A Report on Hispanics in the United States
Everybody has certainly heard of Hispanics. Who are Hispanics? Where have they come from? What do they do in the United States?
People having a Spanish ancestry, speaking Spanish in Latin America or the settlers of the Southwestern States of America which is held by Spanish are called Hispanics. Hispanics are etymologically taken from Hispania, a name used by Romans for today's Spain and Portugal and historically it is only applied for Spain and everything related to it. The word Latino synonymously used for Hispanics. Hispanic is a general term and some people prefer be called Latino to indicate that they do not belong to Spain. It is interesting to notice that they are called Chicano in some part of States like Arizona and California. Hispanics were referred to as "Spanish-Americans", "Spanish-speaking Americans", and "Spanish-surnamed Americans" but these definitions were not precise enough.
Hispanics are considered as the largest majority in US even surpassing Blacks in US. Their population in 2004 according to US Census Bureau was 41.3 million, which is about 14.1% of the whole US population. Growth rate of Hispanics was estimated during July 2003 to July 2004 as 3.6%. Hispanic population will reach to 102.6 million in 2050, 24% of US population. Excessive immigration, both legal and illegal, and birth rate are the most considerable factors of this population growth. Undoubtedly, this great number of people will change items of life style in a country.
The distribution of this large population around the US is not equal. The majority of Hispanics reside in the Southwestern United States, mainly California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. New York and New Jersey are Northeastern states having Hispanic population living in them. New Mexico contains the majority of Hispanics in States, 43%, following to that are California and Texas with 49% of Hispanics. Los Angeles seems to be the county with the highest Hispanic population. Moreover, It is necessary to mention that there are very few immigrants from Spain. They prefer to identify themselves Hispanics rather that their dependence over a specific origin.
As the other people living in US, Hispanics have an active role in political decisions mostly significant in presidential elections. Democrats are generally more acceptable and favorite among Hispanics. Political leanings differ place to place among Hispanics; Cubans and Colombians adore conservative ideologies thus they support Republicans while Mexican and Dominicans support Democrats and as the latter group are far more in number that the former, Democrats are holding a better position that Republicans. George W. Bush exalts the Hispanics' interest in Republicans which has been proved in the researches done in the last three presidential elections in US. Nevertheless, the Democrat John Kerry won Hispanics 58-40 over Bush. Western American- California- favors Democrats and Texas and Florida go for Republicans. Bill Richardson is the first Hispanic governor since 1986. They have 23 members in House of Representatives.
Pop culture and language vary from one Hispanic community to another. They are whether monolingual Spanish or English Spanish bilingual or some use Spanglish. Hispanics own numerous media productions ranging from giant commercial networks to daily periodicals. Univison is the largest Spanish-language television network in United States.
Hispanics encircle diverse racial population; some Hispanic identify themselves as Whites or Blacks. They normally have dark hair and eye with brown and tan skin, between whites and Amerindians and blacks. It is important to be stated that a great number of them know themselves as mestizo, mixed European and Amerindians, from German, French or Spanish ancestors. The dominant religion in Hispanic community is Christianity, especially Catholicism brought by Spaniards to the New World and then to Latin America. There are also people of other religions like Protestants, Jews and few numbers of Muslims, mainly newly converted Muslims. Various kinds of Folk, dance and cuisine can be found among Hispanics. The most favorite music is the Latin music. It may be interesting to know that the Mexican American music- tejano music- had impacts on rock and jazz music in US.
This large growth of population in United States had and will have impacts on American culture and identity as mentioned by Huntington in his book. Today, serious disputes and arguments are on table to decide about the immigration of Mexicans to US and both parties are in favor of it. In my next post, I will focus on this identity change and the US government decision over this controversial issue.
People having a Spanish ancestry, speaking Spanish in Latin America or the settlers of the Southwestern States of America which is held by Spanish are called Hispanics. Hispanics are etymologically taken from Hispania, a name used by Romans for today's Spain and Portugal and historically it is only applied for Spain and everything related to it. The word Latino synonymously used for Hispanics. Hispanic is a general term and some people prefer be called Latino to indicate that they do not belong to Spain. It is interesting to notice that they are called Chicano in some part of States like Arizona and California. Hispanics were referred to as "Spanish-Americans", "Spanish-speaking Americans", and "Spanish-surnamed Americans" but these definitions were not precise enough.
Hispanics are considered as the largest majority in US even surpassing Blacks in US. Their population in 2004 according to US Census Bureau was 41.3 million, which is about 14.1% of the whole US population. Growth rate of Hispanics was estimated during July 2003 to July 2004 as 3.6%. Hispanic population will reach to 102.6 million in 2050, 24% of US population. Excessive immigration, both legal and illegal, and birth rate are the most considerable factors of this population growth. Undoubtedly, this great number of people will change items of life style in a country.
The distribution of this large population around the US is not equal. The majority of Hispanics reside in the Southwestern United States, mainly California, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. New York and New Jersey are Northeastern states having Hispanic population living in them. New Mexico contains the majority of Hispanics in States, 43%, following to that are California and Texas with 49% of Hispanics. Los Angeles seems to be the county with the highest Hispanic population. Moreover, It is necessary to mention that there are very few immigrants from Spain. They prefer to identify themselves Hispanics rather that their dependence over a specific origin.
As the other people living in US, Hispanics have an active role in political decisions mostly significant in presidential elections. Democrats are generally more acceptable and favorite among Hispanics. Political leanings differ place to place among Hispanics; Cubans and Colombians adore conservative ideologies thus they support Republicans while Mexican and Dominicans support Democrats and as the latter group are far more in number that the former, Democrats are holding a better position that Republicans. George W. Bush exalts the Hispanics' interest in Republicans which has been proved in the researches done in the last three presidential elections in US. Nevertheless, the Democrat John Kerry won Hispanics 58-40 over Bush. Western American- California- favors Democrats and Texas and Florida go for Republicans. Bill Richardson is the first Hispanic governor since 1986. They have 23 members in House of Representatives.
Pop culture and language vary from one Hispanic community to another. They are whether monolingual Spanish or English Spanish bilingual or some use Spanglish. Hispanics own numerous media productions ranging from giant commercial networks to daily periodicals. Univison is the largest Spanish-language television network in United States.
Hispanics encircle diverse racial population; some Hispanic identify themselves as Whites or Blacks. They normally have dark hair and eye with brown and tan skin, between whites and Amerindians and blacks. It is important to be stated that a great number of them know themselves as mestizo, mixed European and Amerindians, from German, French or Spanish ancestors. The dominant religion in Hispanic community is Christianity, especially Catholicism brought by Spaniards to the New World and then to Latin America. There are also people of other religions like Protestants, Jews and few numbers of Muslims, mainly newly converted Muslims. Various kinds of Folk, dance and cuisine can be found among Hispanics. The most favorite music is the Latin music. It may be interesting to know that the Mexican American music- tejano music- had impacts on rock and jazz music in US.
This large growth of population in United States had and will have impacts on American culture and identity as mentioned by Huntington in his book. Today, serious disputes and arguments are on table to decide about the immigration of Mexicans to US and both parties are in favor of it. In my next post, I will focus on this identity change and the US government decision over this controversial issue.
posted by Azadeh Ghahghaei at 9:03 PM
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