THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2021 CENSUS CONTINUED

 THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 2021 CENSUS CONTINUED

In the picture blue is growth, orange is shrinking.  

Yes, the times they are ‘a-changing.  People move, immigrate, have large families, or small families (or no children).  People get married and people get divorced.  (If you look at the map,

The fabric of society is changing.  Growing up in the 1950s, I didn’t know any non-Christians (although there may have been some, it just wasn’t part of the environment).  We had Christmas concerts - with secular and religious songs.  No businesses were open on Sunday (other than maybe gas stations and restaurants).  My community had whites and blacks, but I really don’t remember any other specific minorities.  At large were the ‘beat generation’ and ‘beatniks’.   (All you needed (in my opinion) was a bongo drum and poetry that didn’t rhyme!!).  There were very few divorces (that I knew about anyway).  “Father Knows Best” and “Leave it to Beaver” were staples in the television world.  

To me, the world changed in the 60s.  The baby boomers were growing and questioning things.  Rock and roll became “our” music.  We went off to college and listened to Joan Baez and others.  We grew our hair long, tried marijuana, learned to drink, and became adults.  I wasn’t too sure about the ‘real world’ after graduation.  I took my first teaching job basically because I was “supposed to do something” (and being a perpetual college student - while an attractive option - wasn’t going to cut it!!!).

And, America got caught in Vietnam.  It split our nation. (Recently we got caught in Afghanistan in a similar situation). I had friends who served in Vietnam and friends who protested the war in Vietnam.  And, those that survived are now in their upper 60s or 70s now.  We “won” the Space Race and kept track of nuclear weapons in the Cold War.  Then we took in immigrants - Vietnamese and others.  California was bringing in Mexican laborers.  Our graduate schools became the education for the world.  Most technical programs had a larger mix of international students as compared to white Americans.  (Aside, one of my favorite classes was a graduate MBA class with Chinese, Mongolians, Romanian, Caribbean Islands, and other international students.  I even had a barbeque at my best-ever faculty office - on the sides of Sleeping Giant) with this diverse class.)

So, this week, I’ve written about the Census.  I am reflecting back on the ZPG movement of the 1960s.  ZPG stands for “Zero Population Growth”. The web says: “Dr. Paul Ehrlich, a biologist at Stanford University and author of the influential but controversial 1968 book The Population Bomb, founded Zero Population Growth (ZPG) with lawyer Richard Bowers and entomologist Charles Remington.” (http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/2019/11/20/a-1960s-population-control-organization-rebranded-in-2002-now-its-recruiting-unc-students/)

It would seem to me that the zero population growth message was heard by White Americans.  My mother came from a family of four children, my father from a family of 11 children.  My wife came from a family of 11 children, and her father was also from a family of 11 children, and her mother was from a family of five children.  

My wife and I had two children; our daughter had two children, and our son had three children for a numerical value of 2.33 (so, my family is going the replacement thing).  My parents had two children, with four children and eight grandchildren - or a 2.00 replacement value).

But, there are countries on the other side: (2019 data)

Niger had a replacement rate of 6.824

Somalia - 5.987

DR Congo -5.819

Mali - 5.785

Chad - 5.689

Of the top 27 fertility replacement rates, all are in Africa.  The highest non-African replacement rate was Afghanistan 

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Will these figures prove true?  Will the sub-Saharan African countries continue to have large fertility rates?  Will Eastern Europe dieback because of its 1.7 fertility rate? Or North America because of its 1.7 fertility rate?

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Will the United States become a Hispanic Nation in 100 years?  When will Hispanics outnumber whites in the United States?  (And, a tough question - was some of this - directly or indirectly - part of the 2020 United States Presidential Election?) 

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And, will the 2020 Census cause Americans to grow closer together - or will it split us farther apart as we argue about redistricting and political maneuvering?

Yesterday, I was having coffee with a friend and I said I was writing about the census and she thought that was probably boring.  As I pointed out the changes, gerrymandering, and political implications she realized that the issue is real.

But, in a very simplistic viewpoint, our lives are pretty simple - we live, we die.  Does it matter?  I hope to have a nicer place to live someday - heaven - but I am not in charge of that decision!!!  (Hurray!!!) 

Tomorrow - a LOVE WINS Friday blog, Saturday, a story, then a Funday on Sunday, and a new topic for next week.  I do enjoy writing.  Do you have ideas for topics or things that interest you?

LOVE WINS!!!

Karen