A Look at the State’s
Emerging Communities of Color Before the Republican Primary
Read the full fact sheet
here.
By
Vanessa
Cárdenas, Angela Maria
Kelley | March 13, 2012
Washington,
D.C. —
The Center for American Progress today released the "Top 10 Things
You Should Know About Alabama’s Demographic Changes and Immigration Politics."
Alabama is slated to have its primary for the Republican presidential
nomination today, this on the heels of nearly 1,000
protesters who marched from Selma to Montgomery to recreate the
civil rights movement march of 1965. During the march, representatives from the
NAACP, the AFL-CIO, and Latino rights groups came together to address modern
forms of discrimination, putting the issues of restrictive voting and Alabama’s
strict immigration law, H.B. 56
at the front and center.
This sign of unity between Latino and African
American activists reflects the changing demographics of the state of Alabama.
From 2000 to 2010 Alabama had the third-fastest-growing Hispanic population in
the country and was one of nine states where the Hispanic population more than doubled
over the preceding decade.
Here are facts about how Alabama’s emerging
communities of color are changing Alabama’s economy and electorate on the day
of the Alabama primary.
1.
Communities
of color are driving Alabama’s population growth. Alabama had strong population
growth of 7.5 percent
from 2000 to 2010. The Hispanic population increased by 145 percent
from 2000 to 2010, which accounted for 27.7 percent of the
state’s total growth from 2000 to 2009.
2.
Children
of color now make up more than 40 percent of Alabama’s children. In 2008
children of color were 38.6 percent
of all children in the state. By 2010 children of color made up 40.7 percent
of Alabama’s children. In 2010, 30.7 percent
of the child population was African American and 1.1 percent
was Asian. 5.9 percent
of Alabama’s children were Hispanic, and 2.8 percent
of the child population was of mixed race.
3.
Communities
of color are younger and represent the future of the state. In 2010 the median
age of non-Hispanic whites was 41.2. In comparison, Hispanics’ median age was 24.8,
while the median age of African Americans was 32.2,
and 32.1
for Asians.
4.
In
2008 African Americans voted heavily for then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) over
Arizona Sen. John McCain (R). In November 2008, 547,000
African Americans voted in Alabama, making up more than a
quarter of the state’s total votes. Although Sen. Obama lost the
state to Sen. McCain by more than 21
percent, African American voters in Alabama heavily supported Sen.
Obama at the polls. Exit polls suggested that 98 percent
of African American voters cast their ballots for Sen. Obama, while only 2 percent
voted for Sen. McCain.
5.
The
increase in Alabama’s communities of color will soon translate into political
power. In the 2010 election 403,000
African Americans, 14,000
Hispanics, and 4,000 Asians
voted in Alabama. Between 2000 and 2010 the Hispanic population in Alabama grew
by 109,772
and the Asian population increased by 22,249.
Only 22.1 percent
of Hispanic citizens in Alabama voted in 2010, just more than half of the
voting rate of non-Hispanic
white citizens. The pressure to turn numbers into political power
will rise along with the number of eligible voters of color in the state.
6.
Alabama
passed H.B. 56, the harshest anti-immigrant law in the land, in June 2011. The
legislation threw the state into chaos
as Latinos fled for more welcoming communities, students were too scared to go
to school, and farmers worried about having enough people to pick their crops.
According to one estimate from the University of Alabama’s Center for Business
and Economic Research, H.B. 56 could cost the state $10.8 billion
and up to 140,000 jobs. All to drive out an undocumented population that is
estimated to comprise only 2.5 percent of
the state.
7.
The
courts continue to strike down provisions of the clearly unconstitutional H.B.
56. On March 8 the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked two
additional sections of the law—one which barred unauthorized immigrants from
entering into a contract with the state (even for something as basic as having water
turned on in your home) and another that made it illegal to enter
into a contract with an undocumented immigrant. The courts previously blocked other
provisions including those that forced school officials to report on
the immigration status of their students and made it a crime to give an
unauthorized immigrant a ride.
8.
Individuals
in communities of color face significant economic hurdles. The median household
income for African Americans in the state in 2010 was less than 60
percent of the household income for non-Hispanic whites. The median
household income for Hispanic residents in Alabama that year was 70.1 percent
of non-Hispanic
white income.
9.
Unemployment
hits these communities harder than non-Hispanic whites.In 2010, 18.9 percent
of the African American civilian labor force over the age of 16 in Alabama was
unemployed. This more than doubled the 9.3 percent
unemployment rate of the comparable white population. Hispanic unemployment in
2010 was also high, at 11.6 percent
in the same year.
10.
Nevertheless,
communities of color contribute significantly to the state’s economy. In 2010
unauthorized immigrants paid $130 million
in state and local taxes. The almost 4,500
Latino-owned businesses made more than $1 billion in sales in 2007,
the last year for which data are available. The almost 7,000 Asian-owned
businesses generated more than $2.6 billion in sales that same year.
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