The Changing Color of America

Over 50 million Latinos exert a massive influence over politics, film, music, dance, fashion and cuisine in the United States.

One white, smiling child. Twenty years ago, the choice of a “face” for Gerber was a good and simple idea. Nowadays, the baby food manufacturer is starring not only black and white children in its commercials, but little Latinos and Asians as well.

Why is this happening? A quick visit to the NICU in a Washington, DC, hospital quickly provides the answer: The era of white domination in the United States is coming to an end. According to statistics published by the American government, the number of colored infants exceeds that of white infants not only in Washington, DC, but in 12 other states as well. For the first time in American history, white Americans are the minority in the population under three years of age.

The Growing Familia

The culprits responsible for this shift have been Latinos. They more readily start families, have the most children, have rapidly growing life expectancies and are, on average, 14 years younger than white Americans.

During the last ten years, their number in America has grown by 40 percent, around 15 million people. They are the biggest minority in the U.S., and in states such as California, Latino children make up a majority of students (51 percent in 2010, as opposed to 44 percent in 2000).

One does not have to travel to the West Coast to see the change America is experiencing. On the streets in Washington, one can see a definite trend — the younger the group of people, the more among them are minorities.

Even though Latinos still carry out menial, low paying jobs in agriculture, construction and industry, experts are highlighting the growth of educated Latinos in the middle class.

These middle class Latinos buy designer clothing, electronic gadgets… According to a study done by the Pew Research Center, Latinos are the biggest group of electronic book readers in the United States. In their homes are the biggest numbers of television sets and other audiovisual equipment. It comes, therefore, as no surprise that the biggest chains in electronics, such as Best Buy, put a link for the Spanish version of their websites on the very top of their homepage. One can also easily find a Spanish speaking customer representative as well. Latinos spend more time surfing the net and watching television than whites. Spanish language newspapers, Internet sites, television programming such as HBO Latino, CNN Español and Discovery en Español are becoming enormously popular. Cable television companies are even offering packages where the majority of the programming is in Spanish.

The Search for Roots

The changes in racial makeup have not only been noticed by businesses and Hollywood, but by the government statistics people.

According to the last census, there are almost 50 million Latinos living in the U.S. today. This means that there is Latino blood in every sixth American. In many American cities, Latinos are now in the majority. Whites are projected to lose their overall white majority by the year 2042.

Latinos are grouped in nine states. An overwhelming majority, 75 percent, are located in New Mexico, California, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Texas, Florida and Arizona. As of a couple of years ago, city officials, firemen and police officers in many places can expect a pay raise for knowing Spanish. Latino families are increasingly expanding into other states as well. Latino influence is slowly transforming the Latino culture of the entire country.

No matter where you are in America, people such as Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias and Shakira are household names. Ten years ago, Shakira barely spoke English, and now she effortlessly conducts live interviews in English.

Scores of people also flock to see Gustav Dudamel, a 30-year-old conductor from Venezuela, who is in charge of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

More and more artists in the United States are also rediscovering their Latino roots, such as Christina Aguilera. These Latin roots can lead to increased record sales. Aguilera was born in the U.S. and when she was recording her album “Mi Reflejo”, she did not speak Spanish very well, even though her father was a Spanish language teacher. Nonetheless, the record landed high on the lists, and the singer even received a Latin Grammy.

White artists are also trying to win the hearts and ears of the Latino people. The road to musical success was opened to Steve Stiegelmeyer, who, even though he finished high school Spanish and became a translator in the Army, successfully performs as the “Latino” rapper Gueroloco.

The World in Spanglish

Spanish has not only become the most popular language among American rappers, but also among students on many campuses. They learn Spanish not only so they can communicate with the plumber or to shop in some areas of town. Thanks to the growing number of Spanish speaking immigrants, Spanish art and literature has been increasingly popular.

Universities are creating more courses dedicated to Latinos, their culture and history.

The New York journalist, Ed Morales, has noticed, however, that though the stereotypical term “Latino” suggests homogeneity, Cubans in Miami, Mexicans in Los Angeles and Puerto Ricans in New York have different cultures and experiences in the country.

In his book “Living in Spanglish: The Search for Latino Identity in America”, Morales has underlined that as American society has become more diverse, it has become harder to classify and pigeonhole people. In his opinion, Spanglish, the mixture of Spanish and English, is not only a language but a way of looking at the world by the Latinos living in the U.S.

“Latinos are certainly not a monolithic ethnic group. Depending on the country of origin, they dress differently, eat differently and have a different cultural heritage. This sets them apart from the African American community, which, though diverse as well, is much more unified by history,” says Lori Kaplan, the executive director of the Latin American Youth Center. “Latinos certainly contribute to American culture. Their influence can be seen in several fields, from music to dance, fashion, media and delicious cuisine,” adds Kaplan, who comes from San Antonio, where there are more Latinos than whites.

Obama in Spanish

With the growing numbers of Latinos, their political influence grows as well. In 2008, they had an enormous impact in President Obama’s victory, who won their support through Spanish-language commercials. In the upcoming elections, however, the Latino voters, discouraged by the lack of immigration reform and the worsening job market, might vote for someone from the Republican camp. Obama might even be saved by the fact that he nominated a Latina to the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor.

Republicans highlight that most Latinos are ardent Roman Catholics, whose values are in part aligned with those of the Republican Party. Latinos are pro-family, pro-life and opposed to gay marriage.

Experts have stressed that, in contrast to African Americans, Latino voters are not a single unified voting bloc. Those living in Florida support Republicans more often, and those in California vote en masse for Democrats. The two parties will have to fight for these votes in the future.

“Candidates have noticed that in many parts of the country, the Latino bloc can decide the outcome of elections,” says Vanessa Cardenas, who was born in Brooklyn, raised in Bolivia and now works at the Center for American Progress. Increasingly often, Latinos simply vote for other Latinos.