ABSTRACT
The demographic and socioeconomic make-up of the United States (US) is changing rather rapidly. Without question, in the twenty-first century, the nation will be more pluralistic racially, ethnically, economically and politically. Most of the high profile US Supreme Court cases of the 1990s have focused on the fairness of redistricting plans drawn in predominantly biracially populated settings, mostly black-white or Hispanic-white. This chapter highlights the demographic and socioeconomic trends, includes the pluralization of suburbia, and predicts even more racially/ethnically heterogeneous jurisdictions and legislative districts in the twenty-first century. The racial categories traditionally used by the US Bureau of the Census have come under severe attack as being outmoded, inaccurate, and, in some cases, even irrelevant. The traditional categories are: white, black, Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian, Eskimo or Aleut, and "other." Many of the schisms emerging within the black community are also apparent with the Hispanic community, or communities.
