Pudgy, pink Gerber babies are no longer the typical child being born in the United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, moms who are Latino, Asian, African American or mixed race are now giving birth to just over 50% of American babies.

Though the median age of Americans of European heritage is 42, the median age of Latinos is 28. The median for Asians and blacks falls somewhere around 33. You do not need a biologist or sociologist to tell you younger people make more babies, so this historic trend toward a more multiracial nation will continue.

When they grow up, all these little brown babies will be working hard to pay for the Medicare and Social Security benefits of a whole lot of old white people like me. It might be a good idea, then, for us all to pay more attention to the quality of K-12 education these youngsters will be getting and make sure they are ready and able to access higher education. We are not going to have a strong economy or a healthy society if we continue to be sanguine as minority kids fall behind and settle for a life of service jobs. We need them to aim much higher. Yes, I know it’s a cliche, but I have to say it: They are the future.

It is inevitable that America will change. That bothers some folks, I know, but it can be a dramatic change for the better if only we pull our heads out of the sand, stop clinging to outmoded definitions of “real Americans” and do the necessary work to bring all these new babies into the great American family.

*****

CARTOON GALLERY: On another topic, I’m thinking some of you may have come late to Top of the Ticket and have not seen all of my cartoons since I took over the blog in January. Well, whether you love my cartoons or just love to argue with my opinions, you can now find them all in a gallery right here.