Editorial: Bridging the gap

Saturday, May 19, 2007 | 6:52 a.m.

The nation's minority population has topped 100 million for the first time, meaning nonwhites now make up one-third of the U.S. population, new U.S. Census Bureau figures show.

And this increasing racial difference is playing out between Americans older than 60 and those who are younger.

Older residents are more likely to be non-Hispanic whites, and those younger are increasingly minorities - mostly Hispanic.

Until now, generational gaps were likely to manifest in cultural ways, through music, fashion or technology. But according to the Population Reference Bureau, a nonprofit demographic analysis group, an age gap that is now also divided along racial and ethnic lines could vastly affect the politics and policies of the future.

The questions may be difficult to ask, such as whether an aging and predominantly white population will support increased funding for programs that serve a more racially mixed youth population, the reference bureau says.

In a USA Today story on Thursday, one demographer said younger Hispanics eventually will form the core of the nation's workforce and place a strong emphasis on the creation of jobs, while the mostly white aging population will be more interested in health care.

Nevada is among the six states most affected by this emerging ethnic-generation gap. In 2006 Hispanics made up 25 percent of Nevada's population, compared with 20 percent in 2000. Nevada has the nation's fastest-growing population younger than 15, and 67 percent of those youths are Hispanic.

Our federal lawmakers cannot continue to postpone immigration law reforms, nor can our communities ignore the fact that other cultures are gaining influence. Watching our nation's melting pot change and grow can be exciting and beneficial, as long as we unite by celebrating the fact that, for all of our diversity, we share a common bond as Americans.