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Getting ready for minority status Friday, Aug 19, 2005 By Jack Moseley Are you ready for minority status? The white population of Texas, the second most populous state in this nation, is now what the U.S. Census Bureau describes as a majority-minority state. That means there are more non-white people in the Lone Star State than Caucasians. California, which has more people than any other state, already had attained this label, as have New Mexico and Hawaii. So the question is, how long it will take for Arkansas with a mushrooming Hispanic population to reach majority-minority status? Actually, Arkansas has a way to go. According to the census folks, only about 20 percent of the people in this state are non-white, and statewide, blacks remain the largest minority population group with 15.7 percent. Maryland, Mississippi, Georgia and Arizona will become majority-minority states long before Arkansas, since each of those state already have 40 percent or better minority populations. In some parts of Arkansas ? western and northwestern parts of the state in particular ? majority-minority will come much sooner than in most of the rest of the state. The census figures are based almost entirely on the head count of Hispanics legally in Arkansas and the rest of the country. As anyone who has been living anywhere but under a rock can tell you, the seemingly endless and growing influx of illegal aliens from south of the border is evident just about anywhere you go, from Wal-Mart to hospital emergency rooms. Being a minority can be either negative or positive, of course. If you are a high school dropout, you?re a minority. If you have a college degree, you?re a minority. One status limits your opportunity to lead a full and independent life with such benefits as home ownership and freedom from welfare, while the other helps make those things possible. Minority status is something the millions in the white population of this country are going to have to learn to live with, and it won?t come quickly or easily regardless of how accepting of the change you think you may be. There will be sudden realizations you simply will not see coming, and you very likely will not find them to be positive events in your life. I remember back in my younger days when I was far more liberal than I am today, I was assigned to cover a black political convention at a recently integrated downtown hotel in Fort Worth. I even laughed at the lone picketer outside that hotel carrying a sign reading ?The Blackstone Is Integrated.? Didn?t that fool know that times had changed? But then came the sudden realization that I wasn?t quite as up to speed on social change as I thought I was. I stepped into an elevator of the Blackstone Hotel. A large group of black delegates to the convention followed me in. As more and more black people crammed in, I found myself being pushed to the back of the car. I felt surrounded and alone in a sea of black people. Suddenly, all my old East Texas upbringing flared inside me. Old prejudices erupted like a volcano in my head. All my liberal love and compassion disappeared. I really did not like being a minority in that elevator. The wave of Hispanics sweeping into the country add yet another element to the adjustment process. It?s frustrating for us white folks to be around people who don?t or won?t speak English. I always wonder if they?re making fun of me. Of course, I?m sure they?ve had the same uneasy feeling if they do not speak our language. Still, that?s something that can lead to a lot of misunderstanding. I recall thinking I was about to be killed by a ?communist mob? in Florence, Italy. I was lost and in terror. I approached two different priests to ask for directions to escape and get back to my hotel. Neither of those priests spoke one word of English. Before I had a total panic attack, someone informed me the riotous throng was not composed of communists at all. They were celebrating soccer fans whose team had just won the championship. Times indeed change faster than most of us realize, and adapting to those changes is seldom as easy as we think it will be. It?s not too early to begin adjusting right now to the majority-minority population situation that most assuredly is headed our way in the Natural State. Already, there are schools and areas of Fort Smith and other Arkansas communities where majority-minority status already is a reality. Life, luck and -30-. ------- Jack Moseley writes for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is jackmoseley33@hotmail.com. |
