Births in the U.S Will Cause: Chaos or Community?

In Martin Luther King’s Chaos or Community King states that a “black man in America is only 60 percent of a human being” (6). The idea that an African American only being a portion of a human being was founded by the constitution and the dehumanization of the black community in America was present during the civil rights movement. It is still apparent almost fifty years after the civil rights movement that the black community is treated as only a portion of a community. Although it is true that the black population only accounts for 12.3% according to the census bureau this making them a minority, does this justify years of inequality on the basis of quantity? However the black community is not the only minority being treated as a portion of a community.  The fast growing Latino population is rising at an alarming rate from 2000 to 2010 the Latino community has risen 4%. That means that compared to the 35,000,000 that there were in 2000, there are now 50,000,000 Latinos living in the United States today. These numbers show no tendency to diminish as the New York Times article Whites Account for Under Half of Births in U.S. demonstrates the Latino population will only continue to flourish. The article states, “according to Census Bureau data made public on Thursday, while minorities — including Hispanics, blacks, Asians and those of mixed race — reached 50.4 percent, representing a majority for the first time in the country’s history.” However although the population’s growth is evermore present, on the other hand the Latino education and civil identity in America is very much absent.  As the Times article elaborates, “Just 13 percent of Hispanics and 18 percent of blacks have a college degree, compared with 31 percent of whites”. The numbers only become scarcer when it relates to Latino role in voting.  According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials,”Only half of eligible Latino voters cast ballots in 2008, he said, compared with 65 percent of eligible non-Hispanic voters”. It is truly amazing the way King's observations throughout the book are still relevant today, especially in both black in and Latin communities. Education is still as much of a problem as it was in the 1960's, and the statistics are clear evidence of this issue. Furthermore education affects civil identity of the indiviual, because the more powerless an individual feels it is more likely he/she will avoid voting viewing that in their powerlessness their vote is aimless. King agrees when he says."the need for negroes to unite for political action in order to compel the majority to listen" (Where Do We from Here: Choas or Community, 38). In other words, king edvocated that the black community needed to motivate itself politically through unity, to be heard by the majority (white America). However, by this rise in minority births the future generation will become the majority, yet a future majority that is still not united will continue to be unable to create political action. Inequality will be as present in 2040 as it was in 1960, because the issues that these minorities face has not been solved today, and will continue to be the problem of tomorrow.