California’s Quiet Revolution : Latinos and Asians are increasingly making their presence felt

Suddenly, it is happening. Los Angeles County has just elected its first Latino supervisor, and Santa Ana’s growing numbers of Latinos have an important place in the city’s economic life. Westminster was alive with the sounds of Vietnam during the Tet New Year’s celebration, and President Bush sent best wishes in a festival program. Fresno and the state’s farm towns and suburbs have experienced phenomenal growth rates in their Asian populations. Most Californians already are aware of the remarkable population changes going on around them. These shifts will profoundly influence life beyond this century. Figures from the 1990 census just released offer a portrait of California that confirms these changes. They also raise a host of questions that will be answered only as these new residents increasingly make their presence felt in the political, economic and cultural life of the state.

The state’s population of Latinos grew 69.2% and Asians and Pacific Islanders grew 127%. Santa Ana now has the highest percentage of Latinos of any major California city, and San Diego had a 129% growth in Asians in addition to its 76% growth in Latinos. And the Anglo population, while growing 8%, continued to represent an increasingly smaller percentage of the total state population.

The prospect of non-Latino whites becoming the new minority in the years ahead surely will affect the way political and economic power are exercised. Although the black population grew by 21.4% statewide, it dropped dramatically in Los Angeles and San Francisco for the first time. Los Angeles--where the mayor is black, three council seats have long been held by blacks and where there have been hopes for a new black congressional district--must reckon with new dynamics. The city’s Latino population grew by 62%, and its Asian population, 74%.

Of course, many of these new Californians are not now represented in corresponding numbers in city halls, on local boards and commissions, or among their community’s opinion leaders. But as they organize more, they are bound to be heard, and to affect the shape of the landscape. They face the same challenges as previous generations of immigrants, except today the playing field is a largely suburban environment instead of the old inner-city wards.

The presence of new ethnic groups in previously all-white enclaves must be met with vigorous efforts to promote understanding. That means everything from finding bilingual teachers to promoting racial and religious tolerance in the newest sprawling neighborhoods. Better minority representation on police departments must come, too.

The census offers a starting place. It’s a snapshot of the nation’s largest state in flux. Adapting, while keeping the promise of American life, is an opportunity and challenge.