Don't Be Scared

This entry was inspired by the following news headline: WASHINGTON (Oct. 27) - Two white supremacists allegedly plotted to go on a national killing spree, shooting and decapitating black people and ultimately targeting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, federal authorities said Monday, and an entry made by Teresa at Shadows of The Moon. First is some demographic information from the 2000 Census, followed by my commentary in red text.

The United States is a diverse country racially and ethnically. White Americans are the racial majority and are spread throughout the country; racial minorities, composing one fourth of the population, are concentrated in coastal and metropolitan areas. The Black American or African American population is concentrated in the South, and also spread throughout parts of the Northeast and Midwest. Black Americans make up the largest racial minority in the United States.

White Americans are the majority in forty-eight of the fifty states, with California and Hawaii as the exceptions. The District of Columbia, which is not a state, also has a non-white majority. Non-Hispanic Whites, however, are the majority in forty-six states, with Hawaii, New Mexico, California, and Texas, as well as the District of Columbia, as the exceptions. The latter five have "minority majorities", i.e. minority groups are a majority of their populations.

Areas with the largest "American" ancestry populations were mostly settled by English, French, Welsh, Scottish and Irish.

██ German
██ American
██ Mexican
██ Irish
██ African
██ Italian
██ English
██ Japanese
██ Puerto Rican






A new report from the Census Bureau projects that by 2042 non-Hispanic whites will no longer make up the majority of the population. This is a revision of earlier projections which projected this demographic change to take place in 2050. Today non-Hispanic whites make up about 68% of the population. This is expected to fall to 46% in 2050. This, as a result of a much older white population, relative to minorities. The report foresees the Hispanic population rising from 15% today to 30% by 2050. Today African Americans make up 12% of the population, in 2050 they are projected to comprise 15% of the population. Asian Americans make up 5% of the population today and they are expected to make up 9% in 2050. The U.S. has nearly 305 million people today. The population is projected to reach 400 million by 2039 and 439 million in 2050.

People are scared of change, and scared of losing their perceived previous hold over what was going on. We have the illusion of control, and when we see or hear things that are different or challenge that illusion, then there is a negative reaction, and we push back. Psychology tells us that 10% will embrace change, 10% will actively oppose change, and 80% will wait and see. Unfortunately, it is the 10% extremes that get the attention and publicity, typically with the negative connotations getting more air time – because that is what sells. Until the other 80% truly become engaged in change, and I mean stepping up and making change for ourselves (which is much more than casting a ballot), then we are being prevented from moving to the new reality for this country of ours. We must change and care more – care for others in our country, care for others in less developed countries, care for our environment, care for displaced animals that cannot help themselves, care for ourselves enough to stop living beyond our means, as individuals and as a country. These must be OUR values, which is very different from religious morality.