By The Craig Bushon Show Media Team
This may be one of the more difficult conversations we’ve taken on here at The Craig Bushon Show. Talking about race, power, history, and privilege isn’t easy — and in today’s climate, even raising certain questions can get you labeled or silenced. But as we’ve said time and again, The Truth Is Not Hate Speech. That’s more than a slogan for this show. It’s a creed.
What follows is not about fueling division, nor about denying the painful history that exists across cultures. It’s about facing the facts as they are, not as we’re told they must be. If we’re serious about building a society that can talk honestly, then we need to be willing to confront numbers, history, and narratives — even when they make us uncomfortable.
This essay explores an often-overlooked reality: globally, white people are not the majority. They are less than ten percent of the world’s population, shrinking every decade. And yet, they continue to be portrayed as if they are the overwhelming oppressor class. Why? The answers lie in history, in systems of innovation, and in the way narratives are weaponized — not just by Western powers of the past, but by global elites of every background today.
Read this with an open mind. Agree or disagree, but don’t shy away from the facts. Because honest conversation is the only path forward.
Demographics: A Shrinking Share of Humanity
According to the United Nations’ World Population Prospects, the global breakdown looks like this:
Asia: ~4.8 billion (60% of world population)
Africa: ~1.5 billion (18–19%, rising rapidly)
Latin America & Caribbean: ~660 million
Europe: ~740 million
North America: ~600 million (with whites declining as a share)
Oceania: ~45 million
The global white population, including European-descended populations in North America, South America, and Oceania, is estimated at under 800 million — less than 1 in 10 people alive today. That share is shrinking, as Europe faces population decline and Africa experiences explosive growth. By 2100, demographers expect Africa to represent nearly 40% of humanity, while Europe could lose a third of its current population.
So, in sheer numbers, white people are indeed the global minority. Yet perception often overrides data. Whites are still frequently portrayed as if they are the global majority — a disconnect that comes from historical influence rather than demographic reality.
How a Minority Shaped Global Power
How did such a small population come to wield disproportionate global influence? The answer lies in a combination of geography, systems, and innovation.
Europe’s temperate climate, fertile soils, navigable rivers, and harbors supported urban growth and trade. Geography mattered, but so did institutions. Over centuries, Europeans developed property rights, contract law, and systems of governance that protected innovation. The Enlightenment and the scientific method encouraged inquiry. The Industrial Revolution, launched by fewer than 200 million Europeans, introduced steam power, mechanized agriculture, and industrial manufacturing that reshaped global life.
Small countries like Portugal and Britain projected global power through maritime innovation, establishing trade networks and colonies far beyond their numbers. Printing and literacy spread ideas quickly, fueling technological advancement. Europe was not the richest in resources compared to Africa or Asia, but it built frameworks that multiplied its influence.
The result was a paradox: a small demographic group shaped much of the global system, while larger populations remained outside the structures of industrialization until much later.
Abundance Without Advancement
It is instructive to compare how different civilizations responded to abundant resources.
In North America before European settlement, indigenous peoples lived on fertile land rich in forests, rivers, and minerals. Yet they did not develop written languages, metallurgy beyond simple tools, or large-scale agriculture comparable to Eurasian civilizations. They organized in tribes and confederacies but did not build industrial systems or long-range trade networks.
In South America, the Inca, Maya, and Aztec built monumental architecture and advanced astronomy. But they did not adapt the wheel for transportation, nor did they industrialize agriculture. These empires collapsed quickly under the impact of European diseases and weapons.
Africa, rich in gold, diamonds, and farmland, saw powerful kingdoms rise and fall. But disease environments, geographic fragmentation, and reliance on tribal structures limited large-scale institutional development.
Europe, by contrast, created scalable systems of law, science, and governance that amplified its limited resources. This contrast is not about superiority of one people over another, but about the cumulative effects of institutions, geography, and historical contingencies.
Slavery: A Universal Institution
One of the most contentious aspects of history is slavery, often presented in modern Western discourse as a uniquely European or white crime. The reality is more complex.
Slavery existed in nearly every society. African kingdoms sold rival tribes into bondage long before Europeans arrived, supplying captives for the trans-Saharan slave trade to Arab lands. The Arab slave trade itself lasted more than a millennium, from the 7th through the 20th centuries. China, India, and other Asian civilizations used slaves or bonded labor, with caste systems trapping millions in hereditary servitude. The Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas enslaved war captives long before Europeans landed. Even in Europe itself, Vikings enslaved entire communities, and the word slave comes from Slav, reflecting the medieval trade in Slavic captives.
What makes Europe distinct is not that it participated in slavery — it did — but that it also spearheaded the first global abolition movement. In the 19th century, Britain deployed its navy to suppress the Atlantic trade, often at great cost. This does not erase the exploitation of the past, but it complicates the idea of slavery as a uniquely European system.
Modern Slavery and the Continuity of Power
While Western nations are continually called to account for their past, modern slavery continues largely unacknowledged in non-Western regions. According to the Global Slavery Index, more than 50 million people are enslaved today through forced labor, debt bondage, trafficking, or coercion.
India alone accounts for over 11 million people in modern slavery — the highest in the world. Many are trapped in bonded labor, working to repay debts they can never escape. China has millions in forced labor, including documented abuses against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang. Across Africa, children are forced into mines, farms, and conflict zones. In the Middle East, migrant workers from poorer nations endure conditions indistinguishable from slavery.
Meanwhile, in the United States and Europe, slavery has been outlawed for centuries. Exploitation still exists, but not institutionalized slavery at the scale found elsewhere today. Yet the global conversation continues to fixate on Western history, largely ignoring present-day abuses.
Privilege, Power, and the New Global Elite
To stop here, however, would be incomplete. While it is true that whites are a shrinking demographic minority and that slavery was not unique to Europe, it is also true that power has evolved rather than disappeared.
Western nations continue to benefit from the legacy of global systems they built — financial markets centered in London and New York, military alliances dominated by NATO, trade rules shaped by Western powers, and technological networks driven by Silicon Valley. But new centers of control have emerged as well, run by non-Western elites who have learned to play the same game.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is a prime example. Framed as a partnership for development, it has drawn criticism for creating debt traps across Africa and Asia. Nations struggling to repay Chinese loans have ceded control of ports, mines, and infrastructure — a 21st-century echo of the dependency once blamed on European colonialism.
In the Gulf states, millions of South Asian and African laborers toil under restrictive visa systems that resemble indentured servitude. In Africa, some political elites enrich themselves through deals with both Western and Eastern corporations, trading their nations’ resources for short-term gain.
This pattern reveals something profound: the real divide today is not West versus Rest, but elites versus ordinary people everywhere. Whether power is wielded from Washington, Beijing, Brussels, or Riyadh, the structure looks the same — a small global class controlling systems of finance, energy, and labor that keep billions dependent.
Why Narratives Persist
The persistence of the “white majority oppressor” narrative has less to do with demographics and more to do with political and cultural power. Identity politics thrives on simplified dichotomies. Casting whites as the eternal majority makes for a clear villain in a story of historical grievance. Guilt becomes political currency.
At the same time, focusing blame narrowly on the West distracts from uncomfortable realities: that slavery and oppression remain alive in non-Western societies, and that global elites of all backgrounds now hold power. It is easier to recycle a familiar narrative than to confront complexity.
The Future of Demographics and Power
By 2050, Africa is expected to add more than a billion people. Asia will remain the demographic heavyweight. Europe and North America will decline in relative share. Whites will shrink to an even smaller minority.
The paradox is that as their numbers decline, accusations of privilege and dominance may intensify. Yet influence cannot be measured only in demographics. Western systems — from finance to science to global governance — will continue to shape international life even as population balances shift. The challenge will be whether new powers, especially in Asia and Africa, build alternative systems or simply replicate the old ones under different management.
Toward a More Honest Conversation
To understand race, power, and privilege in global context, we need to hold multiple truths at once:
• Whites are a shrinking global minority, under 10% of the population.
• Europe’s influence stemmed from institutions, innovation, and geography, not numbers.
• Slavery was universal, not uniquely European, though Europe did play a central role in the Atlantic trade.
• The West was the first to abolish slavery on a global scale.
• Modern slavery persists today in countries like India and China on a scale larger than the Atlantic trade, yet receives little attention.
• Global elites — Western and non-Western alike — now perpetuate systems of exploitation through debt, labor, and resource control.
Recognizing these points together allows us to move beyond simplistic narratives of majority versus minority, oppressor versus oppressed. It opens the door to a more nuanced conversation about history, responsibility, and the future of global power.
Conclusion
Demographics tell one story. History tells another. Politics and culture spin a third. The reality is that white people are a small and shrinking fraction of humanity — less than one in ten. Yet the systems built by Europe and its descendants continue to shape the global order, now joined by rising powers that mimic the same strategies.
Acknowledging that dual reality is not about denying historical injustices or excusing exploitation. Nor is it about embracing narratives that reduce complex history to slogans. It is about facing the facts as they are: that influence and numbers are not the same, that slavery was a universal human institution, that modern slavery remains a crisis, and that today’s elites — of every race and region — maintain systems of dependence that demand scrutiny.
Only by confronting all sides of the story can we move toward conversations grounded in truth rather than caricature. White people are the global minority, but history has made their influence disproportionately large. The challenge now is whether future narratives can capture both realities instead of weaponizing only one.
Closing from The Craig Bushon Show
You’ve just heard a conversation that isn’t easy to have. But here on The Craig Bushon Show, we don’t shy away from hard truths. Because the truth is not hate speech — it’s the foundation for real dialogue and real solutions.
The numbers are clear: whites are a shrinking minority worldwide. History shows both their achievements and their failures. Slavery wasn’t unique to one people, and tragically it still exists in parts of the world today. Power didn’t disappear — it evolved, and it now wears many faces.
So here’s the question: do we want to keep repeating narratives that divide us, or do we want to look honestly at where we’ve been and where we’re going as a society?
Stay informed, stay courageous, and as always — let’s keep speaking the truth.
Disclaimer:
This essay draws on demographic, economic, and historical data from sources including the United Nations, Pew Research Center, World Bank, Global Slavery Index, Paul Lovejoy’s Transformations in Slavery, Hugh Thomas’s The Slave Trade, and Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. It represents an interpretive perspective meant to spark discussion, not a definitive or exhaustive account of global history. Readers are encouraged to explore these and other sources for deeper study.
Further Reading and Context:
The essay draws on reputable sources (UN, Pew, Global Slavery Index, etc.), and its demographic and historical claims are largely verifiable. However, some interpretations — particularly regarding European institutional development and exceptionalism — can be further examined through broader global scholarship. For readers seeking a deeper understanding of the economic and cultural forces behind inequality, power, and development, consider exploring Thomas Sowell’s Wealth, Poverty, and Politics for a rigorous look at institutional factors shaping prosperity across civilizations, and David Eltis’s The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas for a nuanced exploration of the transatlantic slave trade within its full global context.
