Before an LSU audience Tuesday, Pew Research Center Senior Fellow Paul Taylor referred to a Beyonce song when discussing the increase in mixed-race children in the U.S.
“You mix that Negro with that Creole,’ and that’s what gave us Beyonce,” Taylor quoted the popular entertainer as saying. Mixed race was the theme of his talk and he described what was to come with what he called the “Mosaic Generation.”
The Pew Research Center’s former executive vice president presentation in the Student Union was part of LSU’s presidential symposium on race relations and democracy.
The two-day symposium was organized to address the divisive events during the 2016 summer in Baton Rouge.
Taylor, whose book “The Next America” was the backdrop to the session’s agenda, described his “Aha!” moment when he saw the nation starting to embrace the new American family makeup.
He showed ads from the 2014 Super Bowl from Chevron, Cheerios and Coca-Cola which displayed gay marriages, multiracial families and “America the Beautiful” sung in six languages.
“Product advertisers are not in the business of making political or sociological statements,” Taylor said. “They’re certainly not interested in making political enemies. Indeed, there was a backlash to these ads … but they chose to go through with it anyway.”
Taylor said the companies had run the numbers and knew how the country and the consumer base had changed.
The college-age generation, the millennials, has more mixed-race members than any other generation. According to Taylor’s numbers, the median age for mixed-race Americans is 20. They are the fastest growing and the youngest racial group in the U.S.
“I don’t want to leave you with the notion that because these lines are being crossed and they are becoming more fluid that we have achieved post-racial kumbaya,” Taylor said. “Guess what? We haven’t.”
When Barack Obama was elected president in 2008, 65 percent of white and black Americans said race relations were good, Taylor said. Now, only about 25 percent of whites and blacks say race relations are good.
Across the nation, there are serious discussions about law enforcement and other race-relation issues, he noted. “It’s thrilling to see a group like this trying to deal with that.”
Much of Taylor’s presentation centered on the millennial generation and how it is distinct from prior generations.
According to Taylor’s figures, around 50 percent of millennials identify as independents politically. The previous high was 39 percent for generation X. The results were similar for religious affiliation, with 35 percent of millennials not identifying with a religion.
Another distinction was income. In 1983, the median net worth of households for those under 35 was $15,260, while those over 65 had a worth $120,524. Taylor said overall, that trend made sense, as those over 65 would have longer to accumulate wealth.
However, 30 years later, that gap had more than doubled. Taylor said today’s older generation is doing better, while the younger generation is doing worse. “That’s one reason why young adults aren’t getting married, they aren’t buying houses, they aren’t buying cars.”
Taylor also showed that younger adults have grown “milder” in recent years. Since 1993, the numbers of teenage arrests has decreased by 36 percent, high school dropouts have dropped 40 percent, and teenage births have fallen by 50 percent.
Around 32 percent of U.S. millennials are living with a parent or relative, Taylor said. He also noted a higher percentage of millennials in Europe still live with a relative.
Taylor emphasized the power of the millennial generation. As they began to reach voting age, adults’ opinions on gay marriage moved more favorably. The charge was led by that generation, as 71 percent of millennials supported gay marriage in 2015.
“For a lot of Americans, particularly in the South, perhaps, but all over, that is a lot of change to absorb,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the youngest generation, the one after the millennials, is still too young to indicate where their political ideologies are leaning and what their values will be. However, Taylor said it will be the first majority non-white generation.
“My candidate for what to call them are ‘Mosaics,’” Taylor said. “The metaphor mosaic better captures how we think of diversity in the 21st century than the melting pot metaphor. This is a culture that celebrates diversity, and the mosaic is the best of all worlds.”