# What does the changing racial makeup of America mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-changing-racial-makeup-of-america-mean/223760>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [January 10, 2004, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-changing-racial-makeup-of-america-mean/223760 "2004-01-10T01:27:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![pizzabrat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9c0ed/32.png) [@pizzabrat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pizzabrat)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-changing-racial-makeup-of-america-mean/223760/21 "2004-01-12T05:13:08Z")

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> [@](#):
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> _John Mace_  
> I think the bigger issue is whether the black/white language of racial politics will change to include Hispanics and Asians. How a will Hispanic population larger than the Black population affect the latter, and the special place they have held in the US wrt “mintority” issues? By any reasonable estimate, the Hispanic population will grow much faster than the Black population in the US.

Isn’t the most obvious prediction is that Hispanics will just become white like all of the other white ethnic immigrant groups? And Asians, just like every other immigrant groups, seem to assimilate pretty thoroughly. I think U.S. racial politics will always be black/white.

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**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-changing-racial-makeup-of-america-mean/223760/22 "2004-01-12T05:44:16Z")

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> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by DSeid \*  
> \*\*Winston,
> 
> “core American values and views” as _opposed to_ “a multicultural America”?
> 
> Hmmph. I always thought that a multicultural America _was_ a core American value. It’s what has made America special. \*\*

No, you’re wrong. America has always been about assimilating groups into the culture, not about estabishing them as isolated subcultures.

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**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2004, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-changing-racial-makeup-of-america-mean/223760/23 "2004-01-12T07:38:42Z")

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I think the American secret to multiculturalism has been for a long time letting people identify with being “ethnic” while really becoming completely Americanized.

For instance is there anything like a New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade in Ireland? Or does Cinco de Mayo in the United States remotely resemble anything in Mexico? In many ways, Irish-Americans, Italians-Americans, or Polish-Americans, in being “ethnic”, usually display just how American they are.

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-changing-racial-makeup-of-america-mean/223760/24 "2004-01-14T04:06:56Z")

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I think the question of ethnic makeup will be irrelevant as such, but, on the other hand, I think it’s safe to say that most of our immigrants are coming from cultures that are socially and culturally more conservative than ours, and some to a radical degree. I’m concerned lest this lead to a firmer clampdown of social mores than we now have. Our legislation of public morality is already considerably more puritanical than that of most European countries, and I would not like us to move further in that direction.

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