Census data shows minorities now a majority of U.S. births

By Dennis Cauchon and Paul Overberg, USA TODAY

More than half of all babies born last year were members of minority groups, the first time in U.S. history. It's a sign of how swiftly the USA is becoming a nation of younger minorities and older whites.

• 
  By Keith Srakocic, AP
  Newborns lined up last year in Pittsburgh are wrapped in Steelers towels. The Census says more than half the babies born in 2011 were members of minority groups.

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By Keith Srakocic, AP

Newborns lined up last year in Pittsburgh are wrapped in Steelers towels. The Census says more than half the babies born in 2011 were members of minority groups.

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Hispanics, blacks, Asians and other minorities in 2011 accounted for 50.4% of births, 49.7% of all children under 5 and slightly more than half of the 4 million kids under 1, the Census Bureau reports today.

The nation's growing diversity has huge implications for education, economics and politics. "Children are in the vanguard of this transition," says Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute.

In all, minorities had 5.9% fewer babies last year than in 2010, but births among non-Hispanic whites fell even more, down 10.1%, Johnson says. A key reason: A greater share of the minority population is of child-bearing age.

The new report offers a broad picture of where and how the nation is changing. One telling sign: vast differences in the median age — the mid-point of all ages — of racial and ethnic groups. For Hispanics, the USA's largest minority group, the median age is 27.6. For whites who are not Hispanic, it's 42.3. Blacks (30.9) and Asians (33.2) are in between.

Other findings:

•The population of kids under 18 shrank by a quarter million last year — the same amount as the over-85 population increased.

•Three more metro areas — Columbus, Ga.; Dallas-Fort Worth; and Vineland-Millville, N.J. — joined a growing list of places where a majority of residents are minorities.

•Nine counties, including Cumberland, N.J., and Quitman, Ga., joined the 11% of the nation's 3,143 counties where at least half the residents are minorities.

•Washington, D.C., when included with the 50 states, was the only place that has gotten younger since 2000, a result of young and educated people moving to the nation's capital.

•Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire are the oldest and among the whitest states. Utah and Texas are the youngest states. Maine's median age has increased by 4.6 years since 2000 to an oldest-in-the-country 43.2 years in 2011, Census data show.

The growth of Hispanic children, especially those about to enter kindergarten, poses a big challenge in many states.

Nationally, more than three-fourths of the nation's teachers are non-Hispanic white and just 8% are Hispanic, Census data show.

The number of school-age Hispanics grew more than 5 million since 2000 while non-Hispanic whites fell 3 million.

Experts: Circumstances of Florida family slayings 'really unusual'

By Matt Smith, CNN

Tonya Thomas shot her four children to death before killing herself, police in Florida say.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Women make up only about 5% of mass killers, a criminologist says
• Police say Tonya Thomas shot her four children, then killed herself early Tuesday
• 911 calls recount confusion over the shootings in Port St. John, Florida
• Neighbors have described a history of public arguments among Thomas and her children

(CNN) -- The early-morning slaughter of four Florida siblings at the hands of what authorities say was their mother is an "almost unheard of" case, crime experts said Wednesday.

Investigators are still trying to determine what happened at the Port St. John home of 33-year-old Tonya Thomas early Tuesday morning. But Patricia Pearson, author of "When She was Bad: How and Why Women Get Away with Murder," said mass killings with women as a perpetrator are rare -- and when they do happen, they typically aren't committed with guns.

"If a gun was used, that's almost unheard of," Pearson told CNN.

Women make up about 5% of the ranks of mass killers, said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University. And most cases in which women kill their families involve young children, said Fox, the author of "Extreme Killing: Understanding Serial and Mass Murder."

Sheriff's deputies in Brevard County say Thomas turned a .38-caliber revolver on herself after killing her two sons, 15-year-old Jaxs Johnson and 12-year-old Joel Johnson, and two daughters, 17-year-old Pebbles Johnson and 13-year-old Jazlin Johnson. The children went to a neighbor's house when the shooting started, with at least one reporting being shot, according to recordings of 911 calls released by the sheriff's department Tuesday -- but they returned while neighbors were on the phone with deputies, and more shots followed.

"The two kids were in the front yard, one banging on the front door, 'Help us! Help us!'" a neighbor told dispatchers. "There was so much confusion going on we couldn't tell who shot who, and then when I was talking to you the one kid said his mom shot him."

"I cried so much," slain boy's classmate says

Investigators don't know a motive for the killings, said Lt. Tod Goodyear, a spokesman for the Brevard County Sheriff's Office. But he said neighbors have described a history of public arguments among Thomas and her children, and Jaxs Johnson was arrested after a pair of fights with his mother in April.

The teen was charged with domestic violence after a pair of fights with his mother, according to records released by the sheriff's office. In the first, on April 8, he knocked out a window with his bicycle during a fight; Thomas told deputies "she is attempting to get him into different programs to help with his issues."

The following day, she said, her son punched and kicked her when she tried to wake him for school, then ran out of the house. She again called deputies, who arrested him on April 10, Goodyear said. He spent at least two days in juvenile detention after the arrest and had a court date scheduled for Tuesday, Goodyear said.

Thomas herself had been arrested on domestic violence charges in 2002, after a fight with her former boyfriend, the children's father, Goodyear said.

Fox said the circumstances appear to be a case of "suicide by proxy," in which a family member takes the lives of her loved ones "out of a warped sense of love" before killing herself.

"Typically, the perpetrator is suicidal, feels life is miserable and doesn't want to go on," Fox said. "But why does she take her children? Because she wished to be reunited them in the afterlife or wants to spare them the misery of this life."

Usually the victims in such cases are young children, however -- "partly because young children are vulnerable," he said. "Older kids can run away."

And the reported circumstances are "really unusual," far different from typical cases involving either women or men.

In an e-mail to CNN, Pearson said that in cases where women kill their children, "They target them because that is their sphere of power, and also their source of stress." But she added, "I've never seen a case where the children were this old, however. They're almost always under 5."

Bill Randall: Not just another Black Republican

Saturday, April 28, 2012 - Rich like me by Rich Stowell

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WASHINGTON, April 28, 2012—In the 2010 midterms, voters sent two black Republicans to the House. Allen West (FL-22) and Tim Scott (SC-01) were the only two of a field of 32 to make it, and are currently the only African American Republicans in Congress.

Bill Randall was in the field with West and Scott, and is coming back for a second try this year in North Carolina's 13th district.

"The district has been redrawn, and now it is more favorable for a Republican," Randall said in an exclusive interview with the Washington Times Communities.

North Carolina holds its primary on May 8.

Randall was defeated in the general election in 2010 by Democrat Brad Miller, who is not seeking re-election.

Like Scott and West, Randall considers himself a Tea Party candidate, but is facing two fellow GOP challengers this year, both of whom brand themselves as "true conservatives."

For his part, Randall is a former Democrat who came to Republican Party because, as he said, the Democratic Party was hijacked by the Left. "I cannot think of any standard or principle of the Democratic Party today that clearly lines up with the ideals and principles that were laid for us by our Founding Fathers."

A retired Command Master Chief in the Navy, Randall grew up in Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, where he was "taught personal responsibility, integrity, and love for God, family, and country."

A lifetime sailor, Randall learned to appreciate hard work and American values and goodness. Only a handful of service members ever attain the position of Command Master Chief, the highest enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy.

"I do not see myself as a self made man…. Anyone who has a measure of success in life has other individuals who were instrumental in that success," said Randall.  

He got involved in conservative activism during the Obama Administration.

"The Tea Party is something that liberals fear, so they're trying to discredit it," said Randall. "One of the labels that have been put on the Tea Party is they're racist. When you have a black, conservative, Tea Party Republican…that's a threat."

He knows that, as a black Republican, he faces additional pressure from the Left, but Randall is proud of his party's record on race.

"Civil Rights legislation would not have passed had it not been for strong principled support from Republicans in Congress," he recalled. "The most harsh and determined opposition to Civil Rights legislation came from Democrats like Al Gore Senior, like Senator Byrd from West Virginia."

If he wins, he would increase the number of African Americans in the Republican caucus by 50%, assuming West and Scott hold on to their seats.

But Randall wants to be more than the next black Republican in the House. He wants to solve problems. Life on a Navy ship has given him some perspective.

When you are confronted by issues, "you don't put them on the side. You look to the senior enlisted leadership to solve problems."

Randall is composed and steady, and ready for the fight.

Learn more about the author at Rich-Stowell.com 

Rich is a teacher and a soldier. In addition to writing the "Rich Like Me" political column at the Washington Times Communities, he is the author of Nine Weeks: A Teacher’s Education in Army Basic Training; Tunnel Club; and Not Another Boring Textbook: A High School Students’ Guide to their Inner Conservative.

http://www.facebook.com/boringtextbook  

This article is the copyrighted property of the writer and Communities @ WashingtonTimes.com. Written permission must be obtained before reprint in online or print media. REPRINTING TWTC CONTENT WITHOUT PERMISSION AND/OR PAYMENT IS THEFT AND PUNISHABLE BY LAW.

Opinion: Let's face facts, race remains the issue

The Republican

    

By RHONDA SWAN | The Palm Beach Post
It never ceases to amaze me how often in so-called post-racial America my blackness is the focus of white people’s anger no matter my alleged offense. Yet whenever people of African descent note this prejudice, we get charged with playing the race card.

Let the record show that black people didn’t stack the deck that is America’s house of cards. We just play the hand that we’ve been dealt.

Take, for example, an incident that occurred last week at an establishment I frequent in CityPlace, an entertainment area in West Palm Beach, Fla.

I had the audacity of taking an empty seat that another patron had been saving for a half hour. I assured the white-haired, red-faced gentleman clad in a polo shirt that I’d move when his friend arrived.

  He became belligerent and verbally abusive. I ignored his ranting until his companion finally showed up. That’s when the angry white man shouted: “I tried saving you a seat, but she just sat there. There’s absolutely nothing I can do about it, since she’ll just call the NACCP.”

I had every intention to move. That comment glued me to the seat.

What did the NAACP or my race have to do with this? Or, for that matter, the other racial incidents I’ve experienced in the seven years I’ve lived in Florida? Like the time a white woman told me to “go back to Africa where you belong.” Or the time a white cab driver called me a “nigger.” Or when an anonymous poster to a blog called me an “affirmative action hire.”

The answer: My race was the weapon each of these individuals used in an attempt to devalue me as a human being. To let me know that I don’t matter.

Just as Trayvon Martin didn’t matter to the Sanford, Fla., Police Department. They devalued him because of the color of his skin. Police Chief Bill Lee, who swore his investigation was thorough and colorblind, though it was neither, resigned Monday. City commissioners voted 3-2 to reject his resignation.

Many insist that race has been overblown in the case of the unarmed black teenager killed by the white Hispanic man. They cringe at the sight of the Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. They’d like nothing better than for black folks to change the conversation, already. We’ve got a half-black man in the White House for god’s sake.

As tired as we all are of America’s race problem, the fact is it’s still a problem. And black people will not stop talking about it until race ceases to be an issue in our lives – and in our deaths.

Anyone who doubts that Trayvon’s killing would’ve been handled less ineptly by Sanford police, or that he would have been afforded more dignity had he been white is naive, in denial, or feigning ignorance for political gain or higher ratings.

Or they have forgotten or never knew our history.

“America is continuously struggling for its soul,” Nobel Prize-winning sociologist Gunnar Myrdal wrote in “An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy.” Those words are no less true three generations later than when they were published in 1944. The Carnegie Corp. of New York chose the Swede to lead a study of black life in America because he was “a man in a non-imperialistic country with no background of domination of one race over another.”

What Myrdal found was a country that had not lived up to the democratic ideals of the “American Creed” – freedom, equality and justice for all – as evidenced by how America treated its people of color. “The American Negro problem is a problem in the heart of the American,” he wrote. “It is there that the interracial tension has its focus. It is there that the decisive struggle goes on.”

And on. And on. And on.

That struggle is for each of us to recognize oneness in those who don’t look like, think like, or act like us.

For my blackness not to fog the lens through which others see me.

Black people in America would like nothing better than for this country to truly be post-racial.

We will stop talking about race when it stops being an issue for everyone else.

Springfield native Rhonda Swan is an editorial writer for The Palm Beach Post in Florida.

10 Car-Buying Tips From Former Salesman

ABCNEWS.com

Unless you happen to love the dance of negotiation, need forced friendliness to feel popular or like losing money, buying a car probably fills you with dread.

It doesn't have to, according to Oren Weintraub,who runsAuthorityAuto.com andRevDeal.net. How does Weintraub know how to deal with car salesmen? He was one. The key is preparation, which starts with reading these ten tips based on his inside knowledge of life on the lot.

Get more inside scoops on various professions on the full episode of "20/20: True Confessions."

1.

Don't Go on Emotion

Take your time to find out the exact car you want and research the available options. Learn what other people are paying for that car before you go into the dealership. That information is available (usually for a fee) from several websites, including Edmunds.com andConsumerReports.org.

2.

Break It Down

Separate your negotiation according to every profit center the dealer has: price, rebates, trade-in value, interest rate, lease rate, bank fee, alarms, maintenance, warranties, and any other products the dealer is offering.

3.

Don't Fall for False Urgency

Nine times out of 10, a deal the salesman quotes you will be available the next day (unless it's the last day of a special program). Prepare yourself to walk out of the dealership if you are being pressured and are uncomfortable.

4.

End of the Month Is Good, But...

The end of the month is not the only time to get a great deal. Dealerships are always motivated to sell cars. If you do want to take advantage of the dealer's urgency to meet his monthly goal or quota, start your negotiation a few days before.

5.

Don't Waste Your Time

Before you start negotiating, make sure the dealer has the particular car you want in stock. If he doesn't, he can usually trade for it with another dealer. This can take a few days, and there is no guarantee that the dealer that can get the car for you. If not, you've wasted your time. Moreover, dealers typically offer better deals on cars they have in stock.

6.

Check the Switch

If a dealer proposes to switch you from a new car to a used car, or vice versa, get all the information on the second car. Then go home and research its market value. Take any false urgency such as, "This pre-owned car is a very special, rare, low-mileage car that may be impossible to replace," with two grains of salt.

Sometimes these pitches are at least partially true. If you feel that the car the dealer is showing you really is special, leave and gather your information quickly. You can always ask the dealer to hold the car for a while.

7.

Lower Payment Isn't Lower Price

If a salesman offers to lower your monthly payment by changing the terms of a loan or lease, he may not be offering much of anything. This is a common way to present a more comfortable payment for you without having to lower his price and profit.

8.

The Early Bird Gets Rolled

If you're the type who has to be the first on your block with the new Mustang, fine, but you probably won't get a good deal. The hype surrounding a new model (or a new version of an existing model) tilts the supply-demand ratio in the dealers' favor, allowing them to charge retail or even more when the new car hits the showroom. If you wait a few months for the actual inventory to arrive at the dealer, you'll usually get a better price.

9.

Keep Future Buys in Mind

Set yourself up to be in a good position to get your next car. If you are going to purchase a car with little or no money down and you plan to replace it within 36 months, you will likely end up owing more money on the car than it's worth. This could create a cycle of taking negative equity from one car to another, further burying yourself in a negative trade cycle.

Instead, lease it for a 36-month term, and you'll end up with a paid contract at the end of the lease.

10.

A Call Ahead Saves Time

Call the dealership before going there and ask the salesman to have the car you want to drive ready. If you don't, it could have a dead battery, be buried behind other cars or even be stored off-site.