Between July 2010 and July 2011, non-white births outnumbered white births 50.4% to 49.6%, according to Census Bureau data released Thursday [NY Times link].

This is the first time in the history of the United States that's happened. (It's happened in this geographic area before, but not since this area's been known as "The United States.")

Of the four million children born in the U.S. between those July's, over half belonged to a "minority" ethnic group. Now non-Hispanic white babies are a minority too (an extremely large minority—they still represent the largest single share of all births—but still). Now all the babies are minorities.

While this development shouldn't exactly take anyone by surprise—two years ago, non-white babies comprised 48.6% of the newborn population—it's still a pretty big deal.

Now we'll be able to tell our grandkids crazy stories like, "When I was your age, non-Hispanic white babies stretched as far as the eye could see. This whole neighborhood was run by non-Hispanic white babies. I used to have a non-Hispanic white baby delivered to my door every morning by a stagecoach pulled by a non-Hispanic white baby. I had to walk 81 miles to school in the snow with nothing but a non-Hispanic white baby to keep me warm. My first pet was a non-Hispanic white baby. Tamed it myself. Called it 'Courtney.'"

Now, even though "black is the new white" is really catchy to say, it's actually the Latino population that is growing the fastest. Of the births that took place between July 2010 and 2011, about 26 percent were Hispanic, followed by 15 percent black, and 4 percent Asian.

White people who feel ill at ease with this news can comfort themselves with the fact that whites still comprise an overwhelming majority of the overall population – 63.4 percent.

For the time being.

[The New York Times // Image via Shutterstock]