Future of Minorities in America

By: Laura Savage & Virginia Hally

“More than 30 years ago, at the high tide of the civil rights movement, the Kerner Commission said we were becoming two Americas, one white, one black, separate but unequal. Today we face a different choice: will we become not two, but many Americas, separate, unequal and isolated? Or will we draw strength from all our people and the ancient faith in the quality of human dignity, to become the world’s first truly multiracial democracy”- Former President Bill Clinton

Accepting Diversity

• “The time has come for us to embrace our varied selves. A new America is approaching, a society where diversity is destiny”– Takaki

• Walt Whitman referred to America as a “teeming nation of nations”

• Herman Melville stated he believed that America was less of a nation and more a world

Minorities Becoming the Majority

• Minorities are any race besides non-Hispanic, single-race whites.

• By 2050 minorities are projected to be the majority according to the US Census Bureau

• By 2023 minority children will be the majority• Biggest increase is expected in Hispanic population• US Census Bureau expects that by 2050, 1 in 3 Americans will

be Hispanic• "Part of it is a higher fertility rate for some of the minority

groups, Hispanics in particular” – Dave Waddington, chief of the Census Bureau's population projection

branch

US Census Bureau PredictionsProjected Population Increases from

2008-2050:

• Hispanics - 46.7 million to 132.8 million

• African Americans - 41.1 million to 65.7 million

• Asian-American - 15.5 million to 40.6 million

• American Indians and Alaska natives - 3.9 million to 8.6 million

• Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders - 1.1 to 2.6 million.

“’He talks about feeling somewhat of an outsider, about coming to terms with his self-identity, about figuring out how to reconcile the values from his unique heritage with those of the larger U.S. society. These are tensions and conflicts that play out in the lives of all children of immigrants.’” - Chris Lu, President Obama’s Legislative Director (Takaki)

Multi-Racial Families• The number of multiracial children in the U.S.

grew from 500,000 in 1970 to more than 6.8 million in 2000

• Initially these children felt insecure and as though they were not a real part of either race

• Barack Obama and Tiger Woods have helped create a culture more accepting of multiracial children

• “Born into a diverse family, I have little pieces of America all in me”– President Barack Obama

• “In short, multiracial kids seem to create their own definitions for fitting in, and they show more psychological flexibility than those mixed-race kids who feel bound to one choice or another.” http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1880467,00.html#ixzz1FDl7nZTI

Muslims In America

WHY THEY CAME:-Freedom from government- Current problems in EgyptNATION WIDE PROBLEMS:

- Fights regarding whether or not Mosques should be built all over the

nation.

Muslim Cemeteries• Muslims prefer to be buried in cemeteries,

or sections of cemeteries exclusively for Muslims

• They believe strongly in the importance of being buried surrounded by people who share their same values and religious beliefs

• Muslim cemeteries are beginning to be built in the US

• "We would like to have all Muslims in one area so you can go and pray there, and all Muslims like to be in the same place,”- Nigar Rangoonwala, funeral director of the Islamic Society of Orange County

• Plans for a Muslim cemetery to be built in Riverside, OH are in the works

• The community is already home to 82 churches and places of worship

• The community believes the cemetery will further promote diversity within the community

MOSQUES IN THE US

NYC:- 2 blocks from

Ground Zero- Set into action May

25, 2010- To make peace

Donald Trump offered to buy land but was rejected in September

Tennessee

• 3 mosques proposed in Nashville in 2010– 1 ultimately withdrawn

due to controversy.– Vandalism occurred on

the buildings of the others.

– Fear of terrorism and take over

Illionois

• Debate over whether or not a mosque can be built.– Right to have a sacred

space where believers can pray vs. preventing religious institutions from crowding residential neighborhoods.

– Still in dispute currently; however more people are proposing pitches to the zoning boards of Illinois.

Connection to Takaki

• Jewish people couldn’t express their religion in the 1990’s in Ukraine – Synagogues rejected– In America allowed

to build Synagogues and have all Jewish schools.

Black Islam

• Black Muslims in the US total 30%• Believe in the prophets after

Muhammad• Largest mass religious conversion

in the 21st century – thousands converted.

• Some rejected and re-established the nation of Islam under the original Fardian doctrines– At least 20,000 members– Wide influence in the African

American community.

Sources

• http://host.madison.com/ct/news/article_25bd34aa-aec7-11df-af64-001cc4c002e0.html

• http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-02-07/news/ct-met-suburban-mosques-20110207_1_new-mosque-muslim-educational-cultural-center-unincorporated-residential-areas

• http://www.newgeography.com/content/00175-minority-america

• http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17722665/ns/us_news-life/

• http://www.pe.com/localnews/riverside/stories/PE_News_Local_W_wcemetery04.48393dc.html

• http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/community/dayton/city-oks-muslim-burial-plots-1084218.html

• http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1880467,00.html

• http://www.hispanic8.com/hispanic_growth_becoming_usa_majority.htm

• http://islam.about.com/cs/elderly/a/funerals.htm