Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.Robert Louis Stevenson

Inner Life Directions

Expanding Reality

Danielle Levy

  • On Majority-Minority States

    A headline I read: The rise of the majority-minority and the near majority-minority states. They were referring to a key demographic trend. In plain English it means that whites will no longer be the majority in several American states in the near future and those we presently call minorities, meaning Latinos, Blacks and Asians taken as a group, will become the majority. But in a culture with as much racial baggage as that of the United States, one needs to tiptoe around issues of race, and specifically what could be called the darkening of America, hence this pseudo-academic jargon to describe a straightforward phenomenon. Besides, surely the idea of not scaring whites is also a factor. The facts are fascinating. By 2060 the population will be 44% white, down from 80% in 1980. Presently there are 4 majority-minority states—that is states where whites are no longer a majority. They are: California, Hawaii, New Mexico and Texas. In the next five years, Maryland and Nevada will join the ranks. In the 2020’s Arizona, Florida, Georgia and New Jersey will be. By 2060 22 states will be majority-minority and will account for 2/3rd of the American population. Such demographic changes have many political implications. But too they will be a great impetus for learning to live with diversity and transcending the ideas of race. Maybe by then we will have given up this awkward and euphemistic idea of majority-minority and discovered a new vocabulary.

     

  • Gun Ownership: Bit of Hope

    32% of Americans either own a firearm or live with someone who does. That is actually a significant decline since the 1970’s and 1980’s when about half the population told researchers they lived in a household which had a gun. We’re not used to seeing encouraging trends when it comes to gun ownership, but a new survey by a respected research organization based at the University of Chicago documents what seems a hopeful movement, small but there nonetheless. Although the number of households with guns is declining, overall the number of guns purchased has not. The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check shows there’s been an increase in the number of background checks. While this suggests the number of guns purchased is going up, it also suggests a greater concentration of ownership, meaning fewer Americans own guns—22% down from the 31% who said they did in 1985. The demographics of gun ownership point to a gender gap, indicating that the percentage of men who own guns declined. They are also older, 31% being over 65. Half gun owners are Republicans, and 4 in 10 are white, as opposed to 2 in 10 being black.

    All in all these numbers remind us that as long as there’s progress in declining gun ownership, it doesn’t matter how slow it is.

  • A Sad Story

    Ruwan Rangana, from a small village in Sri Lanka, paid the equivalent of $1500 to be able to go to Australia. He traveled clandestinely about 3 weeks in a leaky trawler with dozens of others. But when he reached Australian waters, the boat was intercepted by the Australian Navy. A law passed a couple of years ago gives them the right to turn back boats of asylum seekers without their ever reaching Australian soil. This kind of fast track processing, sometimes no more than a phone call to a border official, enables them to say they have met the requirement and can legitimately deny asylum. The offshore fast tracking, however, is decried and criticized by several human rights groups. Once back in Sri Lanka Rangana was arrested, and was fortunate not to end up in jail because he was bailed out for $45, a heavy sum for his family which makes about $300 a month. When the case is disposed of, he probably won’t face a jail term, say the lawyers involved, but be given a fine around $750, something very stiff for a poor family. Now with no savings and no job, Rangana does odd jobs, barely making ends meet. Yet, he keeps hoping to try again to go to Australia despite the odds, because he feels that even were he to die at sea, it is better than to waste away in poverty.

    With variations, some far worse, it is a sad story repeated thousands of times in any number of countries. It underlines that immigration laws in Australia, Europe, the U.S. or many other countries, are made by politicians mindful of their own concerns, not by statesmen and women interested in solving a big human problem.

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