Carol Morello and Ted Mellnik of the Washington Post are reporting that minority populations are actually the majority in eight major metropolitan areas of the country. Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas; New York; San Diego; Montgomery County, Md.; and Prince William County, Va., are majority-minority communities. Non-Hispanic whites are a minority in 22 of the country's 100-biggest urban areas.
The white population shrank in raw numbers in 42 of those big-city regions. But every large metro area showed a decline in the percentage of whites.
The shifts reflect the aging of the white population as more people get beyond their childbearing years and the relative youth of the Hispanic and Asian populations that are fueling most of the growth.
"What's happened is pivotal," said William Frey, a demographer with the Brookings Institution who conducted the analysis.
"Large metropolitan areas will be the laboratories for change. The measures they take to help minorities assimilate and become part of the labor force will be studied by other parts of the country that are whiter and haven't been touched as much by the change."
Researchers have been reporting that this is the direction in which the country is moving racially for the last couple of decades, and now it is happening. It will be interesting to see how the United States responds to these growing populations. If the election of one black man to the office of president is any indicator, then we're going to have our hands full.
Read more at the Washington Post.
In other news: Democrats Need a Spine to Stand Up to Republicans.