Fisk University Professor Decries Increase in White Population in Nashville

A Fisk University professor decried the fact that Nashville’s population oof “whites” increased last year.

“Yes, the Nashville demographics are changing,” Shirley Rainey-Brown, PhD., the dean of Fisk University’s School of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences, told The Tennessean in an article titled “Why did Nashville have the nation’s largest growth in white residents?”

“We are seeing an influx of whites over other minorities, and I think it has to do with the type of jobs and industries that are coming here,” she said.

Though it is unclear which industries Rainey-Brown (pictured above) was referring to, she told the paper that the companies within those industries need to be focused on hiring more minorities.

Fisk University is a historically black college. Neither Rainey-Brown nor school officials returned comment requests.

U.S. census data confirms that the Nashville area had the largest influx of white people per capita in the country between 2022 and 2023.

“The metro area with the largest-gaining White population between 2022 and 2023 was Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, TN, which added 16,858 people for a total White population of 1,463,208 in 2023,” according to the data.

The data says that of the 1.4 million people in the region, 54.9 percent are white, while 28.8 percent of the population is black and 10.8 percent of the population is Hispanic.

The black population is overrepresented in the metro Nashville area, as Pew Research shows that blacks make up only 14.4 percent of the national population.

The white population is underrepresented compared to national statistics. The white population nationwide is 57.8 percent, compared to the 54.9 percent figure in the metro Nashville area.

The U.S. Census uses what it calls the Diversity Index to “compare the degree of racial and ethnic variability in a population per state.”

The average diversity index percentage for states across the nation is 47 percent. Tennessee’s diversity index percentage is 46.6.

The most diverse state according to that index is California, with a percentage of 69.7. Nevada follows with a 68.8 percent score. New York and New Jersey are tied for third place in terms of diversity, at 65.8 percent each.

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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on X/Twitter.
Photo “Shirley Rainey-Brown, PhD” by Shirley Rainey-Brown PhD, and “Nashville Skyline” is by Jason Mrachina CCNC2.0.

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