(MintPress)–On the anniversary of the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling, the iconic case that set in motion the desegregation of schools, data released by the U.S. Census Thursday shows non-Hispanic white babies born during July 2010 and July 2011 were the minority, with more than half of U.S. children falling into traditionally minority categories.
The data indicates that for the first time ever American birth rates have experienced such a shift, with black, Hispanic, Asian and mixed race children making up 50.4 percent of births during the one-year period. The new statistic verifies demographers’ predictions and highlights the U.S. growing melting pot, especially among young people.
While many in the U.S. have known it was coming, with predictions that current minorities will override non-Hispanic whites by 2050, there’s still debate as to what it will mean for generations down the road and whether educating and preparing youth to live in a growing multicultural society is necessary, especially in states like Alabama and Arizona, where tension over immigration policies continue to grow between Hispanic and white residents.
News regarding the birth rate trend comes on the heels of a Pew Hispanic Center study which showed that Mexicans were returning home at higher rates than ever, citing a tough American economy, resulting in a lack of employment. The same study showed that overall Hispanic population in the U.S. was down by nearly 1 million from 2007.
In 2011, the Pew Center indicated that U.S. births of Hispanics was becoming the main contributor, ahead of immigration, to the growth of the Hispanic population, showing that 7.2 million Hispanics were born in the U.S. within the last decade, compared to 4.2 considered ‘new’ immigrants.
Children’s outlook on multiculturalism
As American children grow into a growing multicultural society, they’ll become more accustomed to racial differences than those of previous generations — however, according to studies, such children will also pick up on stereotypes and racial biases that exist within the society created by their elders.
Currently, America is seeing an uptick in hate groups, particularly those that are racially motivated. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, hate groups had risen to 1,018 in 2011 — a 1,000 count increase from the previous year.
A 2009 study authored by Rush and Yale universities indicates children are aware of race at a young age and that racial bias within their settings tend to be absorbed.
The study found that students from ages five to 11 were aware of racial biases and stereotypes within society. Those students who fell into minority categories, including Hispanic and black children, were cognizant of stereotypes regarding their own race. The study showed that such students overwhelmingly knew that minority students (their own demographic) were thought of as performing poorly on standardized tests, creating anxiety among those children in testing situations.
“These results have important implications for social policy,” Clark McKown, Rush University Medical Center assistant professor said in a press release.
The findings of the study are similar to one presented in the 1954 Brown vs. Education case, in which Kenneth Clark, a professor at the City College of New York, described his study in which young black children were presented with a white and black doll, similar in every respect but skin color. The children were asked to choose the doll they preferred to play with and the dolls considered to be ‘good’ and ‘bad.’ Clark testified that students overwhelmingly chose the black dolls as the ‘bad’ one. At the time, Clark was arguing for desegregation, due to the racism that it perpetuated.
A study conducted in 2010 by Lee M. Pachter, a Drexel University College of Medicine professor, highlights the psychological damage felt by young students who experienced racial discrimination. The study questioned nearly 300 minority children between the ages of 9 and 18 — most of whom were Hispanic and African American. Questionnaires addressed issues of racism and how it affected children in their daily lives.
“Not only do most minority children experience discrimination, but they experience it in multiple contexts: in schools, in the community, with adults and with peers,” Pachter said in a PsychCentral interview. “It’s kind of like the elephant in the corner of the room. It’s there, but nobody really talks about it. And it may have significant mental and physical health consequences in these children’s lives.”
Bullying, anxiety felt in schools
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recognized this month the impact immigration tension in Alabama is having on young children. Portions of Alabama’s HB 56 law originally mandated schools to collect information of students’ immigration status, but were later blocked by a court of appeals.
In a letter sent on behalf of the DOJ to the Alabama State Department of Education, the federal government claims Hispanic students suffered from anxiety and slipping grades after the state passed HB 56, which also gave police officers the right to question the immigration status of anyone pulled over.
The DOJ claimed interviews with parents, students and teachers revealed a growing tension within the school system, resulting in anxiety among Hispanic students, who feared they would be questioned about their family member’s immigration status. Bullying was also a factor indicated in the reports.
The DOJ requested data from Alabama’s school systems regarding attendance rates of Hispanic students following HB 56, revealing absence rates increased threefold in the weeks following the legislation.
Schools throughout the nation have taken on curricula that promotes understanding and acceptance of cultural mixes within the U.S. The National Center for Culturally Responsive Educational Systems (NCCREST) argued in a report that with a growing culturally mixed demographic in the U.S., students must be taught in a way that promotes learning and acceptance.
“As more and more students from diverse backgrounds populate 21st Century classrooms, and efforts mount to identify effective methods to teach these students, the need for pedagogical approaches that are culturally responsive intensifies,” the organization states in its report.
What the future holds
Growing multiculturalism among the upcoming generations points to a change in culture, one which Howard University Sociologist Roderick Harrison said will be handled by upcoming generations at an unprecedented rate.
“This is an important landmark,” Harrison told the Associated Press. “This generation is growing up much more accustomed to diversity than its elders.”
While Harrison acknowledged the likelihood of children growing accustomed to racial differences within society, he also cautioned that, in places like Arizona, growing tension over immigration reform could trickle down children, possibly passing down the issue from generation to generation — creating an even more divided society.
“We remain in a dangerous period where those appealing to anti-immigration elements are fueling a divisiveness and hostility that might take decades to overcome,” he said in an interview with the AP.