Well, dang it! Seems like no matter what some local American politicans do in trying to stem the growth of Latino populations, the thing just can’t be stopped. Front page, USA Today, Aug. 9 issue, has this headline: `Hispanic growth extends eastward,’ with the story saying Latinos are fanning out across the eastern half of the United States.
Latinos are settling in rural and suburban counties far from traditional Hispanic and immigrant strongholds like Texas, California and the Southwest. Chisme has reported how the appearance of Mexicans in locales such as Tulsa, Okla., has freaked out some of the gueritos, a point made in the USA Today article by a smart guy who works for the Brookings Institution. William Frey, a demographer for Brookings, says the U.S. is seeing new immigrant populations in areas which previously didn’t have much immigrant or Latino peoples, (my word, not Frey’s).
“It (has) scared a lot of people,” Frey said.
No joke, William, with USA Today story recapping how some communities that have freaked out about Mexicans are imposing local measures to fine landlords who rent to people who look Latino, and suspending licenses of companies that hire them. Little problem, though, which is federal judges are striking down such measures as being unconstitutional since it’s the job of the federal government to enact immigration policy, not some yahoo like the mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania.
Speaking of the Ben Franklin state, the article says the Hispanic population in an area two hours north of Philadelphia has nearly tripled since 2000. Other areas that have seen soaring Latino populations are suburban areas around Atlanta, the western edge of Chicago, and the Virginia `burbs outside Washington D.C. In just about all of these areas, the local guerito politicans have freaked at the sight of panaderias and signs in Spanish, and threatened all kinds of mayhem to make the Mexicans go home.
Alas, or as we would say in these parts, ni modo. U.S. Census data shows that population diversity is increasing in more parts of the country, reports USA Today. In 303 counties, nearly one of 10 U.S. counties, the share of the white population has slipped below 50 percent.
“We’ll see how well America can adapt to multienthic populations,” demographer Frey said.
In the midst of all the right-wing radio rage about changing demographics and Republican bashing of Latinos, it no look good in the homeland. Remember all of those little pink houses John Mellencamp sang about in the 1980s when he was doing ditties about Jack and Diane and American life? Maybe Mellencamp ought to write a new song about all of the Latinos living in Hazleton. Yep, it can become the theme song for Lou Dobbs’ daily `I Hate Mexicans’ report on CNN.
Bueno bye, America, as they would say in Hazleton or Tulsa.
