California’s Latino Plurality Brings A Sense Of Déjà Vu

*The California Latino population surge is not new, it’s just a realignment. VL

By Leslie Berestein-Rojas, NPR Codeswitch

In March, provided California state demographers guessed it right, the state reached a historic milestone: For the first time, Latinos are the largest population group in California.

California Department of Finance demographers predicted that by March, Latinos would outnumber non-Latino whites to become 39 percent of the state’s population, while the latter would drop to about 38.8 percent. There won’t be hard evidence for months to come, at least, but demographers are standing by their projection.

But while this Latino plurality is a first in California, it comes with a sense of déjà vu. Even though Hollywood nostalgia paints a picture of a mostly-white California of old, this is not the first time that Californians of Spanish descent — Hispanics, in other words — have outnumbered non-Hispanic whites in this onetime Spanish and Mexican outpost.

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