Race and Ethnicity in CA: a minority majority state

Native Americans• 1770-1870 CA native population fell by

90%, almost totally disposessed

• 1850-1863 “slavery” legalized for CA native Americans

• 1879 CA granted them the right to vote, although they were not given US citizenship until 1924

Native Americans Cont’d

• 1969 Alcatraz--native radicalism

• Today about 1% of CA is Native American, mostly urban, mostly from out-of-state

• Who is an Indian? What is a tribe?

Casinos

• 1980s Indians began running Casinos on reservations

• 2000 CA passed Proposition 1A enshrining right to establish casinos in CA constitution

• CA negotiates terms

• Today tribes take in over $5 billion annually--unequally among tribes

• tribes are biggest single political donors in CA

Hispanics

• 1849 Constitution officially bilingual, recognizing large percentage of Californios

• bilingualism dropped in Constitution of 1879, as CA continues to “Europeanize”

• 1960s Growing Mexican immigration

• 1980s Central American immigration

• Today about 1/3 CA, after 2010, larger percentage than whites

Hispanic political power

• socially conservative, fiscally liberal• traditionally politically weak• some not citizens, young, low registration

• 1986 IRCA--one time amnesty and path to citizenship• increase in citizenship

• 1994 Pete Wilson helps pass Prop 187--limiting services for illegals

• % of hispanic registered voters more than doubles since 1990• Hispanic erosion towards Republicans reverses• L.A. Mayor, Lt. Governor, Assembly Speaker, etc.

English Only--Prop 227

• In 1986 CA voters made English “official language”

• Between 1987 and 1997, number of CA students with limited English tripled

• Bilingual ed better?

• majority of Hispanic parents opposed bi-ed

• Prop 227 passed in 1998, bilingual ed largely disappeared

• .

African Americans

• Some black slaves prior to constitutional abolition in 1849

• Great migration during and after WWII

• Riots of 1965 and 1992

• Visibly represented in CA politics--although now less so

• stallwart Democrats

• a stable 7% of population

Asian Americans--the internment issue

• 1913 Alien Land Law

• 1943-45 Japanese internment

• Korematsu vindicated in 1982

• CA and US give reparations

Asian Americans

• 1965 Immigration Act• ended national quota system, allowed family sponsorship

• Cold War tensions and partnerships lead to immigration from Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc.

Asian Americans

• CA about 10% Asian/ PI• Economically various: Indian-Americans on

average wealthier than Caucasians, Laotians, Hmong, Khmer poorer.

• Politically: - growing in political strength--% reg voter doubled in 15 ys- Asians in CA mostly Dem, voted for Gore and Kerry, but often

more conservative than other minorities/neighboring whites- differences between nationalities/ethnicities

Whites (Euro-Americans)

• Aging

• Declining as a percentage of the population (46%)

• Still a majority of registered voters (67%), but declining

Mixed race

• 1948 CA first state to abandon ban on mixed race marriages

• 2000 Census the first to allow choosing multiple racial categories

• Only Hawaii & Alaska have higher %, CA nearly 5%, 2x nat’l avg, and growing

• by 3rd generation, most Asians and Latinos marry outside ethnicity

Segregation

• 1874 Ward v Flood

• CASC ruled that segregated schools do not violate the 14th Amendment--later cited in U.S. favoring “separate but equal” conditions

• Until 1920s segregation frequently paracticed in CA for Blacks, Asians, Mexicans

End of Legal Segregation

• 1946 CASC throws out segregated schools for Mexican students

• 1947 Governor Earl Warren signs law abolishing segregated schools

• 1954 USSC Chief Justice Earl Warren writes Brown v Board Ed--ending US legal segregation

CA desegregation post-Brown

• In CA, most segregation was not de jure but de facto--what to do?

• Especially in LA, forced busing led to white flight to suburbs and private schools

• 1979 Prop 1 passes--no mandatory busing for de facto segregation

Desegregation in SF

• SF 1983 Consent decree: no more than 45% of any race at any school

• 1999 Ct struck down decree

• today: “race neutral” diversity index

• resegregation: top schools White/Asian, bottom Hispanic/Black

Affirmative Action

• Beginning in 1960s- preferences for minorities and women for govt hiring,

contracts, and govt funded education

- voluntary preferences in private sector

• Bakke v Regents of UC (1978)- no quotas, but as a factor OK

• California’s Prop 209 (1996)- race-blind admissions, but not quite sweeping the country