The Latino Wave: How Hispanics Will Elect the Next American President
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Hispanics Are Changing America and Forging Our New Future
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By Jorge Ramos* and Adam J. Segal**
The United States is a nation being transformed by Hispanic influence. There is no turning back. The striking image of America’s population in 2050 painted by the Census Bureau this month took almost everyone by surprise, even those researchers who study the growth of minority communities.
Beyond nearly every prior expectation, the Census researchers found that in less than 50 years America’s population will be solely comprised of minorities. The Latino population will triple and one in every four Americans will be Hispanic. The demographic revolution, led by the impressive growth of Hispanic communities, is transforming the economy and culture of our country. There should be no doubt that our future will be bright, diverse, and enhanced by these changes.
Hispanic influence and contributions are spread across the country, and the cities and economies of tomorrow are being built by a rapidly growing pool of immigrant and second-generation workers. Even unexpected places like Alaska and North Carolina have seen dramatic Latino population increases.
We are seeing a Latinization of America. This means Spanish will only strengthen, not disappear, and that the culture and values of Hispanics’ countries of origin will continue to permeate the American society. But also, despite the doubts of skeptics like Harvard professor Samuel Huntington, Latinos are going through a very fast and successful process of Americanization and integration. The United States will one day be a nation shaped by many different Hispanic heritages.
For many of us, the image of an America comprised of minorities in 50 or 100 years is quite abstract. However, we don’t have to wait that long to experience the implications. The impact of Hispanics will be felt not just in 2050, but this coming November. At that time Latino voters will help decide who will be the next president of the United States. Campaign strategies, and record spending on Spanish-language political advertising, confirm Hispanic outreach is now a top political priority.
National political campaigns are increasingly bilingual as they are reflecting who we are becoming as a nation. Though we are eight months away from the November general election, the leading candidates and their affiliated groups have already aired Spanish-language television, radio, and print advertisements intent on attracting the attention and support of Latino voters in Florida, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada.
In the past, political strategists debated whether to invest thousands of dollars for specialty media efforts to reach Hispanic voters in limited areas. Now they are asking which prominent group will handle this strategy and how many millions of dollars can be set aside for this purpose in more than a dozen states.
Presidential candidates and parties are increasingly steering their national campaign strategies toward Latino voters who are flexing their political muscles in key battleground states.
In dozens of states and hundreds of communities around the nation, from Anchorage to Atlanta, and from Des Moines to Las Vegas, Hispanic political influence is growing at the local and state level, and is expanding to the national level.
Latinos might still be lacking in political representation but not in cultural influence and economic power. Hispanic purchasing power will reach a trillion dollars before the end of the decade and continues to rise rapidly each year.
This future for America can be overwhelming to some Americans not yet comfortable with our shared, diverse, inevitable future. Yet changes are abundant all around us. America has long been a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-cultural nation and our battles over inclusion and acculturation have transformed our identity. Now, Latinos will be leading the way to the next important demographic transformation of America.
Dora the Explorer, which stars a bilingual Latina character, is now one of the nation’s most popular children’s television programs and is one example of how mainstream America is paying attention to the growth of the Hispanic population. Many Spanish newscasts consistently surpass their English counterparts in Miami, Los Angeles, Houston and other cities. The new Census projections affirm the analysis in the bold Business Week cover story that recently reported on the “Hispanic Nation.”
Hispanics, no doubt, are changing America and forging our new future. Business, entertainment, and political success will be tied to the Hispanic community of 2004 and far into the future. Those who embrace the evolving cultural makeup of America will help lead our nation into the future and will benefit from its transformation.
*Jorge Ramos, an Emmy-award winning journalist and author, is the anchor of Noticiero Univision, the nation’s most-watched national Spanish-language news program. He is the author of the forthcoming book: The Latino Wave: How Hispanics will Elect the Next American President.
[EDITORS: He can be reached at his Miami office at 305-471-4150.]
**Adam J. Segal, a lecturer in ethnic marketing and political communication, is director of the Hispanic Voter Project at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC.
[EDITORS: He can be reached at his Washington, DC office at 202-265-3000.] |
