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Hispanic, Black, and Asian Population in Arkansas


johnnydr87

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Thought this was pretty interesting, the Hispanic, Black, and White population percentages of the state in each county:

Hispanic:

http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/mso01-hp.pdf

I wasn't surprised by all the counties in the 1-5% range. But I was surprised by all the counties in 5-12% range, and those two in the 12.5-24.9% range. I have no idea what counties those are, or what communites they contain. I'm just guessing, but the northern one might contain Russelville....(or is that farther west). No surprise, Washington and Benton counties by Wally World were in the lime green section, and it even pulled in the county to the east of Benton county, as well as the two southwestern Missouri counties. Texas had two counties more than 95% hispanic! When you hear that the United States is 12.5% Hispanic, you don't really think they are all basically in the southwest...at least I didn't. Well sure, 25-50% makes sense..........but 95%+? Wow. I was also surprised at how sparse the population is in the Mid-Atlantic.

Black:

http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/mso01-bp.pdf

Not many surprises about Arkansas really... Little Rock's always had a pretty big black population (25-49%), so has the Delta, and the Ozarks and Ouachitas have always been lacking. There are three counties 50-70% black, and just across the river, Mississippi has 6 counties with over 70% . Louisiana has some too. Montana has 1 county with more than 1%.

White:

http://www.census.gov/prod/2001pubs/mso01-wp.pdf

If there's one area where Arkansas is not lacking in diversity, it's our white people! One solid blue block all across the Ozarks. Texas has a county less than 5% white.

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Another great and interesting topic. As far as Arkansas is concerned I guess nothing was a surprise. On a side note all the blue counties in New Mexico on the hispanic figures. It's not what most people would probably think. Almost none of those counties have many Mexicans who immigrated recently. Santa Fe was established around 1609-1611 by the Spanish. Many people in northern New Mexico can trace their ancestry to the Spanish who came in the 1600 and 1700's. It's not as common as it used to be but you can hear a weird Spanish spoken especially in the smaller towns. It's basically what Spanish was like from the 1500-1600's. Just imagine if there were an English speaking population somewhere in the world still speaking the form of English that Shakespeare spoke.

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As far as the hispanic population is concerned any idea if most are from a particular area in other parts of the state? A lot are probably from Mexico, but not everyone is from there contrary from what people might think. I know we've had quite a few that probably had Mexican origins but had been raised in either California or Texas. I also know we have a number of El Salvadorans. I also seem to remember an article mentioning that quite a few El Salvadorans have moved to the Ouachitas. The mountains there apparently remind them of back home. For a while most of the hispanics stayed in the Benton-Washington County areas. But I know they are slowly reaching other areas of the Ozarks. It also took a little longer but hispanics are also showing up in southeast Arkansas despite the high unemployment rates there.

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I found some websites with some details on some metro areas. Here's the one for Fayetteville metro racial statistics. Looks like the hispanic figures were around what I thought. Interesting to see some of the others. I had also recently learned northwest Arkansas has more Native Americans than most of Arkansas. Most of them are Cherokees. By the way it's AR not AZ. I see Arkansas's abbreviation messed up quite a bit, it's usually AZ or AK. The AZ just seems ridiculous. It almost seems it's being messed up twice to get it to AZ unless people think it's Arkanzas or Arkanzaw.

http://www.censusscope.org/us/m2580/chart_ancestry.html

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Here's the same site with Little Rock's ethnic statistics.

http://www.censusscope.org/us/m4400/chart_ancestry.html

Little Rock does have more South Asians and East Asians, but I would expect that because Little Rock does have a larger population base. I guess I was surprised how close Fayetteville's was or above Little Rock in other ethnic groups.

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For some reason I didn't see any statistics for Afro-Americans on that website. But I think most people know that Little Rock has a pretty large group and Fayetteville doesn't. In northwest Arkansas, Fayetteville is about the only city that has any Afro-Americans. Another thing I noticed that I have heard about. There are a number of Polynesian/Micronesians in northwest Arkansas. Granted the numbers aren't huge, but you're not talking about a large base populations in their homelands either. For some reason Springdale has the biggest population of Marshallese outside the Marshall Islands. The president of the Marshall Islands even comes here to visit every once in a while. I imagine northwest Arkansas's vicinity near Oklahoma helps it have a larger Native American population than most of Arkansas. I was a little surprised just how much bigger the hispanic population is in northwest Arkansas compared to Little Rock.

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Very interesting article about Asians in Arkansas. Interesting fact: their growth has outpaced Hispanic growth since 2000.

Jacksonville a hub for Asians Immigrants prefer town's affordable housing, slower pace

Read the rules, NO full article posting allowed.

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And one more....about Hispanic population in AR. It grew by 170% in the 1990s, the largest in the nation:

Hispanic, Asian populations are fastest growing minorities

graphic

Read the rules, NO full article posting allowed.

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At first everyone noticed the large influx of hispanics in northwest Arkansas. Now though everyone seems to know there are quite a few hispanics and no one really thinks too much of it. I've had a hard time telling if things have slowed down or if it's still growing as quickly as before. The only big hispanic news concerning Arkansas that I can think of recently was about that bill that would give scholarships to immigrants kids. But it was shot down because it would have also given scholarships to illegal immigrants kids.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just thought I'd add a little here with the LULAC convention going on in Little Rock this week. Especially since I was able to see some coverage of it with me being around that part of Arkansas earlier in the week. One comment I remember hearing is that Arkansas is the new 'border' state. It sounds like there will be a Mexican Consulate opening later this year in Little Rock. I guess that surprised me a bit. I know there are hispanics in Little Rock, but I still get the impression that it's not that big just yet. We have more here in northwest Arkansas and since we have a smaller base population than central Arkansas they make up a much larger percentage too. I also get the impression there are quite a few hispanics in southwest Arkansas. Maybe if there was one large city up here instead of the population being distributed the way it is they would have considered one up here. But Little Rock is the capitol also, that might have had an influence. Does anyone have any comments on the possibility of Arkansas becomming a hispanic state in the future? I think it would be interesting to see a new style of food, a mix between Arkansas (southern) and Mexican. Just like all the other border states (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California) have all developed. Maybe we can start dipping our fried catfish in salsa. Instead of chipotle peppers smoked with mesquite we can have our own pepper smoked with hickory. :D

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Hmmm...so am I the only person interested in the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock? Maybe it's not what most people would put at the top of their list, but I think anytime a country is willing to put a consulate in Arkansas is a big deal. I think there are going to be four hispanics running for a public office this fall. Three of them from northwest Arkansas. I imagine a number of people in Arkansas aren't happy with all these changes. I guess I just try to see it as opening some doors to interesting possibilities. Whether people like it or not, it's here and I don't think it's gojng to go away.

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Haha. Mith, revitalizing the urbanplanet AR community, as usual.

Yes, the Mexican consulate is pretty effing cool. I am really repulsed by the people at White Revolution who are unabashedly racist about the Latino influx.

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Haha.  Mith, revitalizing the urbanplanet AR community, as usual.

Yes, the Mexican consulate is pretty effing cool.  I am really repulsed by the people at White Revolution who are unabashedly racist about the Latino influx.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't guess I've heard too much about this White Revolution. That is one thing I have been rather happy with, there really hasn't been too many problems with the hispanic infux up here. People have seemed a little more open minded. I'm sure there are some who aren't crazy about it but I guess those people have overall kept quiet about it. I had heard that was one thing they wanted to address at the LULAC convention. Apparently some hispanics don't feel quite as welcome to Arkansas as they had been. I'm not sure how the rest of Arkansas is handling the situation. Like I said I'm sure things could always be better up here, but considering that the Ozarks were 99% white/caucasian the think the transition has been rather smooth up here.

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Just thought I'd add a little here with the LULAC convention going on in Little Rock this week.  Especially since I was able to see some coverage of it with me being around that part of Arkansas earlier in the week.  One comment I remember hearing is that Arkansas is the new 'border' state.  It sounds like there will be a Mexican Consulate opening later this year in Little Rock.  I guess that surprised me a bit.  I know there are hispanics in Little Rock, but I still get the impression that it's not that big just yet.  We have more here in northwest Arkansas and since we have a smaller base population than central Arkansas they make up a much larger percentage too.  I also get the impression there are quite a few hispanics in southwest Arkansas.  Maybe if there was one large city up here instead of the population being distributed the way it is they would have considered one up here.  But Little Rock is the capitol also, that might have had an influence.  Does anyone have any comments on the possibility of Arkansas becomming a hispanic state in the future?  I think it would be interesting to see a new style of food, a mix between Arkansas (southern) and Mexican.  Just like all the other border states (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California) have all developed.  Maybe we can start dipping our fried catfish in salsa.  Instead of chipotle peppers smoked with mesquite we can have our own pepper smoked with hickory.  :D

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

There's a great article in the Arkansas times from about a week ago (Go to arktimes.com then cover story) about the Latino influx.

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What a laugh, I checked out the 'white revolution' website. Yeah so the hispanics have taken 40,000 jobs up here that 'hard working whites' should have. Guess what, I live up here and I can easily tell you there weren't any jobs 'taken' from any whites. Companies like Tyson struggled for years trying to get enough help to fill all of their positions. The highest unemployment rate I remember from the past decade is 3.6%. Much of the past decade is was much closer to 3% or lower. Tyson tried to get people from southern Arkansas to come up here and take some of the jobs. They also tried getting more Afro-Americans from southeast Arkansas to come up here and take some of the jobs. Well no one seemed to interested until the hispanic influx started. I love it when someone from another part of the state tries to tell me about something in my part of the state. It's a real shame that there really are people who think like this. All I can say is that I'm glad that at least this group isn't up here. I've had someone from another part of the state ask me is the crime rate had gone up because of the hispanic influx. Last time I checked on the local news most of the crime seems to be commited by whites, yet another myth dispelled. If anyone is wondering if I am part hispanic or something, no I'm not. I can trace 100% of my ancestry to northern Europe. Am I proud of my ancestry? Yes I am. Do I think the I or my 'race' is better than everyone else? No I don't. Really it's quite simple, there are good and bad white people, good and bad black people, good and bad hispanic people, good and bad asian people. It's too bad so many people seem to have a problem with this concept. Anyway enough ranting for now.

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I got a little off base in another topic so I thought I'd mention some of what I mentioned there over here. I imagine there are a number of people who feel threatened because of all the hispanic growth because it's a different culture than what they are used to. But in reality things don't stay the same they change. I is sorta weird thinking about the future of Arkansas and knowing there's that possibility of Arkansas being the next 'border' state and being a much more hispanic state. But personally I don't think it will detract from our current culture it will simply be another addition. Maybe hispanic culture isn't to everyone's liking but I think more people might find it interesting if they would at least give it a chance. People might be frustrated with the way things are going right now but as time goes on they will integrate more with the current culture. We're mainly seeing the first generation of immigrants. The first wave always has the hardest time adjusting. But the their kids will have a much better time. They will have at least been educated in our school system. I know our school system might not be top notch. But they will have a lot better shot at an education than in their former homeland. As far as the 'white revolution' is concerned. They really need to look at reality. Has anyone noticed that almost all the countries with 'white' citizens have most of the lowest population growths? For that matter much of Europe has negative growth. There's nothing wrong with being proud of you heritage but you really shouldn't try to put fown others to try to make yourself feel more important. I will dedicate the rest of my day to the 'white' revolution'. I am going to go eat authentic Mexican food, go drink some good quality tequila and listen to Shakira's new album Fijacion Oral Volumen 1. :D

All thanks to the influx of the hispanics in my area, otherwise I'd probably have problems doing all of this.

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Eastern Europe is growing normally...as is Australia.

Japan and South Korea have very low birth rates as well.

That's just what happens when you have lots of people in such a small area. There was a PBS special about it, comparing population growths for countries in different stages of development.

Hispanics undoubtedly get a better education here, unless they came from a well to do family already and thereby spend "leisure" time going to a public school or paying for a private school instead of finding a job.

The interesting thing about most other countries is that you have to take a test before you can even get into high school (in public schools in Europe, Asia, Latin America, etc.), so the students who get in usually are the ones who want to be there. Or their family doesn't need them working a job to support the family. I'm not sure how that would work in America, but part of me likes the fact that there more are pushed through high school so they can explore opportunites.

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Yeah but we don't tend to see the more upper class or even the middle class hispanics here in Arkansas. For that matter they tend to stay in Mexico. It's the lower class, the ones who don't have anything to stay for that leave and come to the US. It's ironic, there are areas of Mexico that have problems with immigrants from Central America. Some of them end up here in the US but there are areas of Mexico especially southern Mexico that have gone in and taken many of the low paying jobs.

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I guess it's somewhat obvious by now that I do have an interest in hispanic culture. Ironically I don't really know very much Spanish, but still I have an interest in it. I believe the hispanic community is here to stay in Arkansas and I don't mind trying to learn more about them and their culture.

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Tyson tried to get people from southern Arkansas to come up here and take some of the jobs.  They also tried getting more Afro-Americans from southeast Arkansas to come up here and take some of the jobs.  Well no one seemed to interested until the hispanic influx started.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What was Tyson willing to pay those from southern Arkansas? $6/hr? $10/hr? $15/hr?

I was always led to believe (har har) that if the "free market" couldn't attract enough employees at the wages they offered, they simply----raised wages until they attracted those workers.

Nowadays, the free market of course means open borders.

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What was Tyson willing to pay those from southern Arkansas?  $6/hr? $10/hr? $15/hr?

I was always led to believe (har har) that if the "free market" couldn't attract enough employees at the wages they offered, they simply----raised wages until they attracted those workers.

Nowadays, the free market of course means open borders.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep, for better or worse. Better than their life in Mexico...but is it up to 'American' standards? Eh...

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Well the companies in northwest Arkansas didn't get to be where they are now by throwing money at problems. As far as Tyson goes, most of the chicken farms are located up in this area so this is where they built the factories. Northwest Arkansas has had a low unemployment rate it's never been above 3.6% as long as I've been up here. Which tends to mean it's also hard to keep people because people are willing to jump around as far as jobs are concerned because they know there's more in the area. This was before the huge growth this area started getting. So Tyson tried attracting Afro-Americans from southern Arkansas. From areas like Pine Bluff where unemployment is more likely to hover around 7-9%. I think it was mainly the stigma that kept them from coming. Northwest Arkansas was a part of the Ozarks therefore this area has historically been a mainly white area. There has also been a stigma of the Ozarks being KKK country and so forth. So at that time period I don't think they would have gotten many to come even if they had increased pay. So they eventually turned to the hispanic community. Maybe some people don't like the idea that they were brought up here. The way I see it is that they were willing to come and take the jobs most people didn't want. For that matter it was that one thing that has mainly helped increase the cultural diversity of the area. The U of A does have a lot of foreign students, but unfortunately at this time few stay after they graduate. So now we do have a different group that will stay and add to the diversity of the area. As long at the area stays mainly white it will simply reinforce old sterotypes of the Ozarks and keep some people out of the area.

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I believe this was mentioned in another topic, but I thought it might be better to comtinue this over here. I believe it was mentioned that Little Rock is rather cosmopolitan with quite a few ethnic groups mixed in, more so than northwest Arkansas. People from the Middle East were mentioned, and it also reminded me of an article a while back in the Ark Dem-Gaz. It was mentioning a lot of foreign food stores to help some of those exotic ingrediants you might not be able to find in your regular grocery stores. I was actually impressed because the article mentioned stores in both central and northwest Arkansas and not just Little Rock which it tends to do. But I did notice that although northwest Arkansas did have asian and hispanic food stores we didn't have any Middle Eastern food stores whereas Little Rock had 2 or 3. Is there a very big Middle Eastern population in Little Rock? We do have a number of students from that area here at the university. But I must admit I don't ever recall seeing any foods stores catering to that particular area. Do you think that Muslems feel accepted in the Little Rock area? Not really because of Little Rock but more the post 9/11 references. You do see some Muslems in traditional dress around Fayetteville. I sometimes see women with their whole body covered except for a slit for the eyes. I guess I was just wondering what it was like for them living here in Arkansas and also the US in a post 9/11 world. I know right after 9/11 quite a few muslem students didn't come back to the university because they feared retaliation and the ones who did come back kept a very low profile. Here in northwest Arkansas I don't think the foreign students stand out too much because people are used to seeing them around. But I do think some people would give someone a 'second look' if they were wearing traditional clothing. I haven't actually heard of anyone having problems because of their traditional Muslem attire. Just curious if anyone had anything to add from the central Arkansas area since there seems to be more there than anywhere else in Arkansas.

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Well the companies in northwest Arkansas didn't get to be where they are now by throwing money at problems. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's for sure. Tyson partially got where it is by breaking criminal laws relative to hiring illegal immigrants.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/Corp/TysonBusted.cfm

Why? Because illegals will work more cheaply than legals. Offer high enough pay to future employees from Pine Bluff and Tyson will get all the employees it needs.

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