Many people know that latinos are the largest minority in the United States. That fact was officially declared on January 22, 2003.
The political part of that statistic reveals that because of important historical and economic reason this has not translated into full participation of the community in the political process of our democracy beginning with the vote.
Evidence of this is the 2000 census where it shows that Latinos represented 12.5 percent of the population, but, in that same year only 7 percent of the vote. In contrast, African Americans whose second place demographic was overtaken by Latinos had 10 percent of the vote. The Obama election in 2008 elevated the Black vote to 13 percent while Latinos increase their share of the vote to only 9 percent.
The slow growth of the Latino vote continued to keep the Latino community in third place behind the White and African American communities in the presidential elections of 2016 and 2020. This was occurring despite the fact that half of the population growth since 2000 is Latino.
The Spanish surnamed population growth has been accelerating to the point that 1 out of every 5 Americans (19.1 percent) is now a Latino. Also, the PEW Research Center is projecting that 2024 will see the Latino community voting power move into second place with 14.7 percent of the eligible voters in the national elections.
The growth is also driven by the 1 million Latino young people turning 18 every year at the same time that the majority population is losing 1 million voters. This has become an important source of American discomfort.
The hard truth is that the voting franchise is one of the major reasons why there is so much division in the country. The fear of losing a democratic majority has stimulated the non-renewal of voting rights legislation at the national level and outright barriers and restrictions in a number of states to effective participation in the area.
Most sinister are the appearance of radical groups that see White supremacy as a civil right. I am reminded of the Charlottesville, Virginia incident in 2017 where the ultra right-wing demonstrators chanted “Blood and Soil” (a Nazi slogan), “Russia is Our Friend” and “You will not Replace Us,” (taken from the slogan: “Jews will not Replace Us).”
The last saying is clearly directed at minorities in this country that together are becoming the new majority. Although the face of the contrasting national voices appear to be Black and White, it is the rapidly growing Latino demographics, made more threatening by asylum seeking immigrants from Latin America on our Southern border, that appears to be of most concern.
The population of the United States has gotten to a point that its birthrate can not grow or even duplicate its numbers. This is creating a major shortage of labor in the farms and the cities of our nation.
Immigrants have always played a major role in the growth and development of America. That has not changed. The anti-immigrant feelings among many in the this country is also not a change. What has changed is that the main characters in this immigration cycle are from our hemisphere and are Latinos.
The growth of the Latino community is becoming a national issue. The milestone represented by the achievement of an expanded voting power is sure to be noticed.
The steady growth of Latinos in the country is part of a longer journey that began with the first Europeans in America. The future is a question of destiny.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of laVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
