population count, and I must admit to getting my biggest chuckle from reading the figures related to Maricopa County, Ariz.The county that is the greater Phoenix metropolitan area has a significance that I’m sure will make the nativists of our nation choke in disgust. Between 2006 and 2007, 60,700 more Hispanic people moved to the county – making it the place with the largest Latino numerical boost in the country.
MARICOPA COUNTY, OF course, is also the home of the infamous sheriff, Joe Arpaio, who likes to think of himself as an old-school western lawman. He’s the guy who thinks he talks tough with criminals, goes so far as to “humiliate” the inmates in his county jail by making them dress in pink.
And he’s also the guy who has sparked lawsuits by having his sheriff’s deputies engage in raids and traffic stops to single out people whom he does not think belong in this country.
Arpaio claims he’s trying to weed out people without visas or other legal papers to be in the United States. But in the process, he has managed to harass many people who were born in this country, but happen to be of a Latino ethnic background.
I think it only appropriate that the place that wants to think it is getting tough about re-claiming the United States for “real Americans” is the place with the largest Latino population growth. We're replacing them faster than "Sheriff Joe" can try to boot them from the county.
THE SIMPLE FACT is that Latinos (or Hispanics, as the Census Bureau prefers to refer to us) are a part of the “American Experience” who are to be found in just about every part of the United States.
In fact, that is likely the most significant aspect of the Census Bureau’s updated statistics that were released earlier this week – Latinos are everywhere these days.
All across the United States, I am seeing stories turn up that express shock (if not quite dismay) of growing Latino populations in their respective communities.
Utah. Connecticut. Oregon. The Carolinas.
ALL ARE SHOWING significant boosts (more than 50 percent – in some cases, way more) of people with Latin American ethnic origins.
Of course, the largest numbers of Latinos are in the parts of the United States that were once part of Mexico. The counties of South Texas along the Rio Bravo del Norte/Rio Grande all have 90 percent or more Hispanic people among their ranks. Starr County has the largest Latino population at 97.3 percent.
In all, there are 46 counties across the United States that have at least half of their population qualifying as “Hispanic” people. From Seward County, Kan., and counties in Washington to places in Arizona, California, Florida, New Mexico and Texas, there are places where it is truly absurd to use the label “minority” to describe the Latino population.
The county with the largest number of actual Latino people?
IT SHOULD BE no surprise that it is Los Angeles County. The City of Angels gives the metro area 4.7 million Latinos among its roughly 9.88 million population.
Another urban place that gives its surrounding area a large Latino population is the Bronx. The New York borough of 1.36 million people is 51 percent Hispanic.
There’s even Cook County, Ill., which is the center of the Chicago area. With 1.2 million (22.7 percent) of its 5.29 million people overall considered Latino, it is a significant number. But before people start thinking that it is purely an inner-city population limited to some select Spanish-speaking enclaves, keep in mind that the Chicago Latino population is only 774,042.
That makes about 450,000 Latinos who live in the Chicago area, but choose to be in the suburbs. There are entire cities that think of themselves as significant in size that do not have that many people.
IN FACT, THAT is the interesting part of the Latino population growth. It isn’t just in “el barrio” any more. The day will likely come when it will be the Anglo-oriented towns (the ones that persist in passing legislation meant to make Latinos feel unwelcome) that will be seen as the exception.
And it isn’t just in the form of Latinos.
Take Maricopa County. In addition to having the largest numeric growth in Hispanic people, they also have the largest boost in minorities in general – 79,000 more non-white people, giving them a minority population of 1.6 million overall (41 percent of their total population).
The Phoenix area now ranks as the seventh largest in terms of a non-white population.
SO THE NEXT time people talk about the growth in the southwestern United States and how those states deserve more respect and representation, keep in mind that a large part of that growth is because of Latinos.
That growth is what will ultimately make people realize the actions of people such as Sheriff Arpaio are not only absurd, they’re counterproductive to the interests of the country.
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EDITOR’S NOTES: Phoenix is becoming the perfect example of a place where local officials (http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/012463.html) have policies that are completely backward to the interests of their growing populations.
It may only have a Latino population of 7.3 percent, but officials in Nashville, Tenn., see the point (http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2008/08/04/daily53.html) in not antagonizing the fast-growing segment of the U.S. population.
Latinos are even moving to places such as Idaho (http://www.localnews8.com/Global/story.asp?S=8813004&nav=menu554_2).
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