LATINA/O DEMOGRAPHIC EXPLOSION
BY S.T.
I
grew up in New York City. Everyone knows New York City as the “tourist
attraction city”, the city that never sleeps and the most populated city in the
Eastern seaboard. But what people do not always stop to do is look at the
actual representation of groups of people. You have a mixture of Latino@s,
African Americans, Asian Americans, whites, Caribbean’s and etc. We are spread
out amongst all five boroughs with concentrations of groups everywhere. I live
in South Bronx and personally in that area you find a lot of minority groups
like Latino@s and African Americans. I am specifically going to focus on
Dominicans.
In
2000, Latinos became the largest minority majority living in the US. According
to PEW research, from 2010-2014 the population US Hispanic population grew
2.2%. In my opinion I think that a lot of Dominicans left DR and specifically
moved to NYC because of the similarities of culture. When my parents first
moved from the Dominican Republic she said she wanted to move to NYC because there
were opportunities for her. And when she actually came to move in she saw a lot
of similarities. She told me she started working as a home attendant and she
saw a lot of Dominicans who were also in that job field. She saw that in the
area of the Bronx there were a lot of Dominicans because they stick together,
the environment felt the same for her. When she went to the bodegas she saw that
it had the same type of ingredients for her cooking, a lot of jobs where she was
able to earn more money doing the same things as she would in the Dominican
Republic.
Latin@s
population will only increase with the availability of jobs that best suite
their needs. It is also important to remember that not all places are like NYC.
Hispanic populations are not necessarily growing everywhere. From 2010 to 2014,
the Hispanic population declined in 11 counties that have Hispanic populations.
This can be explained by looking at the demographics of the cities. A lot of
Latinos have gone put of tradition and gone out to explore different parts of
rural cities and move to new places.
References:
Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US Big
City, Ch 1-4
Pew Research, “Hispanic population reaches
record 55 million, but growth has cooled” (accessed Oct 25, 2016) http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/06/25/u-s-hispanic-population-growth-surge-cools/
Whats the population growth of Hispanics in other cities compared to new york city? Are all cities showing a population growth?
ReplyDeleteI.V:
ReplyDeleteI used to live in the South Bronx myself when i was younger and was aware of such close bonds among people of Dominican culture. they told my mom the same thing about New York City being the city of opportunity which she did find. We also found a group of alike individuals that came from a foreign country just like us.
T.S:
ReplyDeleteI'm immigrant from Asia so I understand your mother's opinion. If I had to move into the US with my family, I would go somewhere there are many Asians and because I can communicate with neighbours. As you mentioned about the bodegas, I would live in somewhere there is Asian market so that I can cook my favourite Asian food. My question on your blog is that Why do you think that Hispanic population declined in the 11 counties?
Did your mother do any research to see if there was a strong Dominican community in the area that you moved too before hand or did it just happen to work out that way? I ask this because you stated that she wanted to move to NYC for the opportunities and it was not until arrival that she saw many similarities.
ReplyDelete-ZM
It is interesting hearing your personal story because my mother also moved her for the exact same reasons. You wanted better live for us and the United States offered her the "American Dream". Latinos have been marginalized for so long, do you think can still achieve this "American Dream"? Does it even exist anymore?
ReplyDelete-AF
I like that there was a comparison made between The Black Panthers and The Young Lords party, which both were groups that helped out the injustices within their groups. You’re right that still to this day, even after all the history within colored people and the U.S., there is still mistreatment towards colored people. These two groups saw that and the injustices that occurred and wanted to stand up and fight back against it. By actually fighting back, being involved and showing their discontent with injustices, I feel it creates more of an impact on just how bad things are. Even now there are still cases of injustices, oppression that colored people face because of stereotypes, that’s why there are movements formed like the Black Lives Matter movement.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the most important thing immigrants look for when moving is the availability of jobs that the city has to offer. My parents have said that the only reason they moved to the U.S. was because of the “American Dream” and the job opportunities they would have. The whole reason of illegal immigrants moving to our country is because they want to live that American dream, in general a life better than the ones they had back in their native countries. What makes the assimilation or immigrants in their new life styles is finding places where one’s own culture resides in, like you said usually Dominicans stick together. Knowing that there is a place where your own culture thrives and reminds you of home makes you feel safe.
ReplyDelete