GenZ on the Rise: The GOP Is Pushing to Steal Students’ Votes, Rolling Stone, 11.28.23

This Nov. 28th Rolling Stone piece by Tessa Stuart made me think of this quote out of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities:

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

Doesn't this resonate for the moment we're all experiencing right now? I know it does for me.

GenZ youth are a clear force in state and national politics. Born sometime around 1996-2012, they are between the ages of 10 and 27. Many of these are our students in our classes in high school or college. They're the younger ones in our graduate, especially master's, programs. 

They're unlike any previous generation. They are, for example, the most generationally diverse age-generational cohort in U.S. history (e.g., as compared to Boomers, Gen X, or Millennials). The generation following them, "Gen Alpha," will be even more diverse. Key quote:

“Young people are the reason why Biden won in 2020 and Democrats up and down the ballot won in 2022 and 2023,” says Abhi Rahman, national communications director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. “If Gen Z continues to vote, we’re on the cusp of the most progressive era in our country’s history. Republicans know this as well, and that’s why they’re doing everything they can to stop young people from voting, including the fight for restrictions that we’re seeing play out in states like Wisconsin today.”

Yes, they are progressive and within GenZ, this attribute applies more strongly to females than males (Twenge, 2023). I can't help but think about reproduction rights and resistance to macho, misogynist culture playing into this. GenZ youth are also "digital natives." At least in developed countries, they only know this digital, online world that we have created for them—for better and for worse. 

To their credit, Gen Z has normalized greater openness on mental health and illness. That's also a good thing so that folks don't suffer from stigma or fail to get the mental health services and supports they need.

The pandemic, curiously, gave not only a bump to Boomers and Gen X-ers with expanded computer skills like Zoom conference calls, but GenZ did, too, albeit from a different, more skillful starting point. 

We also got pronouns from GenZ. The right, and some on the left, decry this, but it's probably because this generation, more than any other one prior, has simply shown more of themselves and who they are by virtue of social media. I've been studying this for awhile. I find it all so fascinating. Pronouns are not at all about political correctness, but about inclusion in being one's full self and that's a great thing.

What works for GenZ is the one-on-one. They pay attention to people they know and trust and who are authentic with them. So they take in information not just differently, but, I think, with a modicum of healthy skepticism. Tik Tok, specifically, I hear, is also huge for information sharing within this generation and for younger millennials—and for strategizing their next moves, too. Incidentally, older Millennials prefer Instagram and Facebook. I got this specific information from a friend who works at the UT library.

My message to GenZ and younger Millennials is the following: 

First, you are genuinely feared. This Rolling Stone article attests to this.

Second, no matter what, do not let the GOP or anybody or anything try and keep you from voting. Your vote is precious, now more than ever. If all of you vote, you WILL get the outcomes you seek and you WILL position the planet for its most progressive era in human history.

Third, yes, we need world peace and I'm with you on prioritizing the environment.

Fourth, your best resistance to oppression is to resist anyone or anything that seeks to take away your right to an abundant, fulfilling life—even as you always seek justice so that all may share in this abundance.

Fifth, get grounded in community and build ethical relationships that nurture your sense of self and that speak to the value you add just by being exactly who you are. 

Finally, always be ethical and responsible in your uses of power, considering always a role that caring adults, family members and elders play, or can play, in your life as mentors, advisers, and role models. Your thriving depends on your being in community. It's great for your health!

Much love and cariño to all of you in these worst and best of times.

Peace/paz,

-Angela Valenzuela

References

Twenge, J. M. (2023). Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America's Future. Simon and Schuster.

The GOP Is Pushing to Steal Students’ Votes

Instead, they're seeing increased turnout and lawsuits challenging new restrictions

Instead, they're seeing increased turnout and lawsuits challenging new restrictions

LAST WEEK IN Wisconsin, the state Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could invalidate the state’s comically, ludicrously, preposterously gerrymandered maps. If the court strikes those maps down, it will likely mean the end of the GOP’s decadeslong domination of the statehouse — and it will be because of what happened in Dane County in April.

Almost a quarter million voters turned out in Dane, home of University of Wisconsin, for a spring special election — several thousand more voters than turned out in Milwaukee, a county with almost double Dane’s population. A staggering 82 percent of Dane voters cast ballots to elevate liberal Judge Janet Protasiewicz to the state Supreme Court. Protasiewicz — whose vote could decide the gerrymandering case — ended up winning by 11 points.

Coming on the heels of the 2022 midterms — when Wisconsin led the nation in youth turnout in the country — the GOP judicial candidate’s April humiliation stunned the party. Former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker put it plainly: “Young people are the issue.”

“We’ve got to turn it around if we’re going to win again,” Walker, now the president of a conservative youth organization called Young America’s Foundation, told Fox News. The power that young voters wield was not exactly a revelation to Walker; as governor 12 years earlier, he signed a law making it harder to use a student ID to vote, prompting universities in Wisconsin to offer IDs that met the state’s new standards for free.

Student engagement has only soared in Wisconsin in the years since, but that hasn’t stopped the GOP from pulling pages from the same playbook. Across the country this year, targeted efforts to disenfranchise student voters have ramped up as election after election proved just how critical the bloc is to guarantee Democratic victories. With encouragement from influential GOP operatives, those efforts — which met with middling success in ‘23 — are poised to escalate in 2024. And they speak to a growing fear with which Republican officials and strategists regard young voters.

In Wisconsin, the GOP-controlled legislature has seized every opportunity to try and block students from voting. “We’ve seen really strong student engagement in our last couple of elections,” Morgan Hess, executive director of the Wisconsin Assembly Democrats, tells Rolling Stone. “And suddenly, we’re seeing new legislation that would prohibit student’s ability to vote.”

Hess points to GOP efforts over the past several years to make it harder to register, eliminate drop boxes, shorten early voting, increase residency requirements, and reduce polling locations — mostly in Madison and Milwaukee. “These are very targeted operations that serve to further entrench the power that they already have,” says Hess.

Months after their April routing, party functionaries at the Wisconsin GOP’s convention mulled a resolution demanding college students to vote absentee in their hometowns; one supporter of the resolution declared students had “hijacked” his city. The resolution failed to advance after another official raised the possibility that attacking students’ right to vote could backfire — an argument that seems prophetic in retrospect, as a growing number of polls show Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee, outpolling Joe Biden with young voters.

Nevertheless, Republicans in state legislatures across the country this year have proposed laws targeting the student vote. In New Hampshire, House Republicans introduced a bill that would have prohibited any college students who pay out-of-state tuition from voting, and require the state’s colleges to provide the secretary of state with a list of eligible voters. Lawmakers “want the elections to be the reflection of those who reside in New Hampshire towns and who ultimately bear the consequences of the election results,” said Republican Rep. Sandra Panek, who introduced the measure in committee. (The bill was eventually killed.)

The same month, a GOP lawmaker in Texas introduced a bill that would ban polling places at colleges and universities. (That bill has not advanced out of committee.) In Virginia, there was a failed effort to repeal a law that allows anyone 16 or older to register to vote if they will be 18 by the next major election. And, according to the Voting Rights Lab, legislation seeking to change the rules around student IDs was introduced or enacted in at least 15 states this year.

It’s all part of a concerted strategy advanced by GOP operatives like Cleta Mitchell — one of the central figures behind Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. At a summit a few weeks after Wisconsin’s April special election, Mitchell told Republican donors that the party must do more to limit campus voting in swing states like Wisconsin “for any candidate other than a leftist to have a chance to WIN in 2024.”

Students and their advocates are pushing back against these efforts. In Wisconsin, leaflets distributed on campus ahead of April’s special election included information educating voters about the state’s ID requirements. In Idaho — the state that saw the largest increase in voter registrations from 18- and 19-year-olds ahead the 2022 midterms — a law set to go into effect Jan. 1, which bans the use of student IDs to register to vote or cast a ballot, is being challenged in lawsuits by the organization Babe Vote, the League of Women Voters and March for Our Lives Idaho. The groups claim that the law violates constitutional protections against age discrimination in voting.

“Young people are the reason why Biden won in 2020 and Democrats up and down the ballot won in 2022 and 2023,” says Abhi Rahman, national communications director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. “If Gen Z continues to vote, we’re on the cusp of the most progressive era in our country’s history. Republicans know this as well, and that’s why they’re doing everything they can to stop young people from voting, including the fight for restrictions that we’re seeing play out in states like Wisconsin today.”

Travis County: Early Voting Locations 2022

 Dear Austin/Travis County Friends:

We must all make it a point to vote. Early voting begins on Monday at these locations [also downloadable here]. For more information, also visit the Travis County Elections website for more detail.

-Angela Valenzuela

Great news, my friends—especially those of you that are health nuts.  Here's something I've intuitively known.  Scientific research shows that voting and civic engagement are good for your health! 

-Angela

Voting Is Good for Your Health, Study Finds

BY ALEXANDRA SIFFERLIN 

JANUARY 23, 2018

Voting isn’t just good for the country. A new study reveals that adolescents and young adults who are civically involved also tend to have better health.In the new study, published Tuesday in the journal Child Development, researchers analyzed data from 9,471 adolescents and young adults between ages 11 and 20, who were surveyed in 1994-1995 and followed for nearly 15 years. They found that young people who engaged in any of three activities—volunteering, voting or activism—were more likely to have a higher income and education later in life than those who did not. People who volunteered and voted were also more likely to be in better health.

People who reported volunteering and voting were more likely to eat in a healthy way and have fewer depressive symptoms than their peers who didn’t. But people who were involved in activism, despite also having higher incomes and education attainment later on, were also more likely to engage in risky behaviors like substance abuse.

“Civic engagement is a productive experience for young people,” says study author Parissa Ballard, assistant professor of family and community medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine. “The findings on volunteering and voting were uniformly positive.”

The study is one of the first to look at the potential health benefits of voting. Other studies have linked volunteering to better health outcomes like fewer symptoms of depression, better self-reported health and even a lower risk of early death. “Volunteering might affect health by allowing people to feel good about themselves, to feel like they matter, to experience social connection and decreased loneliness, and to feel satisfaction from contributing to others,” the study authors write.

Activism, Ballard says, can be a bit more controversial. The researchers defined activism as being involved in a march or rally, and noted that while volunteering and voting are widely accepted norms, activism is often done in opposition to something or for the promotion of social change, which may be why it wasn’t linked to better health.However, it’s possible to make protesting a more positive experience, Ballard says. “Help young people find meaningful opportunities in their communities and manage expectations about what activism is about, and that the change might take a long time,” she says. “Help people recognize the small wins along the way in order to not get burned out.”

Ballard says she wants to continue researching the health benefits of civic engagement, especially since more people are getting politically and socially involved. “What motivates me is how this has benefits for individuals and the community,” says Ballard. “We can promote adolescent health by getting them involved, and in turn impact their communities.”

Give the gift of voting by Laura Yeager with #TxEdVote

Voting is a right and a responsibility, just like activism and cultivating the skills of civic engagement in a democracy.  

It is also a gift, as Laura Yeager with Texas Educators Vote, says.

-Angela Valenzuela

Give the gift of voting                                     December 11, 2019

This time of year, people are searching for the perfect gift for those near and dear to them. Look no further. The gift of civic engagement is easy to share, will reap rewards for years to come, and will bring the giver deep satisfaction as well. Studies show that voting is good for your health, for the health of the community, and it doesn’t cost a thing. In a world that seems out of control, exercising your right to vote is an empowering experience. So, lead by example and show your friends, family, and coworkers how easy it is to be civically engaged. Schedule time together throughout the year to register (or check your voter registration status), research what will be on your ballot when it is close to election time, and then go to the polls and vote together. Plan it now and schedule a series of fun get-togethers. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

To do:

1.     Register to vote.

2.     Invite your friends and family to register to vote.

3.     Like us on Facebook and Twitter for helpful voting articles and info.

4.     Sign up for election text reminders by texting TxEdVote to 40649.

5.     Bookmark the Texas Educators Vote website for all the above info!  

Social Media Posts to share:

“Give the gift of civic engagement. Lead by example!” #txed #txlege #vote #TxEdVote

“Schedule time with loved ones to register, research, and vote.” #txed #txlege #vote #TxEdVote

Thank you,

Laura Yeager

Texas Educators Vote

Attachments area

Texas teachers: “Be A Texas Voter” civics curriculum is here!

To All Texas Teachers:  

Excellent TEKS-aligned curriculum developed by the League of Women Voters for high school students is available at http://beatexasvoter.org/ [scroll down for more info].  Please share widely and please remember to vote yourselves.


Many thanks to the Texas League of Women Voters, especially Laura Yeager,​ for sharing and for being such a powerful advocate of the vote.

Angela Valenzuela

***

If you're not registered to vote and want to vote in this November's general election, you must register to vote by October 9. Here's how:  

1) Fill this out online: https://webservices.sos.state.tx.us/vrapp/index.asp

2) Print and mail it to the registrar in your county of residence. 

• In Bexar County, that's 1103 S. Frio #100, San Antonio, TX 78207.  
• In Travis County, that's 5501 Airport Blvd. Their main number is (512) 854-9473 and email is tax_voters@traviscountytx.gov.

If you are registered but moved to a different county, all you need to do is update your information online here: https://txapps.texas.gov/tolapp/sos/SOSACManager…

Not sure if you're registered or not? Check here: https://teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov/MVP/mvp.do

This status is public, for anyone interested in sharing.

June 28, 2018

Texas Educators Vote Update

It takes more than just registering to vote…

“Be A Texas Voter” civics curriculum is here!

Last week’s update focused on the importance of registering to vote and making sure to register staff over the summer and students when school resumes in August. The importance of registering all eligible voters can’t be overstated. However, registering to vote alone does not ensure civic engagement. Statistics on Texas voting patterns found on the Texas Secretary of State’s website, show that while we are doing ok on voter registration, we have a real problem with voter turnout. 

In the March 2018 primary election, 77% of voting age Texans were registered to vote. We celebrated higher than usual voter turnout of only 13% of Texas’s voting age population (17% of registered voters). You may wonder if that is a typo. Sadly, it is not! When they say Texas is last in voter turnout, they are not kidding around! We have room for serious improvement in voter turnout. 

The League of Women Voters of Texas, one of our Texas Educators Vote partners, did some research on how to get voters to actually turn out and vote. Before the 2016 election, they and LULAC visited the 15 largest Dallas ISD high schools, sometimes repeatedly. Volunteers went to classrooms and conducted assemblies to register students who were eligible and interested in registering to vote. They also talked to the students about the voting process and why it is important to vote. At the same time, another group from Dallas County conducted voter registration drives, but did not share a message about how and why to vote. They compared voter turnout between the two groups and found significant differences in voter turnout. 

The group of students who registered and also heard the message about how and why to vote turned out at a rate 26% higher than those who were only registered to vote. The lesson learned is that it is not enough to simply register people to vote, but if you help them understand the process and why voting is so important, they are much more likely to participate. Read the write-up of the High School Project, here.

The League of Women Voters didn’t just identify a problem. They also created a solution!  Together with the Dallas Community Colleges, they developed an online civics curriculum called “Be A Texas Voter” which is aligned with the TEKS and is free and available to anyone who wants to use it. Please share this website with your staff, and encourage social studies teachers at all levels to make use of the curriculum if they find it helpful. They also have developed a PowerPoint presentation and other resources that you can use to explain the program to a group, in case you want to use it this summer in staff development. (Link to Resources page w/PowerPoint, etc.)

The important lesson they learned applies for any group – including staff, parents, and community members. I’m convinced that everyone cares about something. It could be public education, the environment, or any issue that calls to an individual. If each eligible voter aged 18 to 118 identified his or her priority, and learned which elected officials make decisions about that subject, researched the candidates, and then voted, we would have an engaged citizenry and a more robust democracy. By making sure that all Texas educators understand how and why it is important to vote, we will succeed in creating a culture of voting. 

As a reminder, don’t tell people what or whom to vote for. But, please do use these resources to help students and staff understand that voting is how we make our voices heard on issues that are important to us and the future of our schools, communities, state, and nation. (link again to http://BeATexasVoter.org/)

Please also share the Texas Educators Vote website where staff and students can check their registration, apply to register to vote, find key dates and deadlines, and other important and helpful resources designed to create a culture of voting.

This work is so important and we appreciate your commitment to Texas children and to the future of the democracy they deserve!


Sincerely,

Laura Yeager
Texas Educators Vote

Let’s Promote A Culture Of Voting And Strengthen Our Democracy In Texas Schools!

From my friend, Laura Yeager with Texas Educators Vote.  She provides a great news bulletin on how we can promote a culture of voting and thereby strengthen our democracy in Texas and Texas schools.

And remember, the last day to register to vote for the November 2018 general election is October 9, 2018.

-Angela Valenzuela

July 19, 2018

Texas Educators Vote Update

Start the school year off promoting a culture of voting and strengthening democracy.
As you prepare for the 2018-2019 school year, I hope you feel pride in the work you are doing to serve every student who will walk through your doors over the coming months. Your work is vital to the future of each of those children, and also to the health of your community, state, and country as functioning democracies. You consistently do whatever it takes to provide the best possible education to each child in spite of reductions in funding, growing unfunded mandates, and an accountability system that forces you to focus on short-term test results over more meaningful measures that better reflect the strengths and needs of your students and your community. Pile on rising health care costs, shrinking retirement benefits, and an all-out assault on public education and you can feel the stress eating away at our educators and students. Teachers around the country are waking up and realizing they had better vote before it is too late. Texans (including educators) have not traditionally prioritized civic engagement, but it is high time that change. The sleeping giant needs to guzzle some serious caffeine and jolt itself awake NOW.

Supporting public education and promoting a culture of voting are the opposite of revolutionary. In fact, they are at the heart of the Texas identity. Not only does the Texas Constitution clearly state that “it is the duty of the Legislature to establish and make suitable provision for the support and maintenance of an efficient system of free public schools,” it also asserts that the “general diffusion of knowledge is essential to the preservation of the liberties and rights of the people.” This is serious business. Public education, which is at the heart of preserving the liberties and rights of the people, is under attack. 
If that isn’t reason enough to make sure every individual working in your district and every eligible student is registered and then votes, then I will remind you that there is a Texas law requiring you to register staff and students twice a year, and that civics, citizenship, and voting appear every single year in the social studies TEKS. There is truly nothing more patriotic than participating in our democracy and the way to do that is through being engaged citizens, and modeling civic engagement and voting for Texas students.

If you are looking for a theme for your convocation, I urge you to embrace the theme of citizenship and democracy. What better way to build a sense of community than promoting democracy, civic engagement, and voting? Students and educators are struggling with low morale and high anxiety, amid heightened expectations and shrinking resources. Many feel isolated and beaten down by this and they are growing fearful of violence. Fostering a spirit of community and citizenship is a sure antidote to the isolation many are feeling.

Each week, we will send you an update with a few simple “to do’s”, helpful links, and deadline reminders. We will propose fun competitions you can introduce in your district to help you make this fun. Promoting civic engagement is not only legal, it is a requirement of the state, and you should feel proud and confident in your commitment to doing so.

To Do: 1. Make sure new staff hires are given voter registration forms along with other district forms as a matter of procedure.
2. Encourage returning staff to check the status of their voter registration and update it if they have moved or anything has changed.
3. Make sure you have requested voter registration forms (for eligible students and staff) from the Secretary of State or your county elections office. High School Voter Registration Card Order Form Find your county elections offices here.
4. Invite your local elections office to train your social studies teachers to become deputy voter registrars (Thanks, Austin ISD for modeling this behavior!)
5. Work with your local League of Women Voters to help register staff, eligible students, parents, and community members at school and neighborhood events.Find your local league.

Key Links:1. Check voter registration status: Vote.org or teamrv-mvp.sos.texas.gov/MVP/mvp.do
2. Apply for voter registration: Vote.org or Register2Vote.org
3. Register2Vote.org streamlines and simplifies the voter registration process by generating a completed voter registration application, and a stamped addressed envelope so you just have to fill in the info, print it out, sign it, and mail it in!
4. Order voter registration cards from Secretary of State: Order Online
5. Find your county elections office here.
6. Share the Texas Educators Vote website where staff and students can check their registration, apply to register to vote, find key dates and deadlines, and other important and helpful resources designed to create a culture of voting.
7. Follow us on Facebook @TexasEducatorsVote and Twitter @TxEdVote for non-partisan posts about elections and public education.

Deadline:
The last day to register to vote in the November general election is October 9th.

A culture of voting is something to be proud of, and so is a commitment to serving the 5.4 million Texas children who are counting on the state of Texas to provide them with a rich, relevant, and rewarding public education. Thank you for your work! Let us proudly move forward into an era of increased civic engagement and support for one of the most fundamental pillars of democracy - public education.Sincerely,

Laura Yeager
Texas Educators Vote

Declining white population is spawning fears, bias, by Dr. Rogelio Sáenz

This is one of the best, most concise, analyses of late on the topic of demographic change.  In today's political climate, changing demographics that get exploited from the standpoint of a loss of white centrality among whites, encouraging the maintenance of white privilege and systemic inequalities through the disenfranchisement of the black and brown "other."

The future is inescapably mestiz@ and the world could be in a much better place, as a consequence.  Analyses like this illuminate the path forward.

An immediate takeaway is that Latinos must vote in order to have their voices heard.  

Hats off to UTSA Dean of the College of Public Policy Rogelio Sáenz for this  thorough and insightful interweaving of demographics, policy, and politics.  

Angela Valenzuela

Declining white population is spawning fears, bias

By Rogelio Sáenz, For the Express-News

July 21, 2018 Updated: July 21, 2018 5:03pm

Over the last three decades, demographers have told us that there would come a day when the white population would begin to decline and subsequently become less than half of the U.S. population. The first of these expectations is now here, about a decade earlier than projected.
Mid-year population projections, prepared by the U.S. Census Bureau, indicate that there were nearly 32,000 fewer whites in the nation in 2017 than in 2016, a reduction of 0.02 percent. The white population decrease resulted from natural decline (approximately 178,000 more deaths than births), though 146,000 whites migrating from outside of the country. While the addition of multiracial individuals who identify white as one of their races creates white population gain, it is only an increase of 144,000, the smallest absolute change among single-race and multiple-race whites over the last decade.These patterns are consistent with a study that my colleague, Kenneth Johnson from the University of New Hampshire, and I, published recently. Our research shows that there are 26 states now that have more white deaths than births, including nine of the largest 15 states in the country: California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, New Jersey, Arizona and Massachusetts.States where white deaths outnumber births have a higher share of their population being 65 and older, relatively low birth rates, and a shrinking portion of women capable of giving birth. Put simply, with an overall median age of 45, an aging white population produces more deaths than births.These trends suggest that by 2045, perhaps even sooner, whites will no longer be the numerical majority, quite a difference from 1940 when whites accounted for 88.3 percent of the U.S. population.The 21st century will increasingly see a growing Latino population and a declining white population. The Latino population increased by 1.2 million between 2016 and 2017, accounting for nearly 53 percent of the overall national growth during this period. As immigration from Mexico has plummeted over the last decade, Latino population growth is increasingly driven by natural increase (more births than deaths) associated with its youthfulness (median age of 29.8).Whereas there are only 0.95 children for every one elderly person among whites, there are 4.4 children for one elderly person among Latinos. As such, the relative presence of Latinos has increased. In 1980, there were 12.3 whites for every one Latino in the United States; today there are 3.4 whites to every one Latino and the ratio is projected to drop to 1.6 by 2060.This is the demographic reality of the United States. A country where whites have enjoyed political, economic, social, cultural, and demographic supremacy is changing fast. For many whites, this is uncharted territory. Many want “their” country back — the one that they knew before there were so many people of Mexican origin and other non-whites. Many whites view these individuals as threats to their way of life, culture, and the comfort and security of their white space that they long enjoyed.
It is this anxiety and fear that Donald Trump capitalized on as he initiated his presidential campaign.
“Let’s make America great again,” he proclaimed, promising to take the country back to 1940 when approximately nine of every ten Americans were white.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised white supporters that he would make America great again. Keeping people of color out of the country and deporting those already here became a major priority with Mexicans and Muslims being particular targets. His modus operandi has been travel bans against people from certain countries with large Muslim populations, massive detention and deportation of unauthorized immigrants, and now the willful and cruel separation of children from their parents fleeing violence in Central America.These efforts are meant to stir the ire, hate, and racism of his supporters against “invaders” and “criminals” who are coming to “destroy our country.” Trump also uses these endeavors to stem demographic shifts making the country less white.Trump has other tricks up his sleeve to control the political strength of people of color. These have included the short-lived Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity under the leadership of Kris Kobach, set on making it more difficult for people of color to vote. And they include plans to revamp the drug wars to enhance the mass incarceration — and by association, disenfranchisement — of people of color.
Major cuts to funding for the preparation and execution of the upcoming Census 2020, which will be conducted mostly online, along with the inclusion of a question on citizenship, will undoubtedly increase the undercount of Latinos and other persons of color.Now Trump has selected a replacement to Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, which will tilt the Court solidly to the right and against people of color.Yet, demographic strength does not necessarily translate to political power. Look at Texas, which has the second largest Latino population in the country.With whites holding a slim 730,000 population advantage over Latinos in the state, Latinos are on track to become the numerical majority in four years. Nonetheless, Texas continues to be one of the reddest states in the country with Democrats last winning a statewide election in 1994. Despite its demographic imminence, the majority of Latinos in Texas are ineligible to vote because they are less than 18 years of age (33.1 percent) or adults who are not U.S. citizens (19.3 percent).Furthermore, Republicans have perfected political strategies to stem the political representation and voting of Latinos and African Americans. These methods include gerrymandering.

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Nationwide, Texas was the clear winner in population growth between 2000 and 2010 with the state gaining four new U.S. congressional seats. Texas’ triumph was due to a growth of 3.8 million non-white persons alongside a gain of 464,000 whites. But the new congressional seats were constructed to be white Republican congressional districts.

Texas has also developed a voter ID law to make it more difficult for people of color to vote. And the Evenwel v. Abbott lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court sought to change the way congressional districts are drawn, calling for the configuration of these on the basis of eligible voters rather than the total population, a method that would significantly reduce the political representation of Latinos.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court voted against Evenwel in April 2016. The demographic attributes of the Latino population, along with Republican political ploys work in conjunction to keep Texas red.

The aging white population in the U.S. is experiencing population decline largely because white deaths are outnumbering births. This demographic reality has major implications for the future of the country. Latinos, in particular, will be an increasingly important segment of the future of the country and all of its institutions including the economy, the healthcare system, universities, the military, places of worship, and the mass media.

In his misguided vision to make America great again, Trump is taking the country to the past, a route that promotes hate and racism. In the path to make America truly great, we need to take into account the new demographic reality and look to a future that fosters hope and prosperity for all.

Rogelio Sáenz is dean of the College of Public Policy and holds the Mark G. Yudof Endowed Chair at the University of Texas at San Antonio