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Racial–Ethnic Relations in the United States

Writing about race–ethnicity is like stepping onto a minefield: One never knows where to expect the next explosion. Even basic terms are controversial. The term African American, for example, is rejected by those who ask why this term doesn’t in- clude white immigrants from South Africa. Some people classified as African Amer- icans also reject this term because they identify themselves as blacks. Similarly, some Latinos prefer the term Hispanic American, but others reject it, saying that it ignores the Indian side of their heritage. Some would limit the term Chicanos—commonly used to refer to Americans from Mexico—to those who have a sense of ethnic op- pression and unity; they say that it does not apply to those who have assimilated.

No term that I use here, then, will satisfy everyone. Racial–ethnic identity is fluid, constantly changing, and all terms carry a risk as they take on politically charged mean- ings. Nevertheless, as part of everyday life, we classify ourselves and one another as belong- ing to distinct racial-ethnic groups. As Figures 9.4 and 9.5 show, on the basis of these

280 C h a p t e r 9 R A C E A N D E T H N I C I T Y

Americans of European Descent

199,491,000 65.6%

Americans of African, Asian, North, Central, and South American, and Pacific Island Descent 104,743,000 34%

Americans Who Claim Two or More Race–Ethnicities

12%0 8%4% 16% 20%

46,944,000 15.4%

39,059,000 12.8%

5,167,000 1.7%

13,549,000 4.5%

1,546,000 0.5%

3,083,000 1.0%

562,000 0.2%

50,272,000 16.5%German

36,278,000 11.9%Irish a

28,630,000 9.4%English/British

17,749,000 5.8%Italian

11,526,000 3.8%French b

9,887,000 3.25%

Scottish c 9,365,000 3.1%

Polish

4,929,000 1.6%Dutch

4,643,000 1.5%Norwegian

4,390,000 1.4%Swedish

3,130,000 1.0%Russian

1,980,000 0.6%Welsh

1,539,000 0.5%Hungarian

1,459,000 0.5%Danish

1,914,000 0.5%Czech

1,419,000 0.5%Portuguese

1,351,000 0.4%Greek

997,000 0.3%Swiss

839,300 0.2%Others

Latino d

Asian American e

African American

Pacific Islander g

Native American f

Arab

FIGURE 9.5 U.S. Racial–Ethnic Groups Notes: This figure, which follows convention and lists Latinos as a separate category, brings into focus the problem of counting “racial–ethnic” groups. Because Latinos can be of any racial–ethnic group, I have reduced the total of the groups with which they self- identify by the number of Latinos who identify with those groups. aInterestingly, this total is six times higher than all the Irish who live in Ireland. bIncludes French Canadian. cIncludes “Scottish-Irish.” dMost Latinos trace at least part of their ancestry to Europe. eIn descending order, the largest groups of Asian Americans are from China, the Philippines, India, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. See Figure 9.10. Also includes those who identify themselves as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. fIncludes Native Alaskans gIncludes Native Hawaiians

USA–the land of diversity

Whites 66%

Latinos 15%

Asian Americans 4.5%

African Americans 12%

Native Americans 1%

Claim two or more races 1.5%

Source: By the author. See Figure 9.5.

FIGURE 9.4 Race–Ethnicity of the U.S. Population

Source: By the author. Based on Statistical Abstract of the United States 22010:Table 10; 2011:Table 52.