Transcript
>> HINOJOSA: The 2010 Census
reported that one out of every
six Americans is Latino.
That's over 50 million Latinos
in the United States.
Up next, we sit down with
the Pew Hispanic Center's
Mark Hugo Lopez to talk about
politics, economics, numbers,
and the future of our country.
I'm Maria Hinojosa.
This is One on One.
>> HINOJOSA: Mark Hugo Lopez
from the Pew Hispanic Center,
welcome to our program.
>> LOPEZ: Thank you for having me.
>> HINOJOSA: Now, some people
might be saying, "The Pew
Hispanic Center?"
For those of us who
work in and around Latino
media and Latino issues, Pew
Hispanic Center carries a lot of
weight.
So, for those who don't know,
what exactly is the
Pew Hispanic Center?
What is it that you do?
>> LOPEZ: We're a non-partisan,
non-advocacy research
organization based through
Washington, D.C.
We're funded by the
Pew Charitable Trust
out of Philadelphia.
And the Pew Hispanic Center
is actually part of a broader
larger center called the
Pew Research Center.
We do public opinion surveys,
but we also do a lot of look
at the demographics of the
Hispanic community.
And one of our signature
products actually is, how many
unauthorized immigrants are
there in the country.
But our point is to provide
facts.
What do we know about the
Latino population in the US
and how are they changing the
US and how is the US
changing them?
>> HINOJOSA: So, results of the
2010 census.
We're now talking about Latinos
being more than 50 million?
>> LOPEZ: That's correct, 50.5 million
were counted in the 50 states
plus the District of Columbia.
And when you include the island
of Puerto Rico, you get about
another 3.8 million Latinos.
So the Hispanic population of
the U.S. has grown tremendously,
by about 43% over the last
decade.
And that growth alone actually
has accounted for more than half
of the nation's population
growth, so when we talk about
US population growth,
most of it was because of
Hispanic population growth.
>> HINOJOSA: I did this test
actually with some people who
are not experts on Latinos and I
just said, "Think of the state
that over the past decade has
had the largest percentage
growth of Latinos."
And the first thing that people
said, California, Texas, well,
you know, because we have these
numbers out, that actually the
number one state of the largest
Latino percentage growth was...
>> LOPEZ: South Carolina.
>> HINOJOSA: South Carolina.
And after South Carolina...
>> LOPEZ: Alabama.
>> HINOJOSA: Alabama.
And these percentage growths
we're talking about...
>> LOPEZ: More than double.
So the population of Hispanics
in these states, in fact
throughout the Southeast, more
than doubled in many places.
Now truly, when we talk about
Alabama, or we talk about
South Carolina, the Hispanic
populations there were
were relatively small.
150,000 in 2000, for example,
and it doubles to maybe
300,000 or so now.
Now compare that to California.
California is more than
14 million Latinos.
So the relative size is small.
Nonetheless, throughout the
Southeast, Tennessee, Kentucky,
Georgia, Alabama, all throughout
Arkansas, all throughout the
Southeast, that's where we saw
the fastest percentage growth
in the Hispanic population.
But I want to point to one
state, because there's one state
that's really interesting, which
is Georgia.
Georgia didn't start from a
small base.
Georgia started at about
450,000 Latinos in 2000.
It's now over 800,000.
It nearly doubled during the
decade.
>> HINOJOSA: And actually, in
the year 1990, Georgia probably
had a...
>> LOPEZ: Relatively few.
>> HINOJOSA: I mean, almost zero
perc... I mean it was very, very
small.
>> LOPEZ: It was like other Southern
states, with a small Hispanic
population.
There was a Hispanic presence,
but it was a relatively small
population.
>> HINOJOSA: So what was
surprising about these numbers
for someone like you who looks
at numbers?
What actually was, like, you
went, "Wow, I didn't expect
this"?
>> LOPEZ: Well, I'd say the most
interesting thing that I saw
throughout all of this was the
growth in the Southeast.
But also the relative decline in
the importance of California and
Texas.
>> LOPEZ: In the 1990s, about half of
all Latinos lived in California
and Texas.
During this last decade, the
population of Latinos there
grew, and in Texas particularly
this was important for gaining
Congressional seats.
But nonetheless, now about 46%
of the nation's Hispanic
population is in just those two
states.
So those two states are still
very important, but they're no
longer half or more than half of
the nation's Hispanic
population.
>> LOPEZ: HOST: All right, now, I'm
sure that a lot of people have
an image when they hear this
number of Latino demographic
growth.
What do you think the image that
people have of what is
generating that demographic
growth?
>> LOPEZ: The image that I pick up from
people telling me about it
across the country is an image
that the Hispanics are largely
an immigrant community, and that
it's a relatively recent
arrival, which in many parts of
the country is true.
In many of these states where
the Hispanic population is
growing and growing rapidly,
many Latino community leaders
there, business leaders, are
coming together, hosting events
in their states to talk about,
"Wow, look at the census
numbers."
The census numbers have shown
that Hispanics in state X, Y, or
Z are growing, and it's a
growing community around the
state.
There's also a growing business
community and a growing
community of people who are all
working for the Latino community
in those states.
So that's one reaction that I've
had.
Another reaction that I have
seen in terms of questions that
I've received is, "Why are they
coming to this state?
What is attracting them to this
state?
Why are so many immigrants,
particularly unauthorized
immigrants particularly, in this
particular community, or in this
particular city?"
So that's the... on the other
side, some of the questions that
I get about this trend.
>> HINOJOSA: Do you find, Mark,
that sometimes these questions
come with just a little bit of
fear?
You know, why are they here?
How long are they going to stay?
It's changed everything, and I'm
not so sure how I feel about
that.
>> LOPEZ: It is interesting to see how
Americans have reacted to
immigrants in the United States
in their views of immigrants.
At the Pew Research Center we
have done a number of surveys
asking Americans generally
about, "Are immigrants a
strength or are they a burden to
our country?"
And Americans are split on it.
It's about 44 to 45 for strength
versus burden.
>> HINOJOSA: Wow.
>> LOPEZ: But that's a change.
In the 1990s, Americans were
more likely to say that
immigrants were a burden to the
US, not a strength.
>> HINOJOSA: In the 1990s they
thought...
>> LOPEZ: Yes.
So there's been a change, at
least in the trends that we have
seen and the numbers that we
have been collecting over the
last two decades suggesting that
actually more Americans now are
seeing immigrants as a strength.
When you take a look at young
people, young people
particularly are likely to see
immigrants as a strength for the
country.
But we wanted to look a little
deeper in this survey.
And one of the questions that we
asked was, "What is it about
immigration that concerns you?
Is it that immigrants use
government services?
Is it that immigrants take jobs?
Is it that immigrants are coming
to this country and may change
the culture of America?
>> LOPEZ: What we found is we found
that the number one thing that
Americans pointed to was they're
worried that immigrants are a
burden to local government
services-- to schools and to
hospitals.
That was the number one reason,
followed by jobs.
The question about affecting
American culture was much
farther down the list, with less
than ten percent of Americans
citing that as the number one
concern they had with regards to
immigration.
>> HINOJOSA: When you look at
this number of 50.5 million
Latinos in the United States,
break down that number.
Who makes up that number?
>> LOPEZ: Well, when we talk about the
Hispanic origins of all of these
Latinos in the United States,
Mexican Americans are the
nation's largest Hispanic group.
They represent nearly two-thirds
of all Hispanics, about 32
million people.
That's followed by Puerto Ricans
at about nine percent, Cuban
Americans about about three and
a half percent, Salvadorans at
about three and a half percent
as well-- they're very close in
number-- and Dominicans also at
about three percent.
So when we talk about the
Hispanic community, it is made
up of people mostly from Mexico,
or of Mexican origin, but
there's a lot of diversity,
particularly on the East Coast.
In cities like Boston or in New
York or in Chicago, you've got
diversity within the Latino
community.
And you take a look at Los
Angeles, there's a lot of
diversity there as well.
But just as with Chicago,
Mexican Americans are dominant
in those two cities.
>> HINOJOSA: How many of those
50.5 million Latinos were born
in the United States?
>> LOPEZ: More than six in ten were
born in the United States.
So right now about 62% is what
the number is.
We had been at a high of about
40% earlier in the decade, but
as births play a larger role in
population growth for Hispanics,
the share of Hispanics who are
foreign born is actually going
to fall.
We project that by 2050 the
nation's Hispanic population
will be about one-third
immigrant, or one-third foreign
born.
Right now we're at 38%, and we
reached a high of 40% earlier in
the decade.
>> LOPEZ: When people hear this number
of, you know, 12 million, 11
million undocumented immigrants,
most people assume that that
number is all Latino.
Is that number of undocumented
immigrants, now 11.2 million...
what is the percentage of Latin
Americans who are part of that
number of undocumented
immigrants in this country?
>> LOPEZ: Eight in ten of the nation's
unauthorized immigrants are from
Latin America.
But about 20% are from other
parts of the world.
And this is one of the
interesting characteristics of
the unauthorized immigrant
population.
It's not just about Mexican
unauthorized immigrants, or even
unauthorized immigrants from
Central America.
Rather, there's also
unauthorized immigrants from
Asia, from Africa, from Europe,
from Russia, from Canada, from
Ireland, from Vietnam, from
India.
They're from all over the world.
And while Hispanics or Latino
origin unauthorized immigrants
make up the vast majority of the
unauthorized immigrant
population, there is a diversity
among this population, too.
>> HINOJOSA: So I find it really
interesting, Mark, because, you
know, you devote your life right
now to being a professor and to
looking at numbers.
But in fact, you know, we have a
lot of people on our show that
are devoted to trying to break
down numbers and make them very
human stories, whether they're
artists or writers.
And your very personal story is
one that I think is interesting,
because in a lot of ways you
kind of symbolize the kind of
typical Latino experience in the
sense of... well, your story of
your... tell us the story of
your parents, who both were born
in the United States, children
of immigrants from Mexico.
So what do you think... and yet
you were the first one of your
family to go away to college.
>> LOPEZ: Yes.
>> LOPEZ: So paint a picture of your
own story and how you think that
reflects a more realistic
picture of who Latinos are in
our country.
Or is it unrealistic?
You know, is yours the
exception?
>> LOPEZ: Well, I think that my story
tells us a lot about the
diversity of the Latino
community.
The Latino community is diverse
in many different dimensions.
And when it comes to, for
example, generation or immigrant
status, that's one dimension
upon which the community is very
diverse.
Mine is a story of a Latino born
in the US to US born parents who
came... who were born to
immigrant parents, who arrived
leaving Mexico because of the
Mexican Revolution.
My experience is also one where
I grew up in a community where
being Chicano and being aware of
your Chicano identity was very
important.
But Latinos were nowhere near
the size nationally, not even in
California, that they are today.
So really it was a locally
concentrated identity, because
it was really about being from
California to a large extent.
I didn't realize that at the
time, but traveling around the
country I realized the Chicano,
Chicano Movement, really seemed
to be Los Angeles and
California.
>> HINOJOSA: And probably it's
worth it just for audience
members who don't know that
term.
What is Chicano?
You say that you were part of a
Chicano movement, Chicano
identified city.
So define Chicano.
>> LOPEZ: Chicano and the Chicano
Movement during the 1960s was a
movement of Mexican Americans,
primarily, many of whom were
college students, who were
pushing for civil rights for the
Latino community in California,
but nationwide as well.
The term Chicano actually has
many different connotations, and
many different folks view it in
different ways.
For me it has always been a term
that reflects an awareness of
where you've come from and where
your community is trying to go.
And it's that particular part
that was something my father
instilled in me a lot, and it
was part of our regular
discussions of what it meant to
grow up Latino-- at the time we
didn't use Latino, we said
Chicano-- in California.
So reading Chicano literature,
listening to mariachi music, and
being aware of that were all
things that were part of my
growing up experience.
>> HINOJOSA: Right, but when you
ended up going to Berkeley, you
had an experience that was
interesting, which is the more
radicalized Latinos and Chicanos
at Berkeley look at you and said
that weren't Chicano enough.
>> LOPEZ: Yes.
And that was an eye opener, an
eye opener in many ways.
And even just being at Berkeley
I realized that I wasn't quite
as activist, I wasn't quite as
political, as many students at
Cal were.
>> HINOJOSA: And you were
actually having these
conversations around the dinner
table with your dad in terms of
identity, and still you went,
and people were like, "Well,
you're not political enough."
>> LOPEZ: That's right.
And that was... like I said, it
was a real eye opener.
But one other thing that
happened at Berkeley that I
thought was really... that's
really, really something I'm
happy that it happened was that
having grown up in a household
where we read a lot of Chicano
literature, like Bless Me,
Ultima, for example, and then
going to Berkeley and not having
read a lot of the classic
literature that a lot of people
had read, I felt very different
from my dormmates on the dorm
floor.
But I... at first I was a little
bit unsure about my experience.
I had a different experience.
I'm not aware of all these
pieces of literature that
everybody else was talking
about.
However, I found strength in the
Latino experience and the
Chicano literature that I had
had ultimately being able to
play a role in helping me to
write better papers, helping me
to be a better student, and look
at things from a different
perspective, even though at
times I felt like I hadn't quite
learned what I needed to know in
order to be able to answer
questions in an English class
about particular literature that
everybody else seemed to have
come with some knowledge of.
>> HINOJOSA: So in a lot of
ways, that was reaffirming that
your Latino experience actually
meant that you brought something
positive to the table.
>> LOPEZ: That's right.
>> HINOJOSA: Something that...
so I wonder about the fear
issue.
I want to come back to that.
Because I think that you're
right.
There are a lot of questions.
And I'm wondering how you at Pew
Hispanic feel that you can best
help our country in a moment
when there is a lot of divided
feeling around the growth of the
Latino population.
>> LOPEZ: Our role at the Pew Hispanic
Center and the Pew Research
Center more broadly is to
provide facts and to provide
information.
We want it, of course, to be
timely, and we want to do things
that are going to be relevant
for the debates, or relevant for
what people are talking about at
the moment.
So with regards to Latinos, and
particularly the upcoming
election, we're very interested
in continuing to see how Latinos
feel about a wide range of
issues, immigration
particularly, but also the
economy.
We're also concerned about the
economic situation of Latinos--
how are they doing in the
recovery, how are households
doing with regards to
accumulation of wealth, how are
they doing with regards to
unemployment?
So all these are things that we
want to continue to tell the
story of the Latino community in
many different respects, but of
course we want it to be timely
and relevant.
>> HINOJOSA: All right, so
you're also gearing up for
politics.
That's going to be happening a
lot, coming up soon.
So what's the sense of what's
happening with the Latino
electorate?
Is there a broad concern... and
the concern would be, will
Latinos actually be enthusiastic
enough for either party to come
out and vote?
And has something really
happened with the Latino voter
where immigration now is in fact
the number one issue?
Are those two things happening
at the same time?
>> LOPEZ: They are happening at the
same time.
But let's get some facts on the
table about the Latino
electorate.
In 2010 there were 21 million...
more than 21 million Latinos who
were eligible to vote.
What I mean by that is that they
were at least 18 years of age,
and they were also US citizens.
One characteristic of the
Hispanic population that makes
it different from other groups
is that a small share, less than
half, of the Latino population
in the US is eligible to vote.
For whites, it's up to 78%.
For blacks, two-thirds.
For Asians, more than half.
And the reason for this is that
among Latinos, many are under
18.
More than a third of the
Hispanic populations is under
18.
And many are adults, but are not
US citizens.
So when we talk about the
Hispanic electorate, it's one
that's growing, it's changing
the demographics of the nation's
eligible voter pool, but a lot
of that growth and a lot of that
change is yet to come.
It'll come in the next two to
three decades as many young
Latinos turn 18 and eventually
become eligible to vote.
>> HINOJOSA: All right.
So if you look at the numbers
from a kind of cold, calculated
perspective, then whether you're
a Republican or Democrat, do you
just kind of say, "Well, yes, we
know that the Latino population
is growing, we can see the
numbers, we get it, but we can
probably get away with not
dealing with it head-on just
quite yet," which is the same
thing that the Latino kind of
community has been hearing
decade after decade?
Is there still, from a numbers
place, in terms of voters and
turnout and actually swinging
elections, is there still a
sense of, "We can buy ourselves
a little bit of time," or do you
believe, no, no, no, this is the
crucial moment right now?
You must in fact be securing the
Latino electorate for now and
for the next two decades in the
future?
>> LOPEZ: When you take a look at
Latino voters and the number of
Latino voters over the last few
presidential and midterm
election cycles, one pattern is
pretty consistent, and it's a
pattern that's very interesting.
More Latinos vote in each
election.
Each election cycle, whether
midterm or presidential, you
compare 2008 to 2004, more
Hispanic voters.
2010 to 2006, more Hispanic
voters.
And that's going to likely
continue, because of so much
population growth.
So the Hispanic vote is growing,
and it's not only changing the
demographics of eligible voters,
but also changing the
demographics of who actually
votes on election day.
But here's the other interesting
part.
You asked me whether or not this
is the moment, is this the time?
I think this is a gradual
process, but because Hispanics
are a presence in many states,
like in Nevada, like in
Colorado, like in New Mexico,
like in Florida, which have been
battleground states, in those
cases, the Hispanic electorate,
while not the majority of voters
in those states, but a
significant share of the voters
in those states, could
potentially play a bigger role.
And it seems as if politicians
have paid more attention to
Hispanics in recent election
cycles then was the case, say,
in the 1990s.
But it is a reflection of the
population growth that we see.
A lot of growth, more voters,
more eligible voters, and in
places around the country where
now the Hispanic vote is, or
Hispanic electorate has grown to
be more than just five percent
of the electorate.
>> HINOJOSA: All right, do you
see the parties engaging?
>> LOPEZ: When we think about what the
parties have done, taking a look
at 2008, it was clear that the
Democrats did more to reach out
to Hispanic voters than the
Republicans.
So when it comes to... from the
point of view of the Latino
voter and the Latino electorate,
the Democrats are seen as the
party that has more concern for
Hispanics.
When it comes to what parties
have actually done, our post
election survey of 2008
suggested that the Obama
campaign had done more to reach
out to Hispanics in both
languages, for example, than the
McCain campaign had done during
2008.
>> HINOJOSA: So it's really
whoever wants that, wants those
numbers, wants those voters,
they just have to really go
after them.
>> LOPEZ: There's a tremendous amount
of potential, yes.
Tremendous amount of potential.
>> HINOJOSA: So what do we need
to be focusing on?
I guess, you know, there are so
many issues, so much concern.
I mean, and again, you look at
the big number issues.
But what do you think that, on a
community basis, people should
be thinking about?
Because clearly your numbers are
showing, the census is showing,
that this is a very different
country.
>> LOPEZ: Mm-hmm.
>> HINOJOSA: So... and you've
lived through this yourself, you
know, very personally.
So kind of bring it down to one
on one, individual kind of...
what we need to be thinking
about.
>> HINOJOSA: This is something
that a lot of the research of
the center points to many
different things.
When it comes to education,
because so many young... so many
Latinos are under the age of 18.
Many Latinos have young families
with children in schools.
And in some of the polling we
have done throughout the decade,
education has been one of the
top issues for Hispanics
overall.
Education and helping young
Latinos make it through either
high school or into college or
beyond are things that many
Latinos tell us that they're
concerned about.
More so than the general public,
Hispanics say education is
important for success in life.
Hispanic parents, according to
Hispanic young people, are
talking about college as the
number one thing that their
children should do.
And when it comes to some of the
reasons why they're not in
school, because many are not in
school, some of the reasons they
give to us are, "I need to
support family."
But nonetheless, many Hispanics,
Hispanic parents, are putting an
emphasis on education.
Education is something that, for
many, is important for success.
>> HINOJOSA: Except I have to
stop you, because you know what
the dropout rates are for
Latinos.
So on the one hand you're saying
that Latino families, Latino
parents, care about education.
On the other hand, we're seeing
that you have a 50% dropout rate
amongst Latino teenagers, more
or less.
>> LOPEZ: That's right.
And... but that dropout rate
is... it's an interesting
number, but it reflects a couple
of different things.
If we take a look at those
Latinos who are of the second
generation, the children of
immigrants, their dropout rates
look a lot like they are
generally for the US, for the
general US public or the general
US population of young people.
Same thing for the third
generation young Latino,
although their dropout rates are
slightly higher than they are
for second generation young
Latinos.
Immigrant young Latinos are less
likely to have a high school
diploma.
And they may have completed all
the education they needed to
complete in their countries.
They came to the US, but they
didn't come to the US
necessarily to go to school
here.
They came here to pursue job
opportunities in the US.
So when we talk about the
dropout rate, there has been
progress.
More Latinos than ever are
graduating from high school.
However, it is still a higher
dropout rate than it is for
other groups in the US.
>> HINOJOSA: So given this kind
of drama in terms of the
numbers, so who's being forward
thinking in terms of actually
creating programs that are
sustainable, that are giving,
reaching this Latino youth, and
creating kind of support
structures?
I mean, if there's a kind of
values decision in terms of the
parents that they want to
support it, but maybe there's a
financial piece that's missing,
are there organizations out
there that you think are being
forward thinking in terms of,
"Well, what we really need to do
is we need to prop this
community up in terms of
education, in terms of
leadership development"?
>> LOPEZ: There are many organizations
that are out there that are
doing that.
And in some of the work that I
have done in the economist
community as one of the former
Presidents of the American
Society of Hispanic Economists,
we actually worked hard to get
young Latinos who are high
school students to be interested
in careers in economics, to get
college students who are Latino
but also currently economics
majors interested in pursuing a
Ph.D. in economics.
But our efforts are not unique.
There are efforts across the
country like this in many
different respects.
Latino organizations are doing
many things do work on getting
young Latinos to go to college,
complete school, helping them
with finances.
On the other hand, there are
many non Latino organizations
which are also doing work to get
more Latinos, say, into the
federal government work force.
When I was a professor at
Maryland, one of the summer
programs we had was a summer
program that was funded by the
Department of Education, but
also through the United Negro
College Fund Special Programs,
that was directed at getting
more students of color into
careers in the foreign service.
Now, it was a program that was
run by the United Negro College
Fund, but its purpose was to get
Latino, Asian, African American,
and also white students as well
from many different backgrounds,
into careers of public service,
because it was important to
diversify the foreign service,
particularly those who are
representing the US abroad, as
much as possible.
>> HINOJOSA: All right, so on
any given day, Mark Hugo Lopez,
numbers guy, economist,
positive, or glass is still half
empty?
>> LOPEZ: I'm positive about the Latino
community, and I think that the
story is still being told.
We haven't seen the entire story
work itself out yet.
There are so many dynamic things
happening within the community,
just on population growth and
change alone, that it's hard to
draw a firm conclusion today
about how successful or
unsuccessful, or how well has
the Latino community done.
I think much of what will happen
over the next century, actually,
is going to be a story where
Latinos will play a larger role
for the US and the story of the
US, but also the US will affect
and change Latinos in many ways.
How, I don't know yet, but I
think the story is actually
still being told.
>> HINOJOSA: All right, well,
thanks for helping tell the
story today a little bit, Mark
Hugo Lopez from Pew Hispanic
Center.
Great to have you.
>> LOPEZ: Thank you very much.
>> HINOJOSA: Continue the
conversation at
wgbh.org/oneonone.
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