Journalist, author, political pundit and anchor on Oprah Winfrey's new Oxygen network for women, Ferai Chideya spoke about America's changing demographics and the increasing importance of young voters in the 21st century.
Speaking to a racially mixed audience of 30 people in Rockefeller Center yesterday afternoon, Chideya noted that having the census and the presidential election coincide in 2000 is "a weird harmonic convergence." But said it is of critical significance to the younger generation.
"If young voters can seize the reigns and are active, they can set things in motion to affect us in the next 50 years," Chideya said.A stronger base of youth activism in the electorate is needed, Chideya said, considering in the 1996 presidential election seniors outvoted 18 to 21 year-olds two-to-one.
Using the metaphor of "the squeaky wheel gets the grease," Chideya said it is critical for young voters to exercise their right.
The election of former wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor of Minnesota "is a case of young people flexing their muscle," according to Chideya.
She highlighted the need for voters to make themselves heard and to look for people outside of the political mainstream to run for office.
The issue Chideya allotted the most time to was the future demographic makeup of the United States.
She said statistics predict that in 50 years America will have no racial majority, a profound cultural and socioeconomic shift in a nation of a historically white majority that has at times used race as a means of suppression.
"This issue hasn't really sunk in," she said. "Most Americans are myopic that our country's fundamental racial structure is changing."
Accompanying the shifting demographics is unease, visible in both local and national politics. In New York City, for example, a tension exists between native New Yorkers and immigrants, Chideya said.
The challenge is "how to negotiate the changes to uplift and enlighten everybody rather than pitting one group against another."
Because of the controversial nature of the subject, Chideya said presidential candidates have avoided addressing the impending demographic shift except when talking broadly about immigration.
While voters rated poverty as more of a priority than taxation, Chideya said politicians nevertheless have proposed widespread tax cuts and thus have "taken the path of least resistance," highlighting the need for more of a two-way dialogue with voters.
"The country is in denial that a massive change is ahead, she said. "We can't afford to sleep through" the approaching census and election.
The demographic shift will especially affect society economically, since America's immigration base provides a range of wage and skilled workers.
Chideya also connected how politics and the census are inextricably linked because the census determines political representation and federal funding.
In the census, Chideya said race equals politics, and the definition of race has become increasingly complex over time.
For the first time, the 2000 census will allow citizens to check-off all the races that apply to them, which amounts to 63 different combinations of the traditional categories.
"When we now calculate the politics of race, it is a complicated task at hand because no longer can we just chart the black, white and Native American," she said, indicating her support of the new multicultural identification process.
She also pointed out the shortcomings of the 1990 census in which four million Americans were counted twice, partly because they owned two homes. She said this resulted in over-representation of rich Caucasians. Also in 1990, eight million people were undercounted, consisting of people who had moved, the homeless or those suspicious of the government.
She said the decision of how to tabulate demographics has become an increasingly partisan battle and Democrats have suggested using statistical sampling models to approximate the figures.
