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PBS Show Explores Coeur d'Alene, One Of The Whitest Towns In America

Courtesy Futuro Media Group

It’s estimated that by 2043, white Americans will no longer be a majority of the U.S. population. But in Coeur d'Alene, Caucasians already make up a whopping 92 percent of the population. Nationally, whites total 63 percent of the population.

Coeur d'Alene has been homogeneous for the last 20 years as nearly 90 percent of new residents were white.

Journalist Maria Hinojosa hosts a new documentary series called “America by the Numbers.” She traveled to Coeur d’Alene to speak with the people who live there, and tell their stories.

"I would hope that people take away that there is a hunger for deep-dive journalism that is respectful of the complexity of who we are," she says, "and I would hope it inspires engagement, democracy, conversation, the opposite of fear, is what I hope this series brings forth." 

Hinojosa says she wanted to explore what it was to like to live in an overwhelmingly white community like Coeur d’Alene. She talked to a firefighter, a real estate agent, and the owner of a Mexican restaurant to get their take on living in mono-racial Coeur d’Alene.

"I was intrigued by going to one of the whitest places in our country." she says. "What is the story about that? What is the story that I as a journalist need to be telling about this part of the country that is overwhelmingly white, while being surrounding by an America that is going through one of the most historic demographic transformations that we will ever see."

"America By The Numbers: Our Private Idaho" airs Thursday at 7 p.m. on Idaho Public Television’s World channel.

See a preview, here.

America By The Numbers: Our Private Idaho Trailer from The Futuro Media Group on Vimeo.

Find Samantha Wright on Twitter @samwrightradio

Copyright 2014 Boise State Public Radio

As Senior Producer of our live daily talk show Idaho Matters, I’m able to indulge my love of storytelling and share all kinds of information (I was probably a Town Crier in a past life). My career has allowed me to learn something new everyday and to share that knowledge with all my friends on the radio.

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