Latinos & African Americans Gain in the New America

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

I wrote in 1.2MM Flee New York: Good News for America's Latino Half that the movement of people and wealth from the Industrial North to the booming South as good news for America's Latino Southern half.

Of course, the Southern United States is really quite diverse.

I thought it might be interesting to also look at the distribution of African Americans nationally. Are they concentrated--and if so, where? Are they in the fading Industrial Region or in the expanding South?

You've seen the Latino population map to the right, but check out the African American population Map below. While African Americans are present in all sections of the country, they too are heavily concentrated in a region. In their case, they're heavily represented in the states of the Old South.

So, the Southern Region of the U.S., the part that is leading the nation in job and wealth creation, is both the Latino AND the African American half.

And while Latinos prosper from the booming economy of the South, African Americans have been benefiting as well.

Atlanta, the new capital of African American wealth and leadership, has attracted a growing and highly talented class of African American professionals and entrepreneurs. And smaller cities are also making their mark.

While rural poverty continues a strong presence in the South, the expanding business centers of places such as Birmingham, Little Rock, Richmond, Charlotte, Memphis, Raleigh, Mobile and Atlanta are reaching ever further into the countryside and providing new opportunities for growth and development.

The emerging New America is being built in the very regions which are the historic homes of the nation's Latino and African Americans: the Southwest and the Old South. These are also the regions that are producing many of New America's future leaders of Latino and African America heritage.

The Old Industrial America of the Northeast/Midwest simply pales in comparison.

Posted by USTaino