Herein lies The New York Times morning newsletter this morning, discussing census outcomes, and someone refers to the results as diversity becoming “the signature of our democracy.” Indeed. It could — and definitely seems — that way. There’s a lot to unpack, however.
What We Learned
The new data show that Hispanics accounted for about half the country’s growth over the past decade, up by about 23 percent. The Asian population grew faster than expected — up by about 36 percent, a rise that made up nearly a fifth of the country’s total. Nearly one in four Americans now identifies as either Hispanic or Asian. The Black population grew by 6 percent, an increase that represented about a tenth of the country’s growth.
Americans who identified as non-Hispanic and more than one race rose the fastest, jumping to 13.5 million from 6 million.
The white population declined for the first time in history. People who identify themselves as white on the census form have been decreasing as a share of the country’s population since the 1960s, when the United States lifted strict ethnic quotas aimed at keeping the country Northern and Western European.
That drop, of 2.6 percent, was driven in part by the aging of the white population — the median age was 44 in 2019, compared with 30 for Hispanics — and a long-running decline in the birthrate. Some social scientists theorized that another potential reason for the decrease was that more Americans who previously identified as white on the census are now choosing more than one race.
Industrial cities in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic regions saw the biggest population losses, places such as Saginaw, Flint and Detroit in Michigan; Gary, Ind.; and Youngstown, Ohio.
The relevance and fear problem
The entire reason that identity politics and nationalism and Trump and whatnot have become so popular over the last decade is because of the stats above — white people, writ large, fear their way of life changing, and they fear losing relevance, status, and position within their communities. In reality, the real enemy is technology, automation, and a decline in fertility — but it’s hard to blame those things, especially when you yourself own an iPhone and have children — and it’s much easier to blame immigrants, people not like you, etc. Remember: almost the entire human experience is organized around “in-groups” and “out-groups,” right down to the neighborhood you drive home to every day.
Shifting diversity means more fear about shifting relevance, which probably means another 10-20 years, if not more, of horrible identity politics and rancor. Fun.
The corporate diversity problem
So we’re seeing more diversity writ large — which is awesome, and hopefully even more awesome for future generations of kids who won’t grow up going to school with just people like themselves — but the corporate diversity thing is a mess, and a giant carnival ride to nowhere. It’s largely performative, feels like a PR stunt, and there’s a huge amount of white male backlash. They groan when they get invited, they check their email the whole time the trainer is speaking, and very little changes. The only real way to make white guys understand diversity is for neighborhoods to change, but that’s a complicated process too.
The other problem is that a lot of diversity initiatives have no real end goal aside from flowery language on corporate IG posts. The people who run these things are not empowered to do anything, like a SVP of Sales might be.
So we’re becoming more diverse as a country (good), but inside the institutions that pay many of us, we’re only doing performative diversity (bad). That might be an intersection point to increasingly watch.
The Chauvin CEO question
I work with some consultant guys here and there, and off the record, they tell me that when Chauvin got sentenced for the George Floyd death, a lot of CEOs were saying “Well, that’s over. Back to biz now.” What that means is, they figured this white cop gets popped for a videotaped murder, and now everyone will stop talking about diversity and we can get back to talking about financial growth. It’s obviously not even remotely that simple, but this is how the top ranks of organizations think — very black-and-white terms (literally!) and they want to focus on growth, not being all social justice-y. The latter is not fun to them, and they don’t see it as their job. This is another intersection point to watch: America, writ large, becomes more diverse, but the top of organizations stays white and middle-aged, and at some point these guys need to admit what’s happening instead of looking for another Brad from the cul-de-sac to hire. I’m not sure how this one will play out either.
The actual problems that white people face
It’s not immigrants and diversity. Those things would actually be real good for white people and their kids. (I’m speaking in broad buckets here.) The real problems are technology, lack of community, alienation/depression, fertility rates, automation, and a focus on the wrong definitions of “success.” That’s a heady bucket of things to fix, and it won’t begin tomorrow by any means, but what really threatens the standard white way of life is less jobs overall, less high-paying jobs, less kids to box-check and parade around Instagram, and shifting definitions of what it means to be successful, and/or what it means to be “an ally.” Those are the real things coming for Subdivision Sarah. It’s not Guatemalans.
Takes?
Hey Ted: You say it all here; “It’s largely performative, feels like a PR stunt, and there’s a huge amount of white male backlash. They groan when they get invited, they check their email the whole time the trainer is speaking, and very little changes. The only real way to make white guys understand diversity is for neighborhoods to change, but that’s a complicated process too.
The other problem is that a lot of diversity initiatives have no real end goal aside from flowery language on corporate IG posts. The people who run these things are not empowered to do anything, like a SVP of Sales might be.” If the Corporate world came at the issue in a less “in your face manner” maybe just maybe the “whites” would look at it differently. In your face just does not win over hearts and minds. Take the recent “in your face” approach on the covid vaccine. But alas in your face is the easy way for anyone. You are correct that the diversity understanding begins in neighborhoods. I am a BBBWG (big bald beautiful white guy) (not as big as you) who is married (soon 40 years) to a Chinese Wife I married in 82 while working in Taiwan. We have two now adult Children a Daughter (28 who was adopted from China in 94) and a Son (26 who was adopted from China in 95). Our SIL is also a China adoptee (2003) who is also 28. Our 2 year old Grandson is fully Chinese and Grandson #2 due to enter this world next month will also be. We live in a Majority Asian Community and attend a Chinese/American Church. So you can say I live diversity every day and I might understand a bit more than the normal white guy.
If the dialogue on diversity would take a less in your face manner it would go further. Let those who are uncomfortable become familiar with others of diverse nature. Build events and less stressful get togethers so people can get to know others and let them slowly become comfortable at work. But then it would take some creative action from Senior management to do this and they are really lazy in what they do.
Keep up the good words.
Roger
What do you think 🤔 Blacks and people of color have been enduring with White’s in your face priviledge knowing that half the people, aka white who are hired are less qualified and seemingly get hired and retain over POC. Yes, great article, but, the pendulum swings in opposite directions. White women voted for Trump twice in huge numbers because they’re the face of White men fears. 😞 for 🇺🇸. White Americans need to get a grip of their holier-than-thou existence, the majority of the world 7 billion people are colored, diversity is harmony.