Minority population tops 100 million

Hispanics largest and fastest-growing ethnic group, Census Bureau reports


Reuters

Updated: 9:47 a.m. ET May 17, 2007

ATLANTA - The number of people in the United States from ethnic or racial minorities has risen to more than 100 million, or around one third of the population, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Thursday.

The ''minorities'' figure stood at 100.7 million, up from 98.3 million a year earlier. Within that, the Hispanic population was the fastest growing at a rate of 3.4 percent between July 2005 and July 2006.

Hispanics were also the largest ''minority'' group, accounting for 44.3 million people on July 1, 2006, or 14.8 percent of the overall U.S. population which, according to census data released in October 2006, stood at more than 300 million.

The United States prides itself as a country built on successive waves of immigration, with the Statue of Liberty in New York a powerful symbol of the welcome to immigrants. But the country remains divided over the subject.

President Bush supports a comprehensive approach to immigration reform but an attempt to pass legislation failed last year.

Struggle over legislation
Members of a bipartisan group of senators are pushing to reach agreement on immigration reform that would offer some illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens.

Lawmakers have been struggling to come up with a formula providing tougher border and workplace enforcement while addressing the status of some 11 million illegal immigrants who live and work in the shadows.

“About one in three U.S. residents is a minority,� said Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon.

“There are more minorities in this country today than there were people in the United States in 1910. In fact, the minority population in the U.S. is larger than the total population of all but 11 countries.�


The black population grew 1.3 percent, to 40.2 million, from July 2005 to 2006, the census said, while the number of native Hawaiians and members of other Pacific islander groups reached 1 million.

Asians were the second fastest-growing ''minority'' group at a rate of 3.2 percent, with their numbers standing at 14.9 million.

The population of non-Hispanic whites who indicated no other race grew 0.3 percent during the one-year period.


New York state had the largest black population with 3.5 million people, followed by Florida at 3 million and Texas at 2.9 million. The median age of African Americans was 30.1 years, lower than the 36.4 for the whole population.

Four states and the District of Columbia now have more minorities than members of the majority white population.

Hawaii has a population that was 75 percent ''minority'' in 2006. The District of Columbia stood at 68 percent, with New Mexico at 57 percent, California at 57 percent and Texas at 52.


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Kunjufu wrote: That's why the rich ones are abandoning the country and taking their investments elswhere.

Because they live in a system with pressures on lifethey, ''afford'' children rather than justhave them.Have written about this before.

In the west people are more inclined to put their job before having more than two children, even with the trend of teenage pregnancy they don't have a family unit larger than 4 or 5 at the most. The cost of havingmore than twoPS3 wanting,£50 a game, need the latest this and thatchild is too much so you'll find thatdeveloping countries without such pressures have (much) high(er) birth rates in comparison.In some places couples have more childrento off set child mortality, they want a child so they'll carry on trying until they do. The thought of child mortality gives the impression that they're dying out when the opposite is true, India is a goodexample, devastating poverty in most places but still ahigh birth rate.

Have read statistics that say thatthere are more of usAfricans throughout the world than there are Europeans. Not sure if it includedCaucasians as a whole butits very possible that we do... heck, I'd even include the hispanics as being, 'African' some of them are just lighterskinned versions of us.

Many Black leaders feel this is not necessarily in the best interests of Blacks:



Mass Immigration vs. Black America

May 9, 2007 Statement of T. Willard Fair
President and CEO, Urban League of Greater Miami
Centre for Immigration Studies Board Member

Before the Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law Committee on the Judiciary - U.S. House of Representatives



Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to address this panel.

I have devoted much of my adult life to one of the most important challenges facing our country: How to help young black men build constructive lives as fathers and breadwinners. The size of the problem was outlined in a recent book published by the National Urban League entitled The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male -- black men are much more likely to be unemployed than white men, more likely to be dropouts, in prison, in poverty, or dead.

There are many reasons for grim statistics like this, including the continuing effects of slavery and Jim Crow; the shift in the economy away from manufacturing; broken schools in our big cities; the glorification of self-destructive behaviour by popular culture.

But one factor is too often ignored -- mass immigration.

There was little immigration when the struggle for civil rights began to achieve success in the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, the 1965 immigration law that started today's mass immigration was itself seen as a civil rights measure, intended to clean out rules that favored immigrants from some countries over others. Sen. Edward Kennedy, then, as now, chairman of the Senate immigration subcommittee, said "The bill will not flood our cities with immigrants. It will not cause American Workers to lose their jobs"

So much for predictions.

Since 1965, nearly 30 million legal immigrants have come here, plus millions of illegal aliens. The results have been devastating for those Americans -- black or white -- who compete for jobs with this immigrant tide. George Borjas of Harvard has shown that immigration has cut the wages of American men without a high school degree by $1,800 a year. Economists at Northeastern University have found that businesses are substituting immigrants for young American workers, especially for young black men. In fact, scholars estimate that immigration is the reason for one-third of the drop in employment among black men, and even some of the increase in incarceration.

Of course, none of that means that individual immigrants -- or particular immigrant groups -- can be blamed for the difficulties facing black men. Being pro-Me should never make me anti-You. Nor can we use immigration as a crutch, blaming it for all our problems. The reality is that less-educated black men in America today have a variety of problems -- high rates of crime and drug use, for example, and poor performance at work and school -- that are caused by factors unrelated to level of immigration.

But if cutting immigration and enforcing the law wouldn't be a cure-all, it sure would make my job easier. Take employment -- immigration isn't the whole reason for the drop in employment of black men; it's not even half the reason. But it is the largest single reason, and it's something we can fix relatively easily.

Think about it this way: If there's a young black man in Liberty City, where I live, who's good with his hands and wants to become a carpenter, which is more likely to help him achieve that goal -- amnesty and more immigration, or enforcement and less immigration?

Which is more likely to help an ex-convict or recovering addict get hired at an entry-level job and start the climb back to a decent life -- amnesty and more immigration, or enforcement and less immigration?

Which is more likely to persuade a teenager in the inner city to reject the lure of gang life and instead stick with honest employment -- amnesty and more immigration, or enforcement and less immigration?

And it's not just a matter of jobs. Whatever your views on government social programs, everyone can agree that resources are not infinite -- there's only so much social spending to go around. And since immigrants have relatively low skills and low incomes, they use a lot of social services and pay little in taxes, cutting into the spending on America's own poor. The Centre for Immigration Studies estimates that illegal aliens alone cost federal taxpayers $10 billion more a year in services than they pay in taxes -- that's $10 billion that's not being spent on disadvantaged Americans, not counting the much larger deficits at the state and local level, where most social services are provided.

Likewise with the schools. This is an issue close to my heart, since I co-founded Florida's first charter school and was recently confirmed as chairman of the statewide Board of Education. We must offer the best education possible to all our children, for their own good and for the good of our country. But as budgets have tightened, school enrollment has surged, and all of the growth in the nation's school-age population -- 100 percent -- comes from immigrant families. This surge in enrollment has led to school overcrowding and has diverted resources that would otherwise have been devoted to at-risk students.

Solutions to the challenges facing black Americans have to come from both private efforts and government initiative -- but regardless of the specific approach, flooding the job market and overwhelming the public schools and other government services undermines all our efforts. The interests of black Americans are clear: No amnesty, no guestworkers, enforce the immigration law.

I'm surprised the white US government didnt see this coming some 20 years ago..... but these people still have the ability to rule and control power even if they are the minority.

Interesting ..... food for thoughtblkidea

Gmahogany. wrote: You are quite. They are not even unified as to the dialect of Spanish they speak. The powes that be (whites) have ne group beholden to them, that can replace the sometimes untractable Blacks who were here before the founding of the Republic.

Gmahogany. wrote: uh huh

lookk at the black population growing by 1.3% and the hispanics growing at a whopping 14%...wtf.

you sistas need to get off ur career grabbing, perfect man, independent woman, highorses and make them babies. ur race is under threat.

i am sure the stats traits are similar in the UK comparing asians and blacks.

*expects an oestrogen onslaught*

but hey... let the truth be toldbanana.gif