(ThyBlackMan.com) Much has been made of demographic change and a phenomenon that some writers call the “beigeing” of America. Over the short run, this process is sure to yield a more progressive body politic, but its effects over the long term may be less salutary. This essay will contain some unpleasant past and present truths, as well as some speculation about the future.
A feature of our national life since colonial days has been the phenomenon of “white privilege“. While it is less blatant and brutal than it was in the past, more subtle aspects of it remain. Immigrants, even those who initially know little about American life, become savvy about this soon after their arrival. Earlier immigrants from Europe (Irish, Italians, Slavs, Central/Eastern European Jews, Greeks, et al.), though initially greeted with hostility and discrimination, were quick to distance themselves from black Americans and carve out niches for themselves within the “in” group; a number of years ago, a historian even wrote a book with the ironic title “How the Irish Became White“.
Later immigrants, many of them “off-white” or “nonwhite“, have done the same. Black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean have even had a tendency to do this to some extent.
Now, let me discuss the “beigeing” process in some greater detail. While intermarriage between all ethnic groups has been on the rise, marriages between Euro-Americans, Non-European Caucasians (persons whose origins
lie in the Middle East and the Indian Subcontinent), Latinos and Asians have increased far more rapidly than those between persons of Sub-Saharan African origins and members of any of the four above-mentioned groups. Thus, the “beigeing” can be viewed as an uneven process that may result in continuing marginalization of black Americans.
Are we evolving into a society of the “black” and the “nonblack” rather than toward a “beige” America? While the answer to this question will probably not be revealed to us within our lifetimes, some disturbing trends were revealed as the killing of Trayvon Martin and the subsequent trial of the shooter, George Zimmerman, played out across the nation’s television screens. The exact sequence of events that transpired on that rainy Floridian night are known only to one living person, who did not take the stand at his trial. I will dwell instead on a related matter. Mr Zimmerman, who identified himself as a “White Hispanic“, is the son of a Euro-American man and a Peruvian woman of Afro-Euro-Amerindian ancestry.
As such, his credentials as a “white person” are rather marginal; had the identity of his mother’s Afro-Peruvian grandfather been known in the old Jim Crow Florida of “one drop“, he would have been relegated to the “colored” accommodations. Nonetheless, the voices of right-wing radio and Fox News immediately rallied to Zimmerman’s defense, with Sean Hannity leading the effort to lionize him. After all, though he might not have been a bona fide “white person“, he was a “nonblack” man who had rid the planet of a hoodie-clad black teenager who just might have been threatening.
Returning to general trends, while Latinos and Asian-Americans voted heavily Democratic in 2012, I do not see this as a sign of any great love for Barack Obama or solidarity with “Black America“. The heavy Democratic majorities among these two groups were, in my opinion, more a negative reaction to the spiteful Nativist rhetoric of the Republicans, which included references to electric border fences, moats filled with man-eating crocodiles and “self-deportation“. If the Republicans abandon the xenophobic language and repudiate the “White Power” advocates in their ranks, they will probably recoup a fair share of the Latino/Asian demographic in less than a decade. Indeed, it is somewhat naive to assume that Latinos, Asians or Non-European Caucasians are natural political allies of African-Americans or of anyone else or each other, for that matter. People will vote based on what they consider to be in their own self-interest.
Let us remember that Latin Americans has a color hierarchy that predates our own, while the color hierarchy of the Indian Subcontinent dates back to deep antiquity. Furthermore, while many Euro-Americans, particularly those whose families have been here for several generations, are quite sympathetic to the injustices suffered throughout history by their black countrymen, there is no reason to assume that this newer demographic will be. All these groups share a history of heavy-handed and exploitative foreign domination, be it British, Spanish, Japanese or Turkish.
In summary, we may indeed be evolving from a society that perceives itself as white/nonwhite to one that sees itself as black/nonblack. While embracing “whiteness” is no longer fashionable save in certain reactionary circles, people may be embracing “nonblackness” in its stead. If so, the train of history may roll on with the same passengers in the rear cars.
Staff Writer; Brad Holway
