Posted on 03/20/2011 11:57:40 AM PDT by Libloather
Census: More Blacks in South Moving to Suburbs, GOP Regions to Become Democratic
By Paul Shepard on Mar 18th 2011 10:50AM
Politically speaking, America's Republican stronghold is the deep South, where vast suburbs surrounding cities like Atlanta, Dallas, Richmond and Charlotte are decidedly white and often politically conservative.
But population trends -- revealed in the last U.S. census -- show blacks and Latinos moving in to southern suburbs in high numbers, which threaten the notion of Republicans enjoying a safe harbor in southern states for much longer.
Census estimates show a 58 percent increase in the number of blacks who moved to the suburbs, compared to 41 percent for the rest of the country. This increase is up 52 percent from 2000.
Unless there is a large voting shift in black folks, who vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, the population shift could prove to be a bonanza for the Democratic party with an infusion of Democratic votes in traditionally Republican-leaning districts.
The news isn't much better for the Republican party when it comes to Hispanics, who also tend to vote more consistently for Democratic candidates.
Hispanics represented a larger portion of southern population gains than blacks did in 13 of the 16 southern states in the last 10 years, according to the census. Hispanics were a larger portion in just seven states from 1990 to 2000.
So as greater racial and ethnic integration come to America's South, greater numbers of black and brown faces in southern cities and suburbs could bring an end to a longtime GOP-voting advantage and shift the nation's political landscape.
Now, you are on to something! Truth hurts though. The American people can’t stand truth.
On a similar note, I remember back in the 70s when Sacramento was white and conservative. (Not to bash non-white Freepers, which is a sad possible side-effect of these topics. This is about liberty, responsibility and conservatism, not skin color, foods you like, or clothes you wear.)
Anyway, Sacramento used to be very white and very conservative. Sometime recently, the smarter poor people in the San Francisco/Oakland bay area, realized that it was a horrible place to raise your children and moved to the city of Sacramento and places like Elk Grove and Natomas.
At the same time, and I don’t think because of, there was a “white flight” of upper middle class Sacramentans out of the city proper and outlying areas, way out to El Dorado Hills, Folsom, Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln, & etc.
Sacramento proper is now liberal and sinking fast under that liberalism, with all the spending, budget problems, crime, gangs and decay associated with the spread of lower class liberalism.
Sad. When it came time for me to return to Sacramento after 12 years in San Francisco & Oakland working on the bay bridges, I just couldn’t do it, so I hopped over to the small cowtown of Yuba City. It is as conservative as Sacramento used to be.
I am writing this before reading the article before I lose my train of thought, so after I read it, maybe this is not on topic. I’ll see. Anyway, this seemed to be in the same vein, so I apologize for any high-jacking I caused in advance of reading the article...
OK, after reading the article I will just say this. A big part of my feeling that the American experiment in republican freedom is winding down, is the changing overall US demographics. We have imported a massive Hispanic underclass which, along with other immigrants, are bringing in their acceptance of socialism. I think this is our undoing and I think that undoing is inevitable.
America will be a non-white nation. This is inevitable because the birth rates among immigrants is much higher than native whites. You know, once upon a time I would have said “non-white immigrants” but I am given to believe that today, the terms are interchangeable. I mean, what percentage of immigrants is European white. I am guessing it is almost none. Maybe some from the former eastern block of countries.
And I would always call hispanics “white” but that doesn’t seem to be fully accurate anymore. Mexico is a very racist nation and the Spaniard whites are given privileges while the more Indian Mexicans are usually the poor people. So the flood of Mexican immigrants into the USA are generally the most Indian in composition, and the least Spaniard.
At least this is my impression. So I used to say Hispanics were whites, but now, I don’t think so. Also, when you speak in political terms, there is a distinction between Hispanic whites and non-Hispanic whites that is acting to Balkanize us politically.
Finally, this entire discussion makes me want to puke. I grew up American and embraced everyone of every color and background. I was generally colorblind. Teddy Kennedy got his immigration bill passed and intentionally de-whited the USA. Frankly, I didn’t notice or care given that I was color blind and only cared that we were moral and free and followed the constitution and the ideas of the Founders and stayed America and stayed us and strong.
But as we de-whited be also more liberalized. I can’t say the de-whiting caused the liberalizing, as the biggest push came from elitist whites. But I will say that the de-whiting provided a huge political new group to exploit by the elitist whites in their push for full blown socialism.
Then Bill Clinton came along and pushed race down my throat publicly on TV 24/7, and it has been impossible for me to not see issues of race everywhere all the time. I count the numbers of people on TV shows and commercials to show that there is one of every represented group, etc. I am no longer color-blind. Bill Clinton made me this way.
All discussion of this makes me sick to my stomach because I would rather go back to being color-blind and just see an ascendant America that is making its people more free, more prosperous, and less oppressed. But I don’t. And that makes me deeply unhappy.
I wish that were true but it is not. Poor people now get massive entitlements allowing them to move to the burbs. The liberals have been pushing this for decades, to desegregate the white suburbs. It is not true that the suburbs have only people who can afford to live there. There are many suburban people with Section 8 housing benefits, EBT cards, health vouchers, and other general assistance.
I live in a small conservative California town an hour north of Sacramento. I know plenty of middle class black engineers in the San Francisco bay area, in Sacramento, and here in Marysville. Not a SINGLE black engineer I know votes Republican. Not a single one. Even the ones that don't themselves embrace liberalism, still vote party line RAT and dislike Republicans.
That is tiny anecdotal evidence, but in my experience, the people you describe are still useless to us politically, because despite their education and economic status, they all still vote RAT. Maybe in Texas it is different, but one of the brightest, best, hardest working coworkers I ever had was a wonderful ex-Texan black engineer who was a RAT through and trough and had nothing but scorn for Republicans.
I would point this out. Just thinking that a black population increase in the ‘burbs’ relates to a potential Democratic bonanza...just isn’t logical. There are alot of blacks over the past decade who came out positive in the business sector....bought into the middle-class scheme of life...and they are very likely voters for Republican-related candidates.
I would also caution the Democrats not to think that a Latin-plus up now.....equals your same way of political thinking in a decade. You might actually see twenty percent of all Latinos owning property and businesses by 2025...and thinking very differently about supporting the Democrats.
I am little baffled by some on this thread who think middle class status = Republican voter. You don’t see that among Jews who voted 57% for Obama.
I don’t expect any difference from middle class blacks, Hispanics or Asians.
I like the hopefulness but it is misplaced.
White flight is not the answer. The blacks who move to the suburbs are typically gainfully employed with intact familes. (key word: TYPICALLY)
Back in the 50’s and 60’s, in our area when the black doctor, lawyer or businessman (the folks who could afford it) moved into a white neighborhood, for sale signs sprouted like weeds. Instead of waiting to see what kind of neighbors the newcomers would be, whites fled.
Investors jumped on the opportunity to deal with “motivated” sellers, and prices fell. That created more rental properties, occupied by folks with less of a stake in the neighborhood. The lower prices also allowed those on a lower socio-economic level to buy in, bringing more disparity.
The lesson: don’t run. Expect the same behavior of your new neighbors as you did of your old ones, and treat them the same as you did the old ones.
While factually correct, he shows a typical liberals disregard for things like logic and facts (or math). It would take ALL the blacks living outside the south to move BACK to the south to shift it out of its Republican (much less conservative mode. Yes we know Detroit and LA are sinking into barbarism, but still that kind of exodus is no where near in the cards.
He also discounts the moral and conservative streak of many blacks that are returning to the south. Did he ever think folks would want to ever leave the workers' paradise? WE have lived the big northern liberal dream and seen it converted into Nightmare that is Newark, Detroit, Philly, Chicago, Cleveland, Buffalo, East St Louis and I can go on and on...
This may not directly convert into republican voters but it does mean that it may not mean democrat resurgence either.
Now the local issue of Gwinnett is going to be very complicated. Yes, it is growing in diversity but that again does not mean it falls to the dems in a de facto sort of way. The local problem here is that for too long the Pubbies were comfortable. And just like the state party, they took their roots and conservative constituents for granted...I see one of two things happening here. Either the republicans get back to their roots and get their act together or you will see P.G. (Prince George's MD)county effect here just like in De Kalb. That means that WE can't sit around and wait for the party to wake up and do the right thing. If you live in Gwinnett you need to get involved...if not when it falls apart don't complain...
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