Posted for Government and Sociology:
Times are a changin, yes they are.
Posted on Sunday, December 21, 2008
Minorities a majority in 3 cities in Kansas
BY HURST LAVIANAThe Wichita Eagle
Non-Hispanic whites are now a minority in three of Kansas' 18 largest cities, while a fourth is 50 percent minority, new Census figures show.
Sixteen of the 18 cities have grown more racially diverse since 2000, with the suburban communities of Derby, Olathe and Overland Park showing some of the fastest gains in minority population.
The figures, which come from the American Community Survey, were released this month by the U.S. Census Bureau. They offer the first look at the demographics of medium-size cities since the 2000 Census.
William Hoston, a Wichita State University assistant professor of political science, said it's not surprising -- in a country that just elected its first black president -- to see whites and minorities living side by side in the suburbs.
Although racism still exists in the country, he said, most white people today probably feel less of a "minority threat" than their counterparts of years past.
"If they don't see that minority threat, they're less likely to be in clusters" by themselves, he said. "They just feel more comfortable" living around minorities.
The Census Bureau said the survey, which was taken over a three-year period, allows small cities to track demographic changes on an annual basis rather than waiting for the results of a once-a-decade Census.
The numbers show that the western Kansas towns of Liberal, Dodge City and Garden City are at least 50 percent minority, due largely to sizable Hispanic populations.
Kansas City, Kan., is the other city where non-Hispanic whites are now a minority.
Wichita's picture
Wichita's non-Hispanic white population, meanwhile, has dipped below 70 percent since the 2000 Census. The figures suggest non-Hispanic whites will remain a majority in the city for the next 30 years or more.
Hispanics continue to be the city's fastest-growing minority, as their numbers increased from 9.6 percent in 2000 to 11.9 percent in 2007.
The Pew Hispanic Center, a nonpartisan research group, reported earlier this year that Hispanics accounted for more than half of the nation's growth so far this decade and for 15.1 percent of the nation's population.
Although immigration was the major factor in Hispanic population growth in the 1990s, the Pew Center said, Hispanic population growth this decade has been largely the result of high birth rates.
Wichita's Asian population jumped 26.2 percent between 2000 and 2007 and now makes up 4.5 percent of the city's population.
Mohan Kambampati, the executive director of the Wichita Indochinese Center, said he wasn't surprised by the numbers.
In recent years, he said, workers from India have moved to Wichita to fill contract jobs in the fields of accounting and software engineering. He said Wichita State University also has drawn Asians to the city.
Kambampati said even the Wichita school district's recruitment of teachers from the Philippines has contributed to the Asian population growth.
Growth in Derby
One of the biggest surprises to come from the data is the growth of Derby, which has outpaced its suburban counterparts in Johnson County. The figures show that 35 percent of Derby's growth has come from new minority residents.
From 2000 to 2007, Derby's black population rose from 0.9 percent to 3 percent, while its Hispanic population rose from 2.8 to 5.4 percent.
City Manager Kathy Sexton said the city's diversity was partly a reflection of the number of military families moving into the city.
"McConnell Air Force Base has had a pretty healthy impact on that racial diversity," she said. "You get a lot of people here who've lived in a lot of different places."
Sexton said Derby's steady 2 to 2.5 percent annual growth has been ongoing for more than two decades.
"What's neat about Derby's growth is that it's not coming in little spurts -- from one new housing development," she said. "It's every year we have several developments going on at same time.
"Continuing to do that year after year after year after year has made this a place of 22,000" residents, she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment