Thread: White Children Now In Minority

White Children Now In Minority

By CHRIS ECHEGARAY and DOUG STANLEY The Tampa Tribune

Published: Aug 15, 2006

The youngest Anglo children in Hillsborough County and across Florida are now a minority, foreshadowing the day when Florida - like four states now - becomes a majority-minority state.

Non-Hispanic whites in Florida accounted for fewer than half of all children younger than 5 last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released today. Slightly more than 47 percent of the state's youngest children were non-Hispanic whites, down from nearly 55 percent five years earlier.

In Hillsborough County, non-Hispanic white children have become a minority also, making up less than 47 percent of the population younger than 5, down from nearly 51 percent in 2000.

In parts of the county, the trend was evident before this report. The Hillsborough County school district reported nonwhite enrollment of 55 percent in 2004. At St. John Presbyterian Learning Center, students move between two worlds, speaking English and Spanish and adjusting based on when their families moved here.

Out of 100 children at the learning center, 75 are nonwhite, many in families that moved here from Colombia, Cuba, Mexico or Puerto Rico, Director Dianne Patterson said. The numbers have been high for five years because the center, at 4120 N. MacDill Ave., attracts low-income families, which are predominantly nonwhite.

"The children learn the language very rapidly," said Patterson, who adapted by hiring staff to reflect the student population. "Having a lot of Spanish-speakers is the trend all over. We have 4- and 5-year-olds interpreting for their parents."

The impact of the population shift will be felt in school and health-care systems that may not be prepared, demographers say.

Children who live in minority neighborhoods and are not exposed to mainstream society - by attending child care or prekindergarten, for example - will struggle with language and assimilation, said Mark Mather, a demographer with the Population Reference Bureau.

"It won't be an immediate impact," Mather said. "Once they start going through the school system, there will be more demand for language courses. Some are assimilating more than other certain groups, who are more likely to live in minority enclaves.

"I'm speaking mainly of Hispanics and Asians," Mather added. "There will be more challenges for those groups, the schools and medical systems."

The recent Census estimates come from the American Community Survey, the cornerstone of the government's effort to keep tabs on the nation's changing population. The new survey will provide demographic, socio-economic and housing information about America's communities every year - information that until now was only available once a decade.

Texas, the Census Bureau reported in August 2005, joined Hawaii, New Mexico and California as a majority-minority state. Eight other states with minority populations of about 40 percent today were expected to join them next - Maryland, Mississippi, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana and Florida.

Some demographers expect the U.S. population as a whole to reach that plateau by 2050.

Aurea Velazquez, a St. John's parent, is part of the trend.

Velazquez moved from Puerto Rico, a U.S. commonwealth, six months ago. Her 4-year-old daughter, Yamilette, is in prekindergarten.

"It's been difficult in Puerto Rico with no work, and the economy is bad," she said. "People are going to continue to move here because of the bad economies. Here, you can at least survive with your family."

Kristi Bennett's two children, Gillian, 4, and Aedean, 3, are among the minority Anglo children at St. John's. Bennett doesn't mind.

"I love it," she said. "I think it's healthy to be around children who don't look like them. It teaches them tolerance and diversity really early on."

http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGB3OMUQVQE.html

Looks like the reconquista is working in Florida.

"It's been difficult in Puerto Rico with no work, and the economy is bad," she said. "People are going to continue to move here because of the bad economies. Here, you can at least survive with your family."

It's this cockroach mentality that is going to destroy our country. They destroy their own country and then move on to a more productive feeding ground. Once there is nothing left here, but the bones, their children will find somewhere else to move too.

At my daughter's old school in Va. hispanics were the majority and that happened in less then 5 years

and all the illegal immigration has increased a lot since Bush became president in 2000. We should hold him responsible for the lack of will in controlling our borders.

We're going to have to insist that young white women use fertility pills

Seriously, isn't there something in one of our immigration laws, saying that we should not take so many of one nationality?

I thought I read that back a while, that to keep a balance, new immigrants should be coming here on an equal basis.

What would these statistics show if we really got to deport all of these illegals?

Originally Posted by moosetracks

Seriously, isn't there something in one of our immigration laws, saying that we should not take so many of one nationality?

I believe that's legally moosetracks.

I have no idea what all these illegals have done to the formula they were using (and still may be).

Last year an Asian man told me his sister had been trying to come here for years and he'd agreed to sponsor her. She couldn't get in because of the limits for country.

Of course they don't seem to have any limits for those coming illegally.

This is why we must push for absolutely no compromise in Congress, No Amnesty, No Dream Act, No Nothing!, Enforcement only! If we take Congress and at least part of the Senate in the Fall which we should be able to do, we can make this happen. The American people are on our side on this