Latino Influence Rises In Large U.S. Cities

Here’s another way to look at how Latinos are changing America, according to the Associated Press:

Hispanics now outnumber African-Americans for the first time in most U.S. metropolitan areas, shifting the political and racial dynamics in cities once dominated by whites and blacks.

It’s a pretty impressive thing to do without a net change the political dynamic of a country. I know that’s not exactly what the AP report says; it says that Latinos have changed the racial and political dynamic in specific cities: the one’s once “dominated by whites and blacks.” But one leads to the other.

Check it out:

Hispanics became the largest minority group in 191 metropolitan areas last year, their population lifted higher as blacks left many economically hard-hit cities in the North for the South and new Latino immigrants spread to different parts of the country. That’s up from 159 metro areas when the previous Census was taken in 2000, when Hispanics were most commonly found in Southwest border states.

So, if Latinos have changed the political dynamic in places where the majority of the American people live (big cities), then it stands to reason that Latinos have changed the political and racial dynamic of the nation as a whole.

“A greater Hispanic presence is now evident in all parts of the country – in large and small metropolitan areas, in the Snowbelt and in the Sunbelt,” said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, who analyzed the census data. “From now on, local, state and national politicians will need to pay attention to Hispanics rather than treating blacks as the major minority,” he said.

Right. But what the AP piece doesn’t say is that there’s a long road between a large presence and significant political influence.  One doesn’t necessarily beget the other.

The underlying message is that there is work to be done. Look, this thing isn’t going to happen on its own. But it doesn’t mean that we have to break our individual backs lifting a community to political, educational, and economic action. It does mean, though, is that if we do what’s within our grasp, within our circle of influence, we will get it done. That’s the power in numbers.

Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda

[Photo by Etsy Ketsy]