The Death of "White" America

Today is the day “white” America has fallen. While the election maps still show the heart of America basked in a republican red, it is a blood red hue that signifies the bleeding out of ignorant America into the veiny blues of its two coastlines. The 2012 election signifies a new age, an age where manifest destiny is a political reality based on a set of values less concerned with Puritans, providence, and the Mayflower.

            In 2008 whites made up 76% of all potential voters. If the white turn out dropped to 74% or lower, Obama was calculated to win. This election it dropped to 72%. With the Hispanic population rising enormously in states like California and ethnic minority populations growing across all of America, even with Romney’s four point advantage in the independent sector, he lost the election by a startling one hundred electoral seats. Romney had a large chunk of senior white voters from the baby boomer era, and Obama won amongst young voters.

            With Romney’s loss in the face of widespread underestimation on youthful political enthusiasm, it is clear that the political generation is changing, and the Democratic Party is the foam on the front of the wave. We aren’t speaking of whites here as a race, we’re speaking of “white” America (notice the quotations) as the major chunk of the political electorate that were predominantly conservative, oppressive, and arguably intolerant. Today’s political generation involves a mix of open-minded Caucasian Americans and their minority counterparts. It isn’t a generation that never existed, it’s a generation that was awakened during the 2008 election, and unlike popular belief, has yet to go back to sleep. If the Republicans don’t grab the minority vote in some fashion, or show enough tolerance for minority concerns to grab the support of educated and multi-cultural whites, they may find themselves out of the white house for decades.

            Today, for the first time, the Latino vote crossed 10% nationally. The minority vote reached 27% total, and several historically republican states such as New Mexico, may be permanently considered a blue state from here onwards. It’s a matter of numbers, and Romney has been on the wrong side of the numbers for his entire campaign – from impossible tax cuts to a flawed belief in the white majority. In comparison to 2000, it seems the Electoral College is suddenly working in favor of the minority vote. The system is working for non-whites.

            Even with the heart of America struggling to keep the popular vote nearly equal, our immigrant hubs, the west and east coast have made it clear that the system works for them now. Contrary to public media, the country is not divided; it has just found a new majority, one composed of several colors.

            Multicultural America has spoken, and it wishes to be global, to understand other countries and work across cultures in ways “white” America couldn’t fathom. It’s an inherent understanding that people from different backgrounds can connect with and appreciate, and it is a rare mixture of individuals that no other country can advertise and harness. We may have less battle ships under the Obama administration, but we now have the strongest weapon of all – diversity in numbers. Our foreign policy isn’t weak. It’s smart. It’s not strong handed, it’s strong minded. An ethnic undercurrent that values education over football.

Historically, the successful movements against American racism were the fights that didn’t argue face to face on an unfair platform. They were the fights that came from small movements all across the country, from the accumulation of seemingly benign actions against the status quo. Something as simple as sitting at a barstool against a white only table to waiting in line for hours to cast a ballot. The republicans spent an enormous amount of money on a candidate who took the nation by storm, and they lost because “white” America lost. The republican reliance on the hardcore Caucasian vote is no longer a reliable fallback, and from here on out, it never will be, a historical change worthy of celebratory recognition.

Even though many republicans are not white, or racist, or ignorant, it is hard to deny that Obama’s victory is not a slap in the face of the status quo. In Obama’s victory speech, he emphasized tolerance as an integral part of his next four years. That our truest power was our diversity. Because until today, tolerance and diversity was not a staple of our political foundation. And while some say the initial election of Barack Obama may have been the most historic movement in minority movements, the fact that Obama survived amongst the most economically soft electoral situation in history, proves that his election was not a fluke, but solid evidence to changing notions. And that is truly, truly historical.