Hispanics rival blacks as largest minority
By Genaro C. Armas
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The census
finding that Hispanics now rival
blacks as the nation’s leading mi
nority group offers blacks a poten
tial alliance with a powerful part
ner on issues such as fair housing
and racial profiling.
Both sides agree that on the na
tional level, the lines of communi
cation between advocacy groups
will grow stronger in the future. Ac
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HOMEY HILL FARMS
tivists point to the neighborhoods
and towns where the Hispanic pop
ulation is booming as the area
where the most work must come.
The census showed there were
35.3 million Hispanics in 2000 and
between 33.9 million and 35.4 mil
lion non-Hispanic blacks.
Black leaders say they must
strengthen bonds with their Latino
counterparts — and vice versa — to
ensure a united front on their
shared concerns. Combined, they
now make up roughly a quarter of
the country’s 281 million people.
“For all of us, we can now focus
more sharply on the analysis of the
problems that we share, so we can
craft a much more sharply focused
solution,” said Hilary Shelton, di
rector of the Washington bureau of
the National Association for the
Ad vancement of Colored People.
“We have some cultural and
racial differences ... but even the
subtle difference between these two
groups need to be crafted together,”
Shelton said.
The Hispanic population caught
up with non-Hispanic blacks faster
than Census Bureau experts had
projected. One forecast predicted
that would not happen until at least
July 2002.
Blacks still have more political
clout nationally, though there are
growing pockets of Hispanic
strength, particularly in Texas and
California, said Eric Rodriguez, direc
tor of the economic mobility project
for the National Council of La Raza, a
Latino advocacy organization.
The greatest challenge for a com
bined front may come at the local
level.
Teacher Barbara Brady did not
need to look at census figures to de
tect the changes in the once mostly
black neighborhood in Washington
where she raised her eight children.
Over time, some black families
moved to the suburbs and were re
placed by recently arrived Hispanic
immigrants and a few white families.
But that growing diversity does
not translate into a decline in segre
gation, Brady said as she watched
her grandson and some of his class
mates play on the National Mall.
“Even with that Hispanic growth,
it’s still white families here, black
families here, Hispanic families
there. It’s been that way for years and
it’s never going to change,” she said.
Overall, the country’s Hispanic
population jumped 58 percent the
past decade, while the non-Hispan
ic black population increased be
tween 16 percent and 21 percent.
Exact comparisons by race be
tween 1990 and 2000 is impossible
because the 2000 coimt was the first
to allow people to identify them
selves as belonging to more than one
race. This change increased the
number of race categories available
from five to 63 this year.
Additionally, the federal govern
ment considers “Hispanic” an eth
nicity rather than a race; that means
people of Hispanic ethnicity can be
of any race.
Both groups are still mainly con
centrated in urban areas, while the
most explosive growth in the Lati
no population occurred across the
South and West.
During the 1990s, some upper
and middle-class black families
took advantage of the strong econo
my and fair housing regulations to
move to suburbs that were once the
province primarily of whites, said
Roderick Harrison, an analyst with
the Joint Center for Political and
Economic Studies.
Governor’s proposal places Medicaid at risk
SALEM, Ore. — Gov. John
Kitzhaber’s proposal to reduce
Medicaid reimbursements to state
financed assisted-living projects
would force some residents into
nursing homes and cause wide
spread defaults by borrowers, ac
cording to consultants hired by the
state.
| Facing a budget shortfall for
I 2001-03, Kitzhaber has proposed
I cutting programs across state gov
! ernment, including a $6,1 million
! reduction in Medicaid payments to
i assisted-living centers.
Assisted-living operators would
see monthly payments fall from an
average of $1,500 to $900. At lower
rates, care centers couldn’t cover
the cost of services for Medicaid
residents, the consultants discov
ered.
Oregon Housing and Communi
ty Services, which made. 43 loans
totaling $98 million to operators,
' estimated that 27 of them could be
at risk if rates are cut.
If the study is correct, Medicaid
residents would be forced to move
to nursing homes or foster care
homes, and there isn’t sufficient de
mand to fill the beds they would
vacate.
The study concluded that the
higher cost of nursing-home care
and the expense of dealing with
foreclosed real estate would cost
more than the $6.1 million
Kitzhaber hopes to save.
“I’m aware of the issue, and I’m
not willing to step in at this point,’’
Kitzhaber said. “In the end, we may
have to put in more money.”
Republicans and long-term
providers have been critical of
Kitzhaber’s plan.
If the cuts are made, “you will
see financial catastrophe,’’ said Jim
Carlson, a lobbyist for long-term
care providers. “Any significant
change in their revenue stream is
going to put them in a negative cash
flow situation.”
House Speaker Mark Simmons,
R-Elgin, said lawmakers would re
store the money, but he hasn’t said
where the money would come
from.
The Associated Press
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The Oregon Humanities Center
presents
The Fourteenth Annual
Colin Ruagh Thomas O’Fallon Memorial Lecture
in Law and American Culture
Frank I. Michelman
Robert Walmsley University Professor
Harvard Law School
Machiavelli
in Robes?
The Court in
the Election
011383
Monday, April9,2001
7:30 p.m. 175 Knight Law Center
Frank Michelman, Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard
University, is the author of the recently published Brennan and
Democracy (1999). He clerked for former U.S. Supreme Court Justice
William J. Brennan, Jr. from 1961 to 1962. Michelman has published
in the Fields of constitutional law and theory, property law, local
government law, and jurisprudence. His Eugene lecture will examine
the role of the Supreme Court in the recent Presidential election.
Lecture is free and open to the public. Reception will follow. For more information or
disability accommodations, call (541) 346-3934.
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