‘Let’s see if this election will accelerate the inevitability of WASP America’s fade into oblivion.’
AS I walked around the streets of Washington, D.C., it struck me that the America that will emerge from yesterday’s presidential election is an America that neither George Washington nor Abraham Lincoln would recognize. It is an America that Ronald Reagan glimpsed and Barack Obama ushered in, and there is a chance it will be an America that Kamala Harris—a female of mixed Indian and black heritage—will lead.
The white, Anglo-Saxon Christian America of old is gone.
Actually, white Americans still make up a little over half of the US population. But some 15 years ago, that number was 66%. Long before the middle of this century, white Americans will be a minority in comparison to non-whites.
Hispanics (or Latinos) make up the largest ethnic minority with maybe 20% of the population. And that’s growing. That’s why they are a potent political force and one knots them at one’s risk, especially during a highly competitive election like this one.
The second largest minority group is African Americans, accounting for about 13% of the population.
Asian Americans are the third largest minority bloc at about 7%. They are also the most highly educated with upwards of 66% having a college degree or higher. As a result, this group is said to have the highest income level.
Then you have the Native Americans both on the mainland, Alaska and Hawaii.
Washington only saw the native Americans. Presidents after him needed to move the natives (Indians, as they were referred to in Hollywood movies) from their ancestral domains to make way for the expansion westward of the original 13 colonies.
Lincoln had to deal with African Americans and their demands for humane treatment. Only after the Civil War that left the South devastated was that issue settled – in a way. It still took almost another 100 years before African Americans (thanks to Martin Luther King) were looked at as equals – though the discrimination continues to exist (perhaps in whispers) in the hearts and minds of some white Americans who can be found in pockets around the country.
The entry of Hispanics and Asian Americans makes the change even more dramatic.
Enter Kamala Harris, a mix of two ethnic groups who brings to the table an additional dimension of change – her gender. She is the most radical change to the WASP America, which may have in Donald Trump its last hurrah, its dying gasp.
Let’s see if this election will accelerate the inevitability of WASP America’s fade into oblivion.
