INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, we discuss the changing race and ethnic distribution of the United States and its implications and consequences. We read in Chapter 10 that between 1980 and 2000, the majority race/ethnic population in the United States (i.e., persons who are white and non-Hispanic, sometimes referred to as Anglos) grew much less rapidly than the minority population (i.e., persons who are of a race other than white or are Hispanic); the majority grew by almost 8 percent, and the minority grew by 88 percent. In 1980, almost 80 percent of the U.S. population was of the majority; by 2000, just over 69 percent was of the majority (Hobbs and Stoops, 2002: Table 10).

This faster growth of the minority population occurred in all fifty states. In 1980, as many as twenty-one states had minority populations comprising less than 10 percent of their total populations; by 2000, the number had dropped to six. In 1980, only Hawaii and the District of Columbia had more than 50 percent of its population minority, that is, they were so-called majority-minority states. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “majority-minority is defined as more than half the population being of a group other than single-race, non-Hispanic White” (“Census Bureau Releases State and County Data Depicting Nation's Population Ahead of 2010 Census,” 2009). By 2000, California and New Mexico had joined Hawaii as majority-minority states (Hobbs and Stoops, 2002: Table 10).