November 14, 2012 6:48 AM

Dear White America: This was never "your" country in the first place

The reaction to the re-election of our first black president from the radical right — and that seemed clearly to include some University of Mississippi students — ranged from sputtering rage and name-calling to calls for a new Southern secession, mass emigration to Europe, or even the break-up of the United States. There was one thing large numbers seemed clearly to agree on: The changing racial demographics of our country, expected to lose its white majority by 2050, was key to the result…. “Welcome to a truly white minority world,” wrote one commenter on Stormfront, the world’s largest white supremacist Web forum, which is run by a former Alabama Klan leader. “The future is now. There is no denying this. The sun has set on humanity’s greatest era: 1500-2000. … [T]he only way to survive this war of annihilation is separatism. … [W]e have to choose regions or states.”

Judging by the reaction of many Conservative White Americans, you might have thought that America died on Election Night. Some took to the Internet and decried the loss of White America. Former Saturday Night Live cast member Victoria Jackson is perhaps the best example, having had what appears to be a complete break from reason and reality.

Having enjoyed dominion over America since the founding of the Republic, good, God-fearing White Christian patriots now find themselves facing the demographic reality that White Folks are no longer the majority race. Yes, we Caucasians now find ourselves in the position of having to learn how to share…not something we’ve ever been very good at. Caucasians excel at oppressing and disenfranchising those who look different and/or have a different skin color, but we suck at playing well with others. Now we have little choice…and some folks aren’t dealing with it very well at all.

Some, like Sean Hannity, have resigned themselves to the reality that a Black man will be in the White House for four more years. I understand that some of my fellow White Folks aren’t dealing well with the recognition that they are no longer Masters of the Universe, but America is a melting pot. Always has been. Likely always will be. What that means is that there’s no guarantee that what has been will forever be. As our collective demographics change- as they continually are- America will continue to grow and evolve. Tuesday’s election revealed that a new America is in the making, one where those who’ve taken our majority for granted will have to learn how to share…and it seems some folks are struggling tremendously with that concept.

Don’t take my word for it. Listen to the conservative bloviators who were so convinced that Mitt Romney would defeat Obama, perhaps in a landslide, and undo everything the president has accomplished.

Radio host Rush Limbaugh was almost wistful: “I went to bed last night thinking we’re outnumbered. . . . I went to bed last night thinking we’ve lost the country. I don’t know how else you look at this.” He then launched into a riff about Obama and Santa Claus that is too incoherent to quote. Apparently, we are all elves.

Indeed. We are all elves…and Rush Limbaugh is the Grinch Who Stole Christmas. El Rushbo was hardly the only Right-wing bloviator to wax indignant over the unfairness of it all, but rage isn’t going to alter reality. You can either get on the bus and learn to deal with the new America…or you can get run over by said bus. Either way, things are changing…and there’s little, if anything, that can about it.

As is often the case, Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was a bit more perceptive: “The white establishment is now the minority,” he said Tuesday evening, before it was clear that Obama would win. “The demographics are changing. It’s not a traditional America anymore.”

No, Bill, it’s not.

The times, they are a-changin’…and so is our country. As minorities with higher birth rates than Caucausians come to constitute a larger proportion of the population, the ripple effect will be substantial, impacting virtually aspect of American life and culture. We can see it as a travesty and patently unfair…or we can accept it for what it is and adapt accordingly. Either way, we have a choice to make, and the choice we make will say a lot about who we are.

Stay tuned….

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 14, 2012 6:48 AM.

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