A Great American Immigration Story by Tom Gjelten; The Latino Generation: Voices of the New America by Mario T. Garcia; and Latino America: How America’s Most Dynamic Population is Poised to Transform the Politics of the Nation by Matt Barreto and Gary M. Segura. David Cook Martin on how more Mexicans are leaving the US than coming across the border than coming to it. America’s Latino population, once a political sleeping giant, is poised to play a pivotal role in the 2016 American elections — and thanks to the anti-immigrant policies and rhetoric of Republican politicians, the Democratic Party could be the big winner. There are more Latino voters than ever — but there are even more Latino nonvoters.

Karan Mahajan reviews The Making of Asian America: A History by Erika Lee. The invisible Asian: George Yancy interviews David Haekwon Kim, director of the Global Humanities initiative at the University of San Francisco. The term “Asian” may be overly broad but California is stuck with it. Asian American women are closing the gap with white men, but that’s not the point. Cecilia Hyunjung Mo on why Asian Americans don’t vote Republican. Why is it still okay to make fun of Asians? It shouldn’t be — here’s how to defeat Hollywood’s racist stereotypes.