The Urban World, 9 th Ed.

The Urban World, 9th Ed. J. John Palen

Chapter 10: Diversity: Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans • Introduction • Latino Population • Mexican Americans • Puerto Ricans • Asian Americans • Native Americans • Summary

Introduction • Fourth-Wave Immigrants • Four of five legal immigrants now come from Asia and Latin America • The era of mass European migration to North America ended roughly 90 years ago • Recent Immigration Impact on Cities • Immigrant populations are replacing central cities’ population losses and adding to the tax base • Immigrants will account for almost one-quarter of all new households in the U.S.

Figure 10.1 U.S. Population by Race and Ethnic Group, 2010, 2025, and 2050

Melting Pot or Cultural Pluralism • The melting pot assumed that as second- and later-generation populations moved toward the urban periphery, they would lose much of their ethnic identification • During the 1970s the melting-pot metaphor was largely replaced by that of cultural pluralism • Cultural pluralism suggests the metaphor of a salad bowl rather than a melting pot • For predicting a person’s behavior and future, knowing their social class is far more useful than knowing their ethnicity

Latino Population • Legal Status • Undocumented immigrants make up slightly more than 4 percent of the population, but their babies represent twice that number, or percent of all births • Growth • The Latino population is growing by an extraordinary 1.4 million a year • Two-thirds of the Latino population is under age 35 • Latino birthrates are about 50 percent higher than the U.S. average • Over half the Hispanic population of the U.S. is clustered in two states: California and Texas • Some 84 percent of Latinos live in metro areas

Figure 10.2 U.S. Population of Blacks and Hispanics, 1990-2005 (in millions)

Diversity • Latinos are not an ethnic group at all; rather Latino is an umbrella term that covers everyone speaking a common language although they come from two dozen different countries and cultures • The label Hispanic or Latino obscures the diversity of people sharing the label • The Spanish-speaking population as a whole is better off economically than blacks • Some 4 of 10 Hispanic adults have less than a high school education

Mexican Americans • Mexican Diversity • California-born, second- and third-generation, poor, barrio-living Latinos call themselves Chicanos • California Mexican Americans (Californios)—often more recent arrivals to the U.S.—differ radically from Texas Mexican Americans (Tejanos), who have often been in the U.S. for generations • “Spanish” ancestry has traditionally been considered more prestigious that “Mexican” ancestry, and “Indian” ancestry is at the bottom

Education • Mexican Americans have lower median levels of education than African Americans • Cubans have the highest educational levels • Only 44 percent of foreign-born Hispanic adults are high school graduates, compared to 70 percent of U.S.-born Hispanic adults • Urbanization • Rapid urbanization • Life in U.S. is superior to the destitute barrios of the Mexican manicipios

Housing and Other Patterns • The crowded barrios of California and Texas are where new arrivals are most likely to settle • Poverty is common in the urban barrios or “hoods” • Gang-related drug use and crime are common in the hoods • Segregation levels are high in large cities having large Latino populations • Political Involvement • Mexican Americans are still underrepresented in the halls of political power, but signs point to increased political activity • Only 35 percent of all legal Mexican-born immigrants are citizens and thus able to vote

Puerto Ricans • About 10 percent of Hispanics • Second-largest Hispanic minority in the U.S. • Puerto Ricans have been American citizens since 1917 • Some 96 percent reside in metropolitan areas • A high proportion of female-headed families • Puerto Rican political involvement tends to be low compared with that of other immigrant groups

Asian Americans • A “Model Minority”? • Asian Americans have for decades had the highest average family income levels of any census group • 78 percent of Asian households are family households as compared to 70 percent for combined white and African American households • The open hostility that earlier generations of Asian immigrants encountered sometimes is now replaced by more subtle types of prejudice

Figure 10.3 Ethnic Origins of Asian Americans

Asia Residential Segregation • The first Asian immigrants were Chinese laborers • The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act forbade further immigration • Those of Chinese background were restricted to living in Chinatowns • Following World War II, Chinatowns declined as populations aged and upwardly mobile younger populations moved out • Today, well-educated Asian immigrants bypass the city entirely and move to the economically developing suburban edge cities

The Case of Japanese Americans • Japanese Americans, who during World War II were a hated minority, are now among the nation’s most successful, and prosperous, citizens • They have been notably successful in adapting to the values, behaviors, and expectations of the American system • The Internment Camps • President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the construction of inland “relocation centers” • More than 110,000 of the 126,000 Japanese in this country were put in these camps • The estimated financial loss was $400 million

Japanese Americans Today • Have had a record of upward mobility • The group is almost entirely metropolitan in residence • The generations born since World War II have become all but totally acculturated • An out-marriage rate of more than 50 percent • Soon after arrival, Japanese Americans stopped teaching their children the Japanese language

Native Americans • Nonurban Orientation • North American Indians have traditionally been rural based and oriented • Today, the “vanishing red man” is vanishing no more • Native Americans remain one of the nation’s poorest populations • Nationally, gambling is now the major reservation employer • Two-thirds of adults are now high school graduates

Movement to Cities • Native Americans today remain the nation’s most rural ethnic group with only half living in cities and one-third still residing on reservations • Between 1930 and 2010, the native born-minority group that experienced the greatest degree of urbanization was the Native Americans • Tribal differences and lack of stable urban Indian populations have worked against the creation of tight ethnic social communities • Urban Native Americans often live in poorer central-city neighborhoods • Urban ways can produce a cultural bind for some Native Americans

The Urban World, 9 th Ed.