Keeping It Real for October 24, 2009
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Another census is nearly upon us.
Data gathered in the 2010 Census, as in the past, will yield pictures of the racial and ethnic makeup of communities. The results of the 2010 Census will help determine where billions of dollars in federal funding will go and how legislative, congressional and other election districts will be drawn. “The Census is not about numbers. It is about power and money. The numbers tell you who gets the power and who gets the money,” Bobbi Bowman, former diversity director for the American Society of News Editors, has said, adding that every journalist should learn to speak Spanish.
There will stories to tell. But the 2010 Census is not the one that gives me pause; it’s the 2040 Census. I will be in my 70s by then and, I hope, with my wife, son, a daughter-in-law and some grandchildren, enjoying a comfortable retirement and no mortgage.
What else is special about the 2040 Census? If U.S. population trends — births, deaths and immigration — continue as they are, minorities are expected to become the majority in 2042, and the nation’s overall population will be older, according to the Census Bureau.
As I watched CNN’s “Latino in America” series this week, I recalled the similarities in the cable TV network’s “Black in America” series in 2008 and its “Black in America 2” series this past summer. I also wondered if “Asians in America” will be the next series.
Do you see a trend here?
CNN reporter Soledad O’Brien, a Harvard-educated journalist with black and Cuban, Australian and Irish roots, also has authored a book, “Latino in America.” She and her news directors and producers recognize what the rest of us should know and acknowledge — that America is more of a melting pot now than at any other time in its history. And that will influence our country’s future direction.
We’re expected to be a solidly minority-majority nation by 2050. Hispanics will lead the way in terms of the minority-majority population — if population trends continue — followed by African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans/Alaska Natives and Native Hawiians/Pacific Islanders, according to the Census Bureau.
O’Brien, Rick Sanchez and their colleagues interviewed high-profile Latinos, former U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., retired Army Lt. Col. Conseulo Castillo Kickbusch, actresses Aimee Garcia and Eva Longoria Parker, and actors Jessie Garcia, George Lopez and Edward James Olmos, among others.
As CNN’s “Black in America” series did, the “Latino in America” series also profiled families — married and single-parent families. It touched on social issues that are universal — poverty, crime, health care, education, religion, employment, race relations, housing and the need to maintain one’s own cultural identity while fitting into the mainstream culture.
However, two other issues, immigration and English as a second language, were highlighted in the “Latino in America” series, but not in the “Black in America” series. Those two issues are perceived by many as key barriers to Latinos having success here in the United States, especially in the education, employment and health-care arenas.
More than 40 years ago the historic Kerner Commission report spotlighted a deep racial divide and gave America an unflattering glimpse of what she is and a recipe for how beautiful she could be. It will be interesting to see going forward how the executive and legislative branches of government, the judiciary and the news media shape her.
Johnny Brooks is an assistant metro editor for The Advocate. His e-mail address is jbrooks@theadvocate.com.
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