minority the majority of population

Here we go again. Did you know, the census bureau recently released a report that said that by the year 2050 minorities (plural) will make up the majority of people in the U.S.? First of all, why is it necessary to count Americans according to racial categories? Race isn’t ethnicity, nor is it a nationality, nor is it an economic classification. We group distinct nationalities such as Japanese, Chinese and Indonesians together and call them Asian-Americans. Why? Are Americans with family ties to India categorized as Asian-American? I don’t know. I do know the Census Bureau sub-categorizes the white race into Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic whites which if we are classifying people solely by race, doesn’t make much sense. Speaking of not making much sense, first the Census Bureau classifies Americans by race then they take all the non-euro races and group them together to form a majority of minorities. Huh? I don’t think this statistical juggling would pass the scrutiny of my tenth grade math teacher.

And all this information on race is important to me because…? What minority tracking does tell me is that we white Euro- Americans (not native Americans, that’s another racial category) find it necessary to keep tabs on people that don’t look like us. When the minorities become the majority in 2050 will they have a need to track people by race?

Revised:  The latest projections move the 2050 date up to 2042.