Diversity: Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans

Fourth-Wave immigrants The majority of the nation’s immigrant since 1968 when quotas were abolished are either Hispanic or Asian. These new immigrants have replaced many of the white ethnic groups in the center of cities who moved into the suburbs. Both legal and illegal immigrants have revitalized many of the inner cities and cities like Miami and Los Angeles have become more culturally and socially Hispanic.

Melting Pot or Cultural Pluralism The term melting pot was used to describe the experience of immigrants. It was thought that ethnic groups would “Americanize” and lose much of their cultural identity over time. During the 1970s, the term cultural pluralism was used instead of melting pot to describe cultures remaining alongside each other. Mixed ancestry has eroded many cultural distinctions more so than any “Americanization” efforts and ethnicity is not very useful for predicting a person’s future compared to social class.

Latino Population Hispanics surpassed African Americans as the largest minority population in the U.S. in The Hispanic population is also growing faster over five times faster than the population as a whole. Hispanics tend to cluster in metropolitan areas, however they are expanding to the suburbs as more climb the economic ladder.

Latino Diversity In many ways, Latinos are not an ethnic group or a race, the way Irish Americans or African Americans are. The terms Hispanic and Latino are used interchangeably, but Hispanic only technically refers to those originally from Spain, while Latinos cover all people from Latin American countries including Brazil where Portuguese is spoken.

Latino Diversity Latino is an umbrella term that covers people from over twenty countries each with their own culture. Economic status varies greatly, Cuban Americans in Miami tend to be more wealthy than Mexican Americans in Texas or California. There is no one Latino subcommunity that exists making it difficult to make cultural statements about the population as a whole.

Mexican Americans About two-thirds of all Hispanics in the U.S. are Mexican Americans who overwhelmingly live in urban areas in California, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. There are two distinct Mexican American populations, those living in California (Californios) and those living in Texas (Tejanos). There is also a distinction between those identifying as Spanish or Mexican. Spanish ancestry is considered more prestigious and often can mean acceptance into Anglo society while poor Mexicans are shunned.

Education Education is one of the biggest barriers to Mexican Americans entering the U.S. Most do not speak English unless they were born in the U.S. or grew up in it. Many immigrants do not have high school levels of education and are forced to take low wage jobs with little opportunity for advancement. One thing working in their favor is the reputation of Mexicans as extremely hard workers.

Urbanization Los Angeles has more Mexicans living in it than any other city in the world besides Mexico City and Guadalajara. Even for low income Mexican Americans, the quality of life in urban L.A. is higher than in the barrios of Mexican cities where crime and unemployment are much more abundant.

Political Involvement Many middle class Mexican Americans do not view themselves as a minority and raise their children more as Americans than Mexicans. One impediment to Latino political power is the lack of Latinos who vote. A high percentage of Latinos have non-legal status and even those who are citizens often do not participate in the political process.

Puerto Ricans Puerto Ricans are the second largest Hispanic minority in the U.S. Puerto Ricans have been American citizens since 1917 when it was granted protectorate status. Puerto Ricans in the U.S. almost entirely live in urban areas and have high poverty levels as a whole, but do have the advantage of traveling back and forth to Puerto Rico without having to worry about legal status.

Asian Americans Immigrants from Asia represent about half of all of America’s legal immigrants right now. Asian Americans are heavily concentrated on the West Coast in urban areas. Like Latinos, it is difficult to make general statements about Asian Americans as a whole because they are composed of so many different ethnicities. The first two ethnic groups were Japanese and Chinese, but Filipinos, Koreans, and others have also immigrated at rapid rates.

Asian Americans Asian Americans do have a strong belief in education, 9 out of ten Asian Americans over 25 have completed high school. They have a median family income than whites although there are more Asian Americans below the poverty level. This is due to the large difference between wealthier Asians who tend to be from Japan and China versus poorer ethnicity groups such as the Vietnamese.

Asian Residential Segregation The first Chinese immigrants in the mid 1800s were restricted to living in Chinatowns after the completion of the transcontinental railroad which many of them worked on. Chinatowns developed as cities within cities, with low wage jobs usually, and younger Chinese Americans have tended to move out since World War II. Today, well educated Asian Americans are usually found in suburbs that are predominantly white, but with a significant Asian population.

Japanese Americans Japanese Americans have overcome being a hated minority during World War II to one of the most successful minority groups in American history. During World War II, Japanese citizens and immigrants on the West Coast were relocated into internment camps for national security purposes although no action was taken against German or Italian Americans or against Japanese Americans in Hawaii.

Japanese Americans Japanese Americans have practically completely assimilated as an ethnicity group. The Japanese are first among all ethnic groups in income and education level. Children of Japanese immigrants often were not even taught Japanese and over fifty percent of Japanese Americans marry Americans not of Japanese descent.

Native Americans Native Americans or North American Indians were traditionally rural based and have been one of the worse off ethnicities in American history. War and disease killed millions of Native Americans in the 1700s and 1800s as America moved westward. They were forced onto reservations and until very recently were the poorest minority group in the U.S.

Native Americans The Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut was opened in 1992 and grosses over one billon per year. Native Americans have “sovereignty” on reservations which effectively mean that state laws do not apply to them. Several tribes have become quite wealthy on casinos which do not have to pay sales taxes to the state.

Movement to Cities About half of Native Americans reside in cities and one-third still live on reservations. Reservations often offer no economic future for Native Americans unless they can obtain a leadership position within the tribe or in a casino. Tribal differences often prevent Native Americans from organizing in cities. Native Americans who have assimilated into American culture may not refer to themselves as Native Americans further diluting Native American culture.