Publius1787
Gold Member
- Jan 11, 2011
- 6,211
- 676
Diversity Prompts Increased Isolation
So much for the melting pot. This is illegal immigration run amok.
News from The Associated Press
So much for the melting pot. This is illegal immigration run amok.
News from The Associated Press
Rising immigration hasn’t made Watsonville more diverse; it is a community heading toward racial isolation, a growing phenomenon in a state that offers one possible look at how the nation may change as non-Hispanic whites become a minority in the coming months.
Rios came into office after a landmark voting rights case 25 years ago deemed Watsonville’s at-large election system discriminatory and mandated district elections to end all-white political leadership. At the time, 50 percent of the residents were Hispanic.
Today, 82 percent are either immigrants, or descendants of immigrants, mostly from Mexico but also elsewhere in Latin America.
“Communities where Latinos live are becoming more and more Latino over time,” said Brown University sociologist John Logan. “And as more Latinos arrive, they’re still living in very separate neighborhoods.”
Watsonville, where 40 percent of the residents are foreign born, is in the early phase of the transformation. The community has a 23 percent unemployment rate, and poverty rates twice as high as the rest of California.
At the courthouse on the corner, interpreters are at work in all four courtrooms, helping judges and lawyers communicate with clients dealing with everything from divorce settlements to murder charges. At the public library, laughter, stories and music ring out from Bilingual Toddler Time.
Last edited: