According to US Census Bureau’s 2011 estimates, ethnic minorities now make up 50.4% of the population under the age of 1 and 49.7% of the population under five. Considering that as a whole the US population as of the 2010 census was 72.4% non-Hispanic whites, this means that the remaining 27.6% is responsible for half of births.

While there are definitely positives to this:

Johnson sees the trend as an opportunity for more Americans to embrace diversity. More children are going to be exposed to a more diverse group of classmates, and that will affect attitudes and outlook.

I see it as quite concerning. It means we’re leaving an important segment of the population behind. With increased education family sizes tend to decrease and with smaller family sizes the standard of living increases. While it would appear that white people have gotten the message, it would seem that with a little more than one quarter of the population producing more than half of the babies our neighbors didn’t. While this may prompt the next generation to be more comfortable with and embracing of diversity, it will likely continue the trend of impoverished minorities.

Unfortunately the solution isn’t easy. This isn’t as simple as increasing educational budgets in impoverished areas. We need more education grants and scholarship for minorities, especially minority women. Standards for comprehensive sexual education need to be improved and standardized, especially in areas where it would be least popular. Also exemptions that allow pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions due to religious objections, such as Catholic objections to contraceptives, need to be removed.

While better education and access to contraceptives would help, it needs to go deeper. Shifts in theology are needed, Black Liberation Theology will need to take on pro-education and pro-family planning as major tenants, especially since that’s the real way to empower minorities, and Catholics really need to drop their anti-contraception dogma, fast.

Lower birth rates are good for everybody, not just white people, but to get the job done, as much as I hate to say it, we need the help of religion.