Arizona and Its Changing Demographics
The latest news from the Grand Canyon State is that the governor has signed a bill that "prohibits classes that advocate ethnic solidarity, that are designed primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group." The target is apparently a Mexican-American Studies program in the Tuscon school district. Whether you like laws like this or the immigration law passed last month, they both seem to be desperate attempts to push back against the demographic trends that are going to shape the state's future.
A new report from the Brookings Insitution gives an indication that Arizona is just the leading edge of these demographic changes. Using data from the 2008 American Community Survey, it shows that Arizona has the widest "cultural generation gap" of any state -- 43 percent of its child population is white compared to 83 percent of its senior population. The post linked above raises a very interesting question and provides an even more interesting answer:
The appeal of anti-immigrant, anti-Latino messages among boomers and seniors may seem surprising especially because the former are so closely associated with 1960s era liberalism and Civil Rights. Yet this stereotype hardly applies to all boomers and recent presidential elections have shown them to be either politically split or, in the case of white boomer men, veering toward the right. Moreover, boomers grew up in a more insular America than did their parents or their children. Between 1946 and 1964, the years of the boom, the immigrant share of the nation’s population shrunk to an all-time low (under 5 percent) and those who did arrive were largely whites from Europe. Most boomers grew up and lived much of their lives in predominantly white suburbs, residentially isolated from minorities.
What happens to Sunday school
What happens to Sunday school under this regime?
Whoa and damn
"prohibits classes that advocate ethnic solidarity"
Since the Native American lands are sovereign can they still teach Navajo language and customs and history? Of course they can no longer teach it outside the reservation under this law. We'd have a big problem with that here because some of the American Indian schools are public, and not on tribal lands (like the American Indian charter school in Minneapolis, a publicly funded charter school).
We'd have a huge problem with the "designed primarily for students of a particular race" here in St. Paul. We have nearly 100,000 recent Hmong immigrants (after Vietnam War, they fought with the CIA in Laos), and yes, there are programs designed expressly for those kids in the schools, to help them learn English and integrate into our society. It has worked VERY well over these past 30 years or so . . . many of these students have gone on to college and professional careers (my husband has mentored several in his job as a scientist), good citizens and taxpayers -- a real success story in assimilating new immigrants.
Another reason to stay out of AZ
The hole is getting deeper. What small, desperate and ugly people lead that pitiful state. What they're doing is like standing at the edge of the ocean trying to push back the waves. There's simply no way to stop the growth of the immigrant population in that state. This apartheid-like measure, like all others which seek to elevate one group over another, will fail. It failed in South Africa, it's failing in Israel (would that it never came into being there), and it will fail in AZ. Congratulations to the LA City Council which voted today to cancel, limit, and divest holdings with companies that do business in AZ.
Dear Easterner: AZ has NEVER
Dear Easterner: AZ has NEVER been an overwhelmingly white state. The "cultural generation gap" significantly overstates the demographic change of AZ over time. For instance, someone born in AZ in the 1940's (my Anglo mother) would have be born into a society where less than 65% of the population was non-Hispanic white (an overestimate since only those whose first language was Spanish are presumed Hispanic from the 1940 census). Each sucessive census shows a less than 75% white population. To a significant extent, the noted gap is due to earlier death of minorities and in-migration of whites (particularly seniors). Take a look at what percentage of white Arizonan seniors were born in the state. The 1940 census was under 0.5million
--A proud 3rd generation Arizonan Anglo with 2 siblings married to Latinos (both born in AZ, and both with English as first language).
Just to second Yet Another
Just to second Yet Another Arizonan's comment: I grew up in Tucson and went to Tucson High School in the late 1960s. The student population was less than 50 percent white. Southern Arizona has always been heavily Hispanic. Most of the anti-immigration feeling seems to come from recent white immigrants farther north in the state.
disingenuous comments
Minnesota Mom,
You seem to have failed to read the "promote resentment" part of what the bill is intended to prohibit:
"...prohibits classes that advocate ethnic solidarity, that are designed primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group."
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Proud Liberal,
Citing "Israel" and "South Africa" as comparatives to what is happening in Arizona is hyperbolic and dishonest. In Arizona they are not violating the Geneva Conventions so as to usurp land... nor does the deportation of illegal immigrants have any relevance that compares to Apartheid. If the Arizona State Government were torturing 'citizens' and forcing them to live in designated townships so as to control the mobility of Hispanics then your comparison would be reasonable. And if you think immigration flows can not be stemmed you are simply wrong, nations all over the world have managed immigration levels, as needed, going back thousands of years.
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More Blame The Boomers
I can see the demographic realities in my personal history. There weren't many Blacks, Mexicans or Asians in my high school class (I was born in 1956). But there were some, and I didn't think much of it.
However, I can already imagine the posts to boards about how the Boomers are responsible for this along with all the countries fiscal issues, etc., etc.
The people responsible for this are the people that voted for it, and the people that voted for them. That's a lot more than white Boomer males, and there's a lot of white Boomer males who think it's a disgrace, this one included.
What the people of Arizona need to be doing is talking to each other, not legislating at each other.
I know AZ insists that their
I know AZ insists that their recent drama toward immigration is not based on racism. Am I the only one who finds this increasingly difficult to believe?
Arizona also wants to regulate Spanish accents in the classroom, so as to ensure only the Queen's English is taught. Not only are bilingual teachers not supposed to teach bilingually, they're not even supposed to sound like they're bilingual. No word if accents from Mississippi, New England, or the UK will also fall under this rule.
What about....
In the lowest decile of the workforce the unemployment rate is 30.8%. In the second lowest decile (incomes between $12,500 and $20,000) the unemployment rate is 19.1%.
In the mid-1930s when the US had similar unemployment rates to those that currently exist in those two lowest deciles mentioned above... immigration was curtailed entirely. Now, in Arizona an effort is underway to curtail 'illegal' immigration and that effort is being deemed as RACIST!!! Was the curtailing of immigration in the 1930s also racist? Or is it more likely that Democrats will use whatever tactics necessary to sway the Hispanic vote in the coming elections?
Naturally, if the Democrats, or the Republicans for that matter, were genuinely concerned about the welfare of the undocumented workers, they would be doing everything within their power to remove agricultural subsidies. That could be said for Hispanic US citizens as well... but of course the well-being of the undocumented workers is not even remotely a concern. The Democrats just want to hold on to power and the Hispanics want to increase their demographic strength in relation to the other voting blocs. So the demagogues dupe the dopes by pulling the compassion and racism strings.
I wonder just how high the unemployment rate might get in the applicable part of the workforce before this demagoguery abates. Perhaps when unemployment rates reach 50% and 40% across those two lowest deciles. Then maybe the citizens of states such as Arizona will not be labeled as unreasonable bigots for taking the 'unenforced laws' into their own hands.