If you read the title of this article and thought “This guy is going to go on some racist diatribe” then I’m sorry to disappoint you. A few weeks back I was on a website (I can’t for the life of me remember what site it was) that had 2004 Census data for each state. It broke the population numbers into races, ethnic backgrounds, whatever the fuck you want to call them, and had population percentages of each group for each state.
I then remembered that a year or so back my girlfriend’s aunt (mother’s sister) and uncle had dropped by for a visit when we lived in DC. The uncle spent the majority of his time there complaining about the influx of Mexicans (which he assumed were mostly in the country illegally) in his area. When I found out that they lived in Kansas City, Kansas I rolled my eyes. After all, there can’t be that many Hispanics out in Kansas, can there? When you think of states with a high Hispanic population, you don’t think of Kansas.
So I took it upon myself to data from the Census to answer a few questions that I had:
1. Which state has the highest Hispanic population?
2. Which state has the highest Black population?
3. Which state has the lowest White population?
4. Which state has the highest White population?
Perhaps I will quiet the racists among us who feel they have “to deal with” more Blacks and Hispanics than anyone else; perhaps I will just fuel their fire if they happen to live in one of the states on the list. I decided not go with total population, as it wouldn’t be fair. Some states are more densely populated than others. I knew I would get a better feel if I used the percentages. I stuck with the 48 continuous states, leaving out Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington DC.
“They Took Our Jobs”!
Let’s start with the fastest growing minority in the US, Hispanics. Whenever this country has had an influx of a certain people emigrate here, there has been a huge backlash against said group. With Hispanics today it is no different. Hell, I get annoyed when I’m grocery shopping and see signs in both English and Spanish, or when I call my cable company or someone of the ilk and they have you “Press 1 for English”. I strongly believe that if you want to come to this country, you should learn how to speak English. Some Hispanics, especially those not here legally, refuse to do so. I was downright irate when I heard of the movement in California and other places to allow illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses. There are and have been millions of immigrants who bust their asses to become citizens, why the fuck should we reward those who shouldn’t be here in the first place?
Let me state for the record that I do not think all Hispanics and illegal immigrants. The vast majority of Hispanics I have come across are not immigrants at all. My girlfriend’s father came over from Bolivia to go to school, obtained his green card and became a doctor. Most of the Hispanics I grew up with were from Puerto Rico, which makes them US citizens. Then there are many who were born in this country.
So, with the resentment and hatred aimed at Hispanics from everybody else, I found out which states had the highest Hispanic population, and the results were what I expected them to be. Keep in mind that “Hispanic” is a tricky word. Technically, Hispanic is not a race, and many Hispanics also consider themselves White or another race.
States with Highest Percentage of Hispanic Population
1. New Mexico 42.1%
2. California 32.4%
3. Texas 32.0%
4. Arizona 25.3%
5. Nevada 19.7%
As I figured beforehand, the Southwest part of the country has the highest concentration of Hispanics in this country. As for Kansas, my girlfriend’s uncle is an idiot: Kansas doesn’t come close (7.0%).
What Great Migration?
For those of you not in the know, the Great Migration refers to the time period of the early 1900’s, after Reconstruction, which saw streams of Blacks head out of the South and to the North in search of jobs and a break from the out and out racism in the former Confederacy. I was sure that the North would have higher numbers of Blacks than the South, or at least be closer, but the Census data proved me wrong. Perhaps the Great Migration wasn’t so great after all.
States with Highest Percentage of Black Population
1. Mississippi 36.3%
2. Louisiana 32.5%
3. South Carolina 29.5%
4. Georgia 28.7%
5. Maryland 27.9%
In general, the entire Southeast has a very high Black population, and that of course is attributed to the Southern States holding on to slavery for as long as they did. The Southeast carries the stigma of being the most racist part of the country, and with good reason. I found it interesting after all of these years that the Southeast has more Blacks per capita than anywhere, I thought more would have migrated. For those of you wondering how Maryland made the Top 5, it shares a border with Washington DC, which has a mostly Black population.
Hooray For Diversity
Before I get into the Whitest states in the Union, I thought I would touch upon the least Whitest. These states are going to look very familiar.
States with Lowest Percentage of White Population
1. California 59.5%
2. Mississippi 61.4%
3. Louisiana 63.9%
4. Maryland 64.0%
5. Georgia 65.1%
With the exception of California, obviously the states with higher Black populations are going to have lower White populations. The reason why Maryland jumps over Georgia in the least White list is again due to the DC Metro area. Montgomery County (where I until recently lived) in particular is very diverse. The reason why there weren’t any more of the higher Hispanic populated states on this list is, as I stated earlier, many Hispanics also consider themselves White.
KKK Vacation Spots
We are now left the final question we started out with: which state is the Whitest? Is it somewhere in the Midwest, America’s Heartland, or the Great White North? Nope! The answer may surprise you, as it did me.
States with Highest Percentage of White Population
1. Maine 96.9%
2. Vermont 96.8%
3. New Hampshire 96.0%
4. West Virginia 95.0%
5. Iowa 93.9%
6. North Dakota 92.4%
7. Wyoming 92.1%
8. Idaho 91.0%
9. Montana 90.6%
10. Kentucky 90.1%
I listed the top ten in this category because it just so happened that these states are the only ones with a White Population of 90% or more. Focus, if you will, at the top 3 states. That’s right: New England. Overall, New England is the Whitest of any region in the country; the average of all six NE states is 90.1%, and Connecticut has the lowest percentage of Whites at 81.6%. That’s still quite high. Maine and Vermont are the only states in the Union who’s highest minority count is “two or more”. That means there’s no one other than crackers for any minorities that live there to fuck!
The Northeast enjoys the reputation of being one of, if not THE most racially tolerant areas of the country. Could this be because we don’t have to deal with as many minorities as the rest of the country? What would happen if we had a “Super-Ultra-Mega-Great Migration”, and our percentage of minorities jumped to levels of California or Mississippi? Would we “enlightened” Yanks continue to be so enlightened? I’ll leave that to those of you who read this to speculate.
Next time: America’s love affair with hating the New York Yankees.