Noticeable Demographic Changes in your area/city?

[urbanguy]

Hi.

I was wondering if you folks have been noticing a change in racial or ethnic make ups in your hood/area or city? The reason i ask is because man there has been a lot of changes demographically here i notice it everyday i go on my walks through the hood or when i go out. I can't speak for the burbs as i rarely ever venture out in those areas. *hiss* Anyhow, a couple of the things ive noticed is the increase in Micronesians everytype you can think of and they can easily be found in large groups at the beach parks or in my hood. Others is the increase in African Americans i've been seeing more and more where ever i go in the city its a whole lot more than i ever remember seeing when i lived here last or would visit its really neat mainly cause Honolulu and well Hawaii for that matter was never really known for having a large Black population despite the fact that Blacks have been here since the late 1700s from West Africa (Cape Verde), Caribbean, to former slaves in the south who travelled as shipmates. However, the African American population seems to finally be taking off here, funny thing is in my hood Subsaharan Africans & Caribbean Blacks actually out numbered African Americans but now i think its the other way around now. I think the largest Subsaharan African group in this area are the Eritreans then Nigerians & Ethiopians. The largest Carbbean Black groups in this area are the Jamaicans and Trini's (Trinidadians). My cousin who is a DJ/promoter and also part of the Reggae community here knows many of the Carribean Blacks in this area and the Eritreans so he introduces me to a lot of them when i go to his gigs.

Another thing thats really cool is that i'd say atleast 90% or more of the new friends i've made here are either foreign born or from another state. Some of the foreign born friends i have are from Colombia (Bogota), Brazil (a Japanese from Brazil and a Brasileiro), A Chinese guy from Vietnam (Multi-lingual too he speaks Vietnamese, Teo Chew, Cantonese, Mandarin, & English) he tries too teach me but i always forget, Peru, Jordan, Egypt, The Congo, Mexico (from some small town in Northern Mexico can't remember the name), Honduras, Australia, India, Philippines, Korea, Iran, Canada, Scotland, Italy, UK (Black guy from the UK lol he sounds funny when he talks its always hard not to laugh when a Black guy talks with a British accent) etc I ain't feeding you no BS either its a trip, most of the new people ive met and hang out with now since being back here are from somewhere else. I usually meet a lot of these people from other people or when i go to parties or clubbing its really cool especially now cause when we go clubbing on the weekends we go as a little army haha. Thats also one of the really cool things about living here is that its really easy to make friends and the people are nice and its very integrated you rarely ever find ethnic groups that just hang out with their own kind like you do on the US Mainland and they call that diversity

anyway blah blah blah i really enjoy talking about this stuff cause i experience it everyday, i just love it, i smile everytime i'm out and about and meeting new people from all walks of life its also what i missed when i lived away and probably why i always come back. Lots of good peoples here.

[DruidCity]

When I was young, maybe 1 of 4 local city residents was black & now it is close to 1 in 2.

There's also a small, but growing number of Latino & to a lesser extent Asian immigrants. Approximately 1 % of the students in the Tuscaloosa city schools speak English as a second language. The majority of those speak Spanish, with Koreans coming in a distant second.

[urbanguy]

Awesome its not often that i hear about Tuscaloosa! I hope the African American population contiues to increase here as its really the only area that Honolulu lacks racially even though they are still noticeable. Anyway, i think it was like just over 2.4% in 2000 and in 2002 it was around 3% not including mixed Blacks of course its been increasing by 2,000 a year and is one of the fastest growing races in raw numbers right now. It went from about 22,000 to 26,000 in two years not bad really and if you include those that are part Black it goes up to 40,000 and if you include others like Latino & West Indian blacks it goes even higher. I would love to see it atleast 10% or so someday as all the other races are high already percentage wise, but it will probably be a while especially cause everyone mixes here. Anyhow, if its increasing by about 2,000 or more each year its possible the un-mixed population will be around 42,000 to maybe even 50,000 if it increases year over year by the next census in 2010 thats like a doubling of population in a 10 yr period!

The Top 25 ESL languages in Honolulu were these in 2001:

1-Ilokano

2-Samoan

3-Marshallese

4-Tagalog

5-Spanish

6-Japanese

7-Cantonese

8-Korean

9-Tongan

10-Vietnamese

11-Chuukese

12-Hawaiian ('Olelo Hawaii)

13-Cebuano/Visayan

14-Lao

15-Mandarin

16-Pohnpeian

17-Chamorro

18-Kosraean

19-Yapese

20-Palauan

21-Cambodian (Mon-Khmer)

22-Portuguese

23-Russian

24-French Creole

25-Arabic

[DBR96]

In Athens, GA, I've just noticed an increase in the number of Hispanics.

[Neo]

In Monroe, NC I'm becoming a minority (White) it seems. In the past 10 years or so there has been a HUGE influx of Hispanics and it is becoming one of the fastest growing counties in the county due to this influx. The Black community around Monroe seem to be moving south into South Carolina and the Hispanic community seems to be buying a lot of businesses, even downtown.

[Sean Reynolds]

In the 1990 Census Salt Lake City was about 10% Hispanic. In the 2000 Census the city was about 20% Hispanic.

My neighborhood, which is a pretty white, trendy area has hardly any color. But once you get past State Street you start seeing more and more Hispanics. In fact they make up the majority in some areas.

In fact Hispanics make up 30% of the Salt Lake Public School system, an early indicator of population shift. 54% of it is white. Most west side schools are 80-90% Hispanic.

[urbanguy]

^Where do most of the Tongans live in your city cause i know SLC has pretty decent size population of Tongans?

[teshadoh]

In Atlanta proper, african-american's are moving out to the suburbs in Dekalb, Cobb, Clayton, & Henry counties. The growth taking place in the city has been exclusively middle to upper income whites. Hispanic growth has been high for over 10 years, but most of that is now in the suburbs. The growth in upper income whites has resulted in political changes, Atlanta is still viewed as a major black political center, but not as much anymore.

[Sean Reynolds]

^Where do most of the Tongans live in your city cause i know SLC has pretty decent size population of Tongans?

Most of SLC's minority population lives on the west side. That is in fact where the Tongan's live too. In fact one decided to run for mayor in 2003 and he was from the west side.

Of course since he was a Republican he lost in the primary to the two Democrats running.

Here is an article talking about the Tongan and Samoan population in SLC. It ran in a 2002 Globe and Main (Canada) article:

Polynesian feuds ripple surface of Salt Lake civility

Gun battles, beatings rage among gangs

in Pacific islands immigrant community

By DOUG SAUNDERS

Saturday, February 9, 2002

[urbanguy]

Yeah the rivalry between the two have been going on for many many years even over here it was a no no to mistaken one for the other especially! However, the Samoans outnumber the Tongans here big time there are about 30,000 Samoans/Part Samoans in Honolulu Metro versus over 4,000 for Tongans. Most of the Samoan gangs here are affiliated with the gangs in LA the "Sons of Samoa" aka SOS and another like something USO? Now a days the other Pacific Island gangs are coming from the Micronesians like the Marshallese, Chuukese, etc youth and in some places they think they own the damn place. There are also Vietnamese, Filipino, Mexican, etc gangs to Honolulu also used to have the Yakuza at one time i remember hearing about them when i was a kid. I know Maui and the Big Island have an increasing number of Mexican & I think Colombian gangs too many are involved with drug smuggling like Mexican Black Tar... Meth... Cocaina... etc many are illegals too. I think the Colombians even tried to grow Coca plants back in the day on the Big Island but those plants were seized during one of the Green Harvest Operations the Drug Enforcements do.

[G W North]

Toronto is one of the world's greatest immigrant magnets. Foreign-born people now outnumber Canadian-born people in the city of Toronto. The only other major North American city I know of where the same is true is Miami. Even Toronto's suburbs are close to 40% foreign born.

The 2001 census showed something like 43% of metro Toronto was born outside Canada, that's around 2 million immigrants. The suburb of Markham had the highest percentage immigrants (even higher than Toronto itself) at 52%.

Here are the numbers from the 2001 census for Toronto city:

Canadian born: 1,198,815

Foreign born: 1,214,630

These are the numbers for metro Toronto:

Canadian born: 2,556,860

Foreign born: 2,032,960

My suburb (Mississauga):

Canadian born: 319,865

Foreign born: 285,650

[urbanguy]

^But what are the most noticeable in your area, i know that a large portion of Toronto's immigrants come from China & India (well south asia). Have you noticed any new trends or newer groups increasing other than the well established ones?

[Wendell FOX]

I haven't been in my community for long, and Burlington, Ontario stands out as one of the whiter communities in the Greater Toronto area. Census stats say that we've got 1/5 of our people as immigrants but less than 10% are official minorities - but in the grand scale of things, there's a significant mix of people from a variety of ethnicities I think. One thing that I've noticed is that almost all of the older generation (or people who are "natives" of the area) is Caucasian while ethnic move-ins seem to be relatively new - or at least it seems that way, and it makes common sense for a suburb positioned where it is.

[urbanguy]

^What part of the metro or city do the Sri Lankans live cause i know TO has a large number of them.

[wolfdawg54]

Jacksonville has changed as well. There are a lot more hispanics and middle-eastern people than before.