Topic: In search of "White America".

[shemps#1]

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.

[Shemoeley Fine]

Very interesting and provacative post. thanks for sharing  Several years ago Time magazine had an issue "The Browning of America", which is a misnomer because it is not a reference to America, but rather the United States. White America has never existed as there has always been more non-white people in America as on the globe than so-called whites. For those who want "Englsih-only America", English has always been a minority language in America.

Shemoeley Fine

[Dunrobin]

...which is a misnomer because it is not a reference to America, but rather the United States.

Shear nitpicking, S.F.  The people of the United States don't really recognize anyone else as having a legitimate claim to use "America."  (There's even a line in the Randy Newman song, "Political Science," that says "South America stole our name.")  It wasn't always that way.  In the early days of the Republic, we used to refer to our country as "These United States" and considered ourselves New Yorkers, or Virginians, etc., but since Lincoln's War of Aggression we've been steadily consolidated into a single empire and taught to call ourselves "Americans."  And of course, if we're "America" no one else can be.   

... English has always been a minority language in America.

That's not really true, you know.  Sure, lots of immigrants still spoke their native tongues in their homes and neighborhood communities, but everyone learned and used English, since it was in fact always the dominant language in these United States.

It's ridiculous to refuse to learn English if you are going to live here.  Would you honestly expect to move to France and not have to learn French?  If I moved to Cuba, wouldn't the Cubans expect me to learn Spanish?  Since English is the common, dominant language in America*, immigrants should be expected to learn it.

*  Yes, I did that deliberately - I just couldn't resist.   

[Shemoeley Fine]

...which is a misnomer because it is not a reference to America, but rather the United States.

Shear nitpicking, S.F. The people of the United States don't really recognize anyone else as having a legitimate claim to use "America." (There's even a line in the Randy Newman song, "Political Science," that says "South America stole our name.") It wasn't always that way. In the early days of the Republic, we used to refer to our country as "These United States" and considered ourselves New Yorkers, or Virginians, etc., but since Lincoln's War of Aggression we've been steadily consolidated into a single empire and taught to call ourselves "Americans." And of course, if we're "America" no one else can be.

... English has always been a minority language in America.

That's not really true, you know. Sure, lots of immigrants still spoke their native tongues in their homes and neighborhood communities, but everyone learned and used English, since it was in fact always the dominant language in these United States.

It's ridiculous to refuse to learn English if you are going to live here. Would you honestly expect to move to France and not have to learn French? If I moved to Cuba, wouldn't the Cubans expect me to learn Spanish? Since English is the common, dominant language in America*, immigrants should be expected to learn it.

* Yes, I did that deliberately - I just couldn't resist.

I am glad you did and please, this is not a personal "attack", it just goes to show the power of words, the power of the misuse of words as you so eloquently point out. When I say "English has always been a minoriorty language in America" I refer to "the Americas". The misuse of America has led people to believe this is The United States IS America instead of the United States OF America. Throughout America other nations are taught that they too are Americans as well as their particular nationality, French, Swedish, Germans et al also consider themselves Europeans, ditto for African and Asian continental nationalities. In Spanish "Americans" are called <estadounidenses> or United Statesdians which is the better term for citizens of the US of A. By using Americans to mean citiizens of the US it causes divisions among other nations of the Americas, it's the typical arrogant, Monroe Doctrine, Platt Amendment intervening Uncle Sam, look at the proceedings in Argentina going on as we write.

I am all in favor of all immigrants learning and speaking English, that's the official language of this land.  I am completely bi-lingual, writing, reading, speaking, not only in conversation, but in business, legal and other branches of both languages, yet if I go to a bank, a governmental office or an individual retail business, even if the clerk speaks to me in Spanish, I speak English to conduct business, once finished I don't mind conversing in Spanish for social talk or pleasantries but business in the USA is to be handled in English. Yet that doesn't mean I want an English only bill, as all folks have the right to speak other languages in their social circles or in public, where would it stop? Would youngsters of the hip-hop generation be prohibited to speak in slang? My son and his friends could actually carry on a conversation in hip-hop and current slang and a person unfamiliar with the jargon would have no clue what the heck they are talking about and they are speaking English. This is nothing new, every generation comes up with its own manner of speak and slang. The Stooges are a perfect example, much of their verbal humour may go over many young folks heads because they wouldn't get the gist, the meanings of the words especialy in context of the Stooges era.

The founders of the USA, if they came to life today or if we would return to their times would be mostly at a lost with the speech heard. I have seen 2 young suburban white kids playing basketball in the park calling themselves "ma nigga", f**k is as common today in all social stratas as dang was yesteryear. Lenny Bruce was a genius and visionary who said, "repeat or misuse a word often enough and it loses or changes its meaning"

There are many other words that have been misused so much they have lost their actual definitions, e; g buffalo(there's never been buffalo roaming the Plains or any other area of this land, they're bison), camel, (what is commonly called a camel is really a dromedary, a camel's cousin because a camel has 2 humps). I learned how this happend in an advertising course I took in college. Indians, (the drunken sailor Columbus, Colón, Colombo-whatever, thought he had landed on the coast of India and not the Caribbean islands so he declared, "these folks must be Indians)

Shemoeley

[Pilsner Panther]

The founders of the USA, if they came to life today or if we would return to their times would be mostly at a lost with the speech heard. I have seen 2 young suburban white kids playing basketball in the park calling themselves "ma nigga", f**k is as common today in all social stratas as dang was yesteryear. Lenny Bruce was a genius and visionary who said, "repeat or misuse a word often enough and it loses or changes its meaning."

If the Founders came to life today, it would be something like "Night of the Living Dead." I, personally, would not like to be attacked by a zombie Franklin, Washington, or Jefferson.

There are many other words that have been misused so much they have lost their actual definitions, e; g buffalo(there's never been buffalo roaming the Plains or any other area of this land, they're bison), camel, (what is commonly called a camel is really a dromedary, a camel's cousin because a camel has 2 humps). I learned how this happend in an advertising course I took in college. Indians, (the drunken sailor Columbus, Colón, Colombo-whatever, thought he had landed on the coast of India and not the Caribbean islands so he declared, "these folks must be Indians)

What do you mean, no buffalo? What about Buffalo, New York? Or Buffalo Bill, Buffalo Bob Smith, the Buffalodians Dance Orchestra, and the Buffalo Nickel? Not to mention "Shuffle Off To Buffalo," which was a big hit in 1933. I once personally ate a buffalo burger (it was pretty tasty), so don't give me any guffalo about the buffalo. However, I've spent a fair amount of time in White Plains and I never saw one buffalo there, so there might be something to your argument.

Camels? Well, I don't care what you say, if it smells like a camel, it's a camel.

And please leave Peter Falk out of this, he had nothing to do with any of it.

http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/falkpeter/falkpeter.htm

As for Columbus, how do you know he was drunk? Were you there, to give him a breathalyzer test or a Colónoscopy? Columbus ate a humble sailor's diet of hardtack, fatback, carpet tacks, and sometimes the carpet. As captain, he did occasionally drink the same miserable (but 100-proof) grog as the enlisted men, which sometimes led him to holystone the poopdeck, hang some lubber from the highest yardarm, belay the mizzenmast, fo'castle the bilge, yell "Arrrh, Matey!," plunder the Spanish Main, and keelhaul the Bosun— at least until he started running out of Bosuns. Columbus was one of the bravest mariners that ever lived, especially considering that his compass came out of a Cracker Jack box and he'd only taken an advertising course in college. Did you know that Admiral Columbus, hopelessly lost, circled the intersection of 59th Street and Broadway for 40 years, like Moses lost in the desert? Why do you think that it's now known as "Columbus Circle?"

***

I've been watching a lot of Groucho Marx lately (the "You Bet Your Life" DVD's), and his influence is obviously rubbing off on me. Especially when I get handed a Chico-type straight man (who I hope will be a good sport about this roasting). But I wouldn't blame him if he didn't want to be "ma nigga'."