College Voices
Minorities Becoming the New Majority?
For as long as America could remember, the country has been predominantly Caucasian. Over the years, perhaps the figurative tables seem to finally be turning as the minority population is slowly beginning to take over America in more categories than just population. Minorities are beginning to take over pop culture in general.
Minorities in Population
With everything that has been going on in America, with minorities from the “bad apples” within the police forces across America to Trump’s efforts to build a Hispanic resistant wall, it is important to shine light on the fact that minorities have actually begun to have an impact on the overall makeup of America’s population.
Over the past year, the minority population has increased by about 13.2 percent total and is growing each year exponentially.
Census population projections predict that by the year 2045, the US will be a “minority white”. The shift in population dominance is important to recognize. Ever since Columbus and his crew sailed the ocean blue in 1492, America can’t remember a time in history when the nation has not been predominantly Caucasian.
A shift in Culture
Here is something that is difficult to ignore. Minorities are not only affecting the change of race dominance in America but also affecting pop culture. It is important to recognize some of the ways in which the shift in pop culture has begun to lean toward minorities.
Why? Pop culture is one thing that really helps shape America and give the country its character. This is something Americans pride themselves upon.
Recognizing all the areas of pop culture that minorities are beginning to take over might help give people some perspective on the direction America is headed as a whole.
Here are some examples of ways minorities have shifted culture so far…
Music is an art form most people can’t live without. It is rather difficult to escape considering the fact that music is used for ads, entertainment, and marketing as a whole. Over the years, listeners of music have seen a shift in popularity from punk, alternative, pop, and now hip-hop. Over the past year, the Billboard charts have been dominated by the hip-hop genre, which consists of mostly African-American artists.
Almost every week, at least eight out of ten songs in the top ten of the Billboard Top 100 are of the hip-hop genre. This exemplifies the effect hip-hop has on what is trending in music. The 2018 Grammy Awards had also experienced the culture shift with multiple awards being given to the hip-hop genre. These awards were for major categories like album, song, and record of the year. That proves how renowned the genre of hip-hop has become—but this is just the start.
In the fashion industry, there has been an obvious outreach to different cultures. This has changed what is popular on the runway. Street fashion has become the new high fashion. One person who has brought this narrative to the forefront is African-American and CEO of Milan-based label, Off-White, Virgil Abloh.
Off-White is considered to be a luxury streetwear brand and has been very successful since its arrival. Abloh’s success and talent has since led him to be appointed the artistic director of Louis Vuitton’s menswear line back in March of 2018. Virgil Abloh is actually Louis Vuitton’s first African-American menswear designer in the brand’s history.
In addition, sports are also a huge part of American culture. In today’s age, there is a large percentage of sports leagues that are becoming more and more diverse. The Major League of Baseball demographics show that almost 40 percent of the league consists of African-Americans and Latino baseball players.
The National Football League and National Basketball Association are made up of about 70 percent African-American males. It is also hard to ignore the impact of athletes like LeBron James, and most notably, Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick has most recently become the face of Nike’s latest campaign. This is sending a positive message across the world while making it more popular than ever to be a part of a minority group. This is just another of many other examples of the shift in culture dominance that continues to place within America.
The shift in culture dominance that America is experiencing should be embraced rather than avoided.
It is seemingly a positive thing as minorities everywhere continue to make life-changing history across America.