HISPANICS/LATINOS IN THE 21ST CENTURY HISPANIC/LATINO HERITAGE OF THE UNITED STATES:

Posted on Somos Primos, September, 2011; Posted on Historia Chicana, June 22, 2011. Revised May 31, 2011 to incorporate 2010 Census Data. Earlier version posted on Weekly Digest HispanicVista.com , October 24, 2003. Excerpt appears in Oxford Dictionary of Latinos and Latinas in the United States, Oxford University Press, 2005. This version incorporates commentary from Hispanics: Whats in a Name? (excerpted from the study American Hispanics: A Contemporary Perspective, Caravel Press, 1990) by the author and which appeared in Cambio Magazine, Phoenix, Arizona, July 12, 1990.

By Felipe de Ortego y Gasca

Scholar in Residence/Past Chair, Department of Chicana/Chicano and Hemispheric Studies, Western New Mexico University; Editor-in-Chief, ABC/CLIO Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latino Issues Today (2 Vols., forthcoming ).

ccording to the 2010 Census, the total population of the United States was 305,305,818. The count for the Hispanic population of the United States was 50,477,594, not counting the almost 5 million Puerto Ricans on the island. That would bring the Hispanic count to almost 55 million. Hispanic Heritage Month is not about celebrating the heritage of Spain and other Hispanic identified countries in the Americas and elsewhere. Hispanic Heritage Month celebrates the contributions to the United States by Spain and other Hispanic identified countries in the Americas and elsewhere. Thats a critical distinction. Unfortunately, many Non-Hispanic Americans know little about the contributions to American life and culture by American Hispanics; that is, those Hispanics in the United States who are citizens of the United States either by birth or naturalization and, therefore, not (necessarily) citizens of Hispanic countries in the Americas and elsewhere. There are some instances 1

where American Hispanics like other groups have dual citizenship. Another way to differentiate U.S. Hispanics from Hispanics in Spain and other Hispanic identified countries in the Americas and elsewhere is to think of the latter as Hispanic Americans and the former as American Hispanics. American Hispanics live and work legitimately in the United States. There are some Hispanics like members of other groups living and working in the United States legitimately with temporary documentation (Green Cards) while waiting to become American citizens. Those Hispanics who live and work in the United States without proper documentation are not considered American Hispanics. They are sometimes referred to as undocumented workers. Celebrating the Hispanic heritage of the United States actually started in 1967 with a proclamation by President Lyndon Baines Johnson recognizing the 16th of September of that year as Hispanic Heritage Day.

The 16th of September is celebrated in Mexico and by Mexican Americans in the United States as Mexican Independence Day from Spain in 1821. The following month the Presidents Cabinet (Inter-agency) Committee on Mexican Americans held a Mexican American summit in El Paso, Texas. On September 17, 1968, House Joint Resolution 1299 (Public Law 90-498) was passed unanimously by voice vote proclaiming the week of September 15-22 as Hispanic Heritage Week. Subsequent presidents continued the tradition. On August 17, 1988 Air Force Colonel Gil Coronado successfully persuaded Congress to enact Public Law 100-42 designating National Hispanic Heritage Month from September 16 to October 15, spanning celebration of September 16th and Dia de la Raza (Columbus Day) on October 12. National Hispanic Heritage Month coincides with the independence days of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Chile also. Little known because American textbooks exclude it, the Hispanic heritage of the United States is older than the Anglo Heritage of the United States. By the time of the Plymouth Plantation in 1619, Saint Augustine (Florida) had been in existence for 55 years, and Santa Fe was already a thriving city. Throughout the vast expanse of the Spanish presence in North America, Spanish settlements of varying sizes dotted the landscape. Spanish exploration in what is now the United States took many forms. In 1536 Alvar Nuez Cabeza de Vaca left for us a record of his travels through Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. And in 1592, Gaspar Prez de Villagr 2

recorded in Virgilian cantos the exploits of the Spaniards at Acoma Pueblo near present-day Albuquerque. That text, Historia de Nuevo Mexico, is now regarded as the first American epic. Over time, Santa Fe became the commercial center of Spain in what is now the United States and geographically critical in the westward expansion of the United States.

hat is the term Hispanic? What does it mean? Where does it come from? Why is it used to identify particular peoples of the Americas? Is the term Hispanic the same as Latino? Both the terms Hispanic and Latino have been used for some time. More recently, however, the revivified term Latino has resonated with contemporary American Hispanics, many of whom perceive the term Hispanic as a label imposed on them by the bureaucracy of the U.S. Census Bureau. Actually, the term Hispanic cropped up in the early Spanish colonial period to designate persons with a biological tie to a Spaniard. In Spanish the term was Hispano. Later, the term evolved into Hispano- Americano to emphasize that Hispanos were also Americans since they were of the Americas. Historically, the United States appropriated that term for its own identity so that few Americans realize that all the populations of the Americas are Americans. The word Hispanic is one of those large rubrics like the word Catholic or Protestant. By itself, the word refers to all Hispanics (persons whose heritage derive from historical

origins in Hispania-- Roman name for Spain), attesting to a common denominator, conveying information that the individual is an off-spring or descendent of a cultural, political or ethnic blending which included in the beginning at least one Spanish root either biological or linguistic or cultural. That means a Mexican Indian with no Spanish blood (as we understand that term) in him or her, but who speaks Spanish and has amalgamated, internalized, or assimilated the evolutionized Spanish culture of Mexico is considered an Hispanic just as an Indian of the United States who speaks English and has amalgamated, internalized, or assimilated the evolutionized Anglo culture of the United States is considered to be an American though in the case of American Indians they are Americans both by priority (they were here first) and by fiat (the United States made them Americans by colonization and later by law). Talking about people in terms of labels can be misleading. For example, a person may be an Hispanic in terms of cultural, national or ethnic roots. Nationally Colon (Columbus) was a Spaniard though born in Genoa. Werner Von Braun (father of the American space program) was born in Germany and became an American citizen after his relocation to the United States from Nazi Germany. In Argentina there are Hispanics who have no Spanish blood but who, nevertheless consider themselves Hispanics, speak Argentine Spanish and are fluent in Italian or German, the languages of their immigrant forebears to that country. 3

Put another way, the term Hispanic is comparable to the term Jew which describes the religious orientation of people who may be ethnically Russian, Polish, German, Italian, English, etc. There are Chinese Jews, Ethiopian (Falashan) Jews, Indian Jews, et al. So too the term Hispanic describes people by linguistic orientation (Spanish speakers from countries whose principal or national language is Spanish). These may be Mexicans, Nicaraguans, Cubans, Venezuelans, Chileans, Argentines, et al. Additionally, there are blended Hispanics often identified as Indo-Hispanics and Afro-Hispanics, Asian-Hispanics (many Filipinos) and a congeries of other mixtures. There are Hispanics who identify themselves as Black and many who identify themselves as White. There is an array of Chinese Hispanics, Lebanese Hispanics, Pakistan Hispanics, Hindu Hispanics, Jewish Hispanics (Sephards) et al. This all points to the fact that Hispanics are far from a homogeneous group. In the main, though, their common characteristics are language (Spanish or a derivative version of Spanish as well as a distinctively derivative version of English oftentimes called Spanglish) and religion (most are Catholic), though there is a growing number of Hispanic Protestants). There are other lesser characteristics as well.

ccording to current demographic data, the United States has the 5th largest Hispanic population in the world exceeded only by Mexico, Spain, Columbia, and Argentina. By the year

2010 only Mexico will have a larger Hispanic population. In the year 2000, close to 7 million American Hispanics who reported themselves as such in the Census lived in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, another 3 million in New York City. Since 1980 the American Hispanic population of both cities almost doubled. And over the 1990's the Hispanic population of the United States grew 58%. Since 1980 Mexican Americans almost doubled their population size. From 24 million American Hispanics in 1990, the 2010 Census count enumerated 50.5 million U. S. Hispanics not counting the 4.5 million Hispanics in Puerto Rico who are excluded from the count. In the 1990 count almost 4 million Hispanics in the United States were missed by the Census , and another 4 million or so undocumented Hispanics in the United States. At the start of the new millennium there were about 45 to 48 million Hispanics in the United States, making them the single largest minority group in the country. That is, 16% of the U.S. population was Hispanic. Or, 1 in 6 was Hispanic. As a group, American Hispanics are larger than the population of Canada (32 million) and more than twice that of Australia (20 million). Projections suggest that by the year 2050 1 in 3 Americans will be Hispanic. Peter Francese of American Demographics notes that America really had no clue that the Hispanic population was that big. But Steven Murdoch, the Texas demographer, has been aware of the growth of the Hispanic population in Texas. He has forecast that by the year 2040 Hispanics in Texas (Tejanos) will comprise 65% of the 4

states population while the Anglo population of the state will have dwindled to 25%. Ten percent of the states population will be black or other. According to the 2010 Census, the Hispanic population grew from 35.3 million to 50.5 million (not counting Island Puerto Ricans). Per the U.S. 2010 Census count, Hispanics are in every state of the country. One report asserts that Hispanics are in every county of the United States. Hispanics make up the majority population in 28 major U.S. cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, most of them located in California, Texas, Florida, and New Jersey. The Hispanic population more than doubled in Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and South Carolina. 75% of Hispanics live in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, and Texas. Five states are 15% or more Hispanic (New Mexico, 46.3%; California, 31%; Texas, 30%; Arizona, 22%; Nevada, 15%) and five states are 10% or more Hispanic (Colorado, 14%; Florida, 14%; New York, 14%; New Jersey, 12%; Illinois 10%). Nine states and the District of Columbia are 5% or more Hispanic (Connecticut, 8%; Idaho, 7%; Utah, 7%; DC, 7%; Wyoming, 6%; Washington, 6%; Oregon, 6%; Massachusetts, 6%; Rhode Island, 6%; Kansas, 5%). Five states account for almost 75% of the U.S. Hispanic population (California, 34%; Texas 20%; Massachusetts, 9%; Florida, 7%; Illinois, 4%. These figures dont take into account Census errors like the one in 1970 which failed to count some 3 million Mexican Americans. One of the reasons for so

much difficulty in counting American Hispanics is that s significant number report themselves as White or Black, not Hispanic.

n the 20th century, the U.S. Hispanic population grew 5 times faster than the overall population. Since 1980, the nations Hispanic population has grown by more than 40% compared to 7% for the overall population. At present growth rates, the American population is expected to reach 325 million by the year 2020. Projecting the U.S. Hispanic figures per their growth rates, they could number well over 60 million by the year 2020. That means that about 1 in 5 Americans could be Hispanic, roughly 20% of the U.S. population. (Counting Puerto Rico, the U.S. Hispanic population today is about 54.2 million17.4% of the total U.S. population.) By the year 2050 some demographic forecasts expect the U.S. Hispanic population to triple. At the moment, Hispanics account for more than half of the U.S. population growth. Astonishingly, these growth rates are not fueled principally by immigration but by fertility. An extreme projection suggests that by the year 2097, 50% of the entire U.S. population will be Hispanic, 30% will be black; 13% will be Asian, and only 5% will be white. In a 1988 study, the Arizona Republic of Phoenix indicated that in the year 2013 Hispanics will make up nearly half of Arizonas population, raising the prospect of their taking a strong leadership role in the state. Despite these auguries for the population growth of American Hispanics, little planning if any has been 5

undertaken for such an eventuality. In fact, compared to their size in the American population, American Hispanics are grossly under-represented in most areas of American public life and policy. Like Blacks, they are congregated in the gladiatorial areas of sports. Despite their looming size, American Hispanics are almost never seen on mainstream network television news shows as hosts or discussants on American domestic and foreign policy issues. Except for special shows, American Hispanics are still largely invisible in the plethora of inane television programs. In film, non-Hispanics portray Hispanics (often badly). Many times in film and television Hispanics are often referred to by Hispanic names in the scripts, but never seen.

ho are these people whose presence in the American population will have such a major force in the American future? Surprisingly, most Americans tend to think of U.S. Hispanics as a loose aggregation of immigrants who speak only Spanish, somewhat aware that the largest number of them live in the Southwest, a fair number in the Mid-West, the Upper Middle Atlantic states and New England with a growing number in the American Southwest. Essentially, American Hispanics may be sorted into five groups: (1) Mexican Americans, many of whom identify themselves as Chicanos, an ideological designation that identifies their generation, (2) Puerto Ricans, some of whom identify themselves as Boricuas, (3) there are U.S. Hispanics who identify themselves as Hispanos

(found mostly in New Mexico many of whom identify themselves as Manitos and are counted as Mexican Americans; in Texas a vast number if not most Mexican Americans refer to themselves as Tejanos; and in California, many Hispanic Californians who are descendents of the founding families in both Baja and Northern California refer to themselves as Californianos rather than Mexicans, (4) Cuban Americans, and (5) Latinos Hispanics from countries other than Mexico, Cuba, Spain, and Puerto Rico. Per the U.S. Census Count of 2010 the Mexican origin population grew by 54% and accounts for 63% of U.S. Hispanics, about 32 million. Two out of three U.S. Hispanics are Mexican Americans. Not counting Puerto Rico, Puerto Ricans make up almost 10% of U.S. Hispanics with almost 4 million of them in the continental U.S. Almost 4 million of them live on the island of Puerto Rico. Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans make up almost 75% of the U.S. Hispanic population. In other words, 3 out 4 U.S. Hispanics are Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans. The almost 2 million Cuban Americans in the United States, most of them in Florida, make up about 4% of U.S. Hispanics. Latinos, about 12 million of them with roots in Latin America make up the balance of U.S. Hispanics25%. In other words, 1 out of 4 U.S. Hispanics is Latino, that is, from countries other than Mexico, Puerto Rico, or Cuba. There are other U.S. Hispanic groups, statistically not significant as groups, like Sephardic Americans (Hispanic Jews), Pacific Islanders with Hispanic roots, and American Filipinos who are not counted as Latinos but should be 6

since Spain had a longer presence in the Philippines than in Mexico. In profile, U.S. Hispanics are a young population with a median age in 2010 of 27 years compared to 34 years for non-Hispanics. Hispanics are predominantly an urban population: 82% live in cities, compared to 65% of Anglos, though there is a trend of U.S. Hispanics migrating to rural areas. In terms of median income, in 2000, U.S. Hispanics earned an average of $23,300, some $2,450 more than blacks but some $2,600 less than Anglos. In 2010 median income for U.S. Hispanics was $40,200. Nearly 1 out of every 4 American Hispanics fell below the poverty level in 1999, more than thrice the ratio for Anglos. In 2000, American Hispanic unemployment rose to 13.8% compared to 7.2% for the total population. In 2010 Hispanic unemployment rose to 18% compared to 9.6% for the total population. While there were gains for some American Hispanics, most of these figures remained relatively unchanged in the year 2010 for the mass of American Hispanics who are still searching for America. Economic projections indicate that by 2012 Hispanics will represent a $1.3 trillion consumer market. In 2010, $21.3 billion in remesas (money sent to Mexico) were generated by Mexicans working in the United States.

mportantly, American Hispanics are not recently arrived immigrants to the United States. Given the finite immigration quotas for Latin America since 1924, the present population of U.S. Hispanics

would not be as large if its source of growth were solely from immigration. Their sheer size in the American population points to the fact that American Hispanics are of longer duration in the United States and their growth stems principally from fertility. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 2010 there were 98.8 births for every 1000 Hispanic women compared to 66 births per 1000 Anglo women. The initial core of Hispanics in the U.S. population came from the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam, later renamed New York after the British acquired it in the 17th century. Later the Hispanic Jews (Sephardim) who came with the Dutch colony contributed significantly to the colonial revolutionary efforts of 1776 and to the later prosperity of the country. In the 19th century, in two swift gains within 50 years of each other, the United States acquired a sizable chunk of its Hispanic population, not counting the acquisition of Louisiana in 1803 with its Hispanic residents and Florida in 1819 with its Hispanic population. The first gain was as a consequence of the U.S. war against Mexico (18461848) out of which came the Mexican Americans of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. No one is sure of the numbers of Mexicans who came with the dismembered territory (almost half of Mexicos domain) but figures range from 150,000 on the low side to as many as 3.5 million (including Hispanicized Indians). The second gain of Hispanics occurred as a result of the U.S. war with Spain 7

(1898) out of which came the Puerto Ricans, Filipinos, Guamanians, Virgin Islanders, and the first wave of Cubans (though Cubans had been emigrating to the American colonies first then the United States since the 17th century. In 1917 Cuba was cut loose by the United States. The figures for these groups range variously as well. But the point is that American Hispanics have been part of the United States historically for some time. In both the U.S. war with Mexico and the U.S. war with Spain, the United States came to the Hispanics, the Hispanics did not come to the United States. They were already on their land which the United States appropriated from them as a spoil of war. In both cases, Hispanics who came with the conquered territories were chattels of war. Unfortunately, Americans have tended to think of Hispanics in the United States as newly arrived and to confuse them with Hispanic Americans, the 400 million who populate the Spanish-language countries of the American hemisphere. Not all American Hispanics agree on the term Hispanic to identify themselves. Many American Hispanics from the Southwest, for example, prefer to be called Mexican Americans or Chicanos and think the term Hispanic is an arbitrary label imposed on them by a bureaucracy with a colonial mentality. Sandra Cisneros eschews the term Hispanic; she favors the term Latina. Many Puerto Ricans agree with that sentiment and prefer to be called Boricuas or Latinos. Other American Hispanics contend the term Hispanic dilutes their individual identities as, say,

Salvadorans, Nicaraguans, etc. At best, the term Hispanic is a convenient way to talk about a diverse group of people much the way we use the term American to talk about an equally diverse group of people. In vogue now with many Hispanics in the Southwest and elsewhere is the term Latino which could very well include Italians and other groups with links to Roman Latinization. This looking for a name has created particular problems for American Hispanics, especially in libraries (including the Library of Congress) and with bookstores and booksellers. Irma Flores Manger, an Austin librarian, thinks we are leaving a whole group of people in limbo without any positive literature about Chicanos or other Latino experiences in which the only books available are written by authors in English. The books are not available in some libraries because if you are not familiar with the authors you will not buy the books as librarians. The book stores usually have a small section on Latino Studies ans sometimes our books are lumped in with immigration studies. I dont know why its so hard for these stores to carry books by Chicano or Latino authors in English; there is usually a huge section for African Americans or Native American materials. The difficulty lies in the fact that indeed Americans (including librarians) do not really have a handle 8

on the Hispanic taxonomy. For them all Hispanics are alike. Unlike African Americans who are not lumped in with Africans, American Hispanics are lumped in with Hispanics of Latin America. The Library of Congress is a good example of this lumping. When one wants to find material on African Americans in the Library of Congress one does not go to the African Section. They are found in the American Section. But to find materials on American Hispanics in the Library of Congress one has to go to the Hispanic Section where all other Hispanics are included also. Mostly, American bookstores have separate sections for African materials and for African American materials. Not so for American Hispanic materials. All Hispanic materials are lumped into the Hispanic section. Peddling the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez books in Spanish or English translation for Chicanos instead of Rudolfo Anayas works only strengthens the proposition that Americans do not differentiate between Hispanics because they dont know who Hispanics are. Admittedly, there is much to a name. Im an American Hispanic of Mexican stock who subscribes to a Chicano perspective of life in the United States. Im not an Hispano because Im not Spanish. And Im not a Latino because Im not from one of those other Spanish-language countries of the Americas. A Puerto Rican friend of mine explains that hes an Hispanic of mainland Puerto Rican stock and subscribes to a Boricua perspective of life in the United States. Another friend of mine tells me hes an American Scandinavian of

Norwegian stock who is a registered Republican. I dont find that confusing at all. Were all Americans, rich in cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity. Whats in a name? Everything. Thats why my name is Felipe and my friends name is Sean. Names help to tell us apart. They also reflect our heritage and background. Unfortunately, many Americans tend to think the word Hispanic refers to a homogeneous group of peoplewhich it does not, anymore than the word German, say, (as in German Americans) refers to a homogeneous group of people. American Hispanics come in all sizes, shapes and colors. Ideologically, Mexican American Chicanos say the term Hispanic diminishes their demographic priority when lumped with other American Hispanic groups (all of which are considerably smaller than the Mexican American group). Those Mexican American Chicanos contend that this lumping suggests all U.S. Hispanic groups are equal in size and have passed through the same historical process in the United States, a suggestion not supported by the facts. Not all U.S. Hispanic groups have passed through the same historical process as Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans. The historical process of these two groups has been distinctive, not shared by other American Hispanic groups in the United States. A sizable number of Mexican Americans and all Puerto Ricans are American territorial minorities by virtue of conquest. For this reason, shrill groups of Mexican American Chicanos and Puerto Ricans have resented across the board 9

applications of legal remedies (affirmative action, for one) for all U.S. Hispanics for historical discrimination they have not endured nor suffered. Militant members of these groups say that hiring a U.S. Hispanic of Peruvian descent, say, to head a major federal program intended to remedy discrimination against territorial Hispanics does not remedy discrimination suffered by Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans at the hands of Anglo-Americans since their conquest and for whom these legal remedies were originally enacted if such remedies are applied across the board for all Hispanics whether or not they are members of the aggrieved groups. Peruvian culturewhile Hispanicis not Mexican American culture nor Puerto Rican culture. There are notable linguistic differences as well. Additionally, Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans point out the difference between an oppressed territorial minority (the U.S. came to them) and political or economic refugees (they came to the U.S.) Many Chicano scholars explain that Hispanics from Mexico who gravitate to San Diego, Tucson, El Paso, San Antonio, and Brownsville are migrating to a part of what once was their ancestral homeland until 1845/ 1848 (1853 in Southern Arizona with purchase of the Gadsen Strip), now considered greater Mexico (previously New Spain). Some Chicano scholars see this migration as analogous to the migration of Jews to Palestine, their ancestral homeland. Moreover, those same Chicanos point out, most Mexicans migrating to the United States are racially more Indian

than Spanish. On their Indian side they are, thus, autochthonous people, here long before the Nia, the Pinta, the Santa Maria, and the Mayflower. They are not immigrants. They are of the Americas, sharing a common bond with the indigenous peoples of the United States and Canada. In view of the foregoing, plans for meeting the needs of American Hispanics must take into

older. There are 45 million Hispanics who speak Spanish as a first or second language, as well as six million Spanish students, comprising the largest national Spanish-speaking community outside of Mexico. Roughly half of all U.S. Spanish speakers also speak English "very well." Reaching the 50 million plus American Hispanic population requires knowledge of who they are and their centrality in the American future. All the more reason for Hispanic Heritage Month every day.
Copyright 2011 by the author. All rights reserved.

account their overwhelming reliance on the English language, and particularly that 15% of the U.S. Hispanic population which is monolingual Spanish operant. For them Bilingual Education and Spanish-language publishing makes sense. What is not clear, however, is the number of American Hispanics in the population group of 50+ who rely principally on Spanish for communication and Spanish language publications for news and information. Spanish is the primary language spoken at home by over 35.5 million people aged five or 10