California's mix offers a look at the future

Margaret L. Usdansky

12/04/1992

USA Today

FINAL

Page 08A

California today mirrors the Census Bureau's vision of the USA's future

racial-ethnic mix.

The 1990 Census shows California's population is more than 43% minority:

25.8% Hispanic, 9.6% Asian, 7.4% black and 0.8% Native American.

That's similar to the picture the Census Bureau projects for the entire USA by

2050.

The effect of those shifting demographics - in politics, schools and the workplace

- is already being felt. ``California today reflects where the United States is

heading,'' says Rand Corp. demographer Peter Morrison.

For instance, minorities now make up 40% of California's workforce, up from

30% in 1980, according to the state Department of Finance.

``There is no prosperity in California in the 1990s unless minorities prosper,''

says Steve Levy, director of the private Center for the Continuing Study of the

California Economy in Palo Alto. ``The numbers are just too large.''

California's schools also feel the effect. Higher birth rates among Hispanics,

Asians and blacks mean each of these groups has higher proportions of young

people than do non-Hispanic whites.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, where only 13% of students are

non-Hispanic whites, is teaching English to native speakers of more than 80

different languages.

Minority groups are also flexing political muscle. One of the most striking

changes, Morrison says, is the way ``different minority groups are mobilizing

and managing to elect their own political representatives.''

Last year, Gloria Molina became the first Hispanic elected to the powerful post

of L.A. County supervisor. And last month, in the Orange County municipality

of Westminster, Tony Lam became the first Vietnamese-American elected to

City Council.

But there is speculation whether these minority groups will be absorbed into the

majority or remain distinct. Entirely new minority groups may emerge. If the

past provides any lesson, group identification is fluid, says Nampeo McKenney,

the Bureau's chief of racial and ethnic statistics.

For instance, immigrants from southern and eastern Europe were commonly

viewed as a ``race apart. There was no thinking they would intermarry and

become Supreme Court justices and candidates for president,'' says Harvard

sociologist Mary Waters.

The Bureau's own racial and ethnic categories have changed over time.

Today, the Bureau considers Hispanics to be an ethnic rather than racial group.

But the 1930 Census classified Mexicans, previously considered white, as a

separate race. The Mexican government's protests led the Bureau to reclassify

Mexicans as white.

In 1978, people from the Indian subcontinent, previously classified as white,

lobbied successfully to be included in a subcategory of Asians called Asian

Indian.

These shifts occur because the Bureau's definitions depend not on biology, but on

``social identity, what's commonly accepted by the public,'' says McKenney,

``not science.''

Among those lobbying the Census Bureau for new designations in the year 2000

are groups seeking a biracial or multiethnic category for children of

intermarriages.

The ways members of different groups view themselves may also grow diverse.

Chentenari Eao, a 42-year-old Cambodian refugee employed by Solectron, a

Silicon Valley manufacturer, says Asians will remain distinct, because ``our

culture will continually hold us together with our close family ties.''

But Thoai Le, a 40-year-old Vietnamese refugee who also works at the plant,

says Asians won't be called a minority: ``We would become Americans.''

Says Minerva Fernandez, a Los Angeles fifth-grader born in this country: ``I

think of myself as Latino because my parents are from Mexico - I think my kids

will probably call themselves Americans.'' Contributing: Jonathan T. Lovitt and

Mary-Ann Bendel

CUTLINE:CHANGING VIEW: Thoai Le, from Vietnam, says Asians won't

always be called a minority. `We would become Americans.'

GRAPHIC,b/w,Gary Visgaitis, USA TODAY ,Source:U.S. Census Bureau(Line

graphs); PHOTO,b/w,Terry Schmitt