by Stacy M. Brown<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s been a poorly kept secret that the underlying reason for much of America\u2019s hate seen in recent years revolves around the fear that white people are fast losing their grip on the nation\u2019s majority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That fear has resonated and is ever-present politically and socially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Jan. 6 insurrection, former President Donald Trump and his MAGA supporters, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 assault on Black history, the uptick in hate crimes, including police brutality against African Americans, and the continued wave of \u201cKarens\u201d and \u201cKens.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Indeed, white supremacists and white nationalists, and the politicians who fuel them, see a new majority \u2013 people of color \u2013 and that has served to spark what\u2019s more and more beginning to look like an all-out civil war \u2013 or more pointedly, a race war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In April 2021, the Census Bureau released the first set of results from the 2020 decennial census, providing a snapshot of the U.S. population for use in congressional reapportionment and redistricting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But recently, the agency released more detailed census information that shows a fuller picture of the population as it stood during the once-a-decade headcount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThese new statistics make plain that substantial old-young racial gaps exist in much of the country, and are likely to persist in the near term,\u201d William H. Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is reflected in a cultural generation gap<\/a> that underlies many aspects of the nation\u2019s social fabric and politics, including views about the recent Supreme Court decision on affirmative action<\/a> and state proposals to limit teaching about race and diversity in public schools<\/a>,\u201d Frey wrote in new researched released by the Brookings Institution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The statistics show that the nation continues to age, with the fastest population growth occurring among the older population while the youth population declines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brookings\u2019s data shows white Americans contributed substantially to older population gains compared to younger and middle-aged populations, which registered white declines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Non-white residents accounted for all the gains in post-baby-boomer populations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although all race and ethnic groups are aging to some degree, the median age of white Americans is higher than all others in most geographic areas, researchers wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They said these patterns have led to a \u201cracial generation gap,\u201d in which the younger population\u2014more influenced by immigration in recent decades\u2014is far more diverse than older age groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This demographic phenomenon has been shown to underlie many aspects of American social life, including its politics, Frey wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGeneration Z will be the last generation of Americans with a white majority, according to census data,\u201d Daniel De Vise wrote for The Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe nation\u2019s so-called majority minority arrived with Generation Alpha, those born since about 2010.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n De Vise added that, \u201cbarely two decades from now, around 2045, non-Hispanic white people will fall below half a share of the overall U.S. population.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The journalist concluded that \u201cAmerica\u2019s white majority, and its numbered days, is a lightning-rod topic, given the nation\u2019s history of slavery and enduring patterns of discrimination against minorities and immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, \u201cRace is the most complicated variable in the census, and it\u2019s the one that draws people like moths to the flame,\u201d Dowell Myers, a professor of policy, planning and demography at the University of Southern California, told The Hill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Justin Gest, a professor at George Mason University\u2019s Scholar School of Policy and Government, observed that, \u201cIn this environment, nationalism has experienced a rebirth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n