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On the Throes of Growth Associate Professor of Sociology, IUPUI Research Affiliate, JSRI IUPUI Like most states in the nation's heartland, Indiana has hosted relatively few residents of Hispanic or Latino origin in the last few decades (Aponte and Siles, 1994). However, there are indications that this situation is changing rapidly, as we relate below. Nevertheless, the number of Latino residents in the state fell just short of 100,000 persons at the time of the last census. Thus, only three states (Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio) of the 12 in the Midwest region held more Latinos in 1990. This report provides a preliminary assessment of the group in Indiana, particularly as they compare with other groups in the state and with other Latinos in the region and nation. It is based primarily on census publications, but includes findings from other recent work along with information gleaned from numerous interviews and observations currently underway for these purposes. Among the key findings are several very interesting items. First, Latinos in Indiana are clearly living under better economic conditions, on average, than Latinos elsewhere. This is evident from comparisons on numerous indicators of well being, such as poverty rates or median family income. Ironically, this stands in sharp contrast to the relative positioning of the state's Whites. Here, Whites appear to live poorly compared to other states. Alternatively, Blacks in Indiana live as poorly as in other parts of the country. This is likely to stem from patterns of migration - upwardly mobile and educated Whites probably leave the state in greater numbers than they arrive, while the relatively slow inmigration of Latinos has been selective of the slightly better off. Blacks, on the other hand, probably do not move in or out in a systematic way to raise or lower their indicators. Still, as is true almost everywhere else in the nation, Whites in Indiana are the most economically stable group in the state, Blacks fare the worst, and Latinos fare in between the two. While Latino population growth in Indiana has been sluggish, at least up to the present decade, the state's overall growth has been slower still. Indeed, Hispanics added more people to the state's population over the 1980-1990 period than did Whites, despite the fact that the latter group began the decade well over 50 times larger than the former. However, Indiana remains a predominately White state by a substantial margin, with nearly nine out of ten residents identified by the census in 1990 as non-Hispanic White. In this regard, Indiana is "Whiter" than the Midwest as a whole (86%), while the region is "Whiter" than the nation as a whole (76%). Thus, while the "Browning of America" phenomenon identified in the early 1990's has been slow to reach the Midwest, it has been slower still to reach Indiana, although indications are it is coming here, too. Latino settlement patterns in Indiana, like elsewhere, tend toward concentrations in specific areas which do not always correspond to patterns among the population at large. Thus, while Lake County holds the largest number of Latinos in the state by far, that county is only the second largest in overall population. Marion County, which includes the city of Indianapolis, is the most populous in the state and hosts some 68% more people than does Lake County. By contrast, Lake hosts over five times as many Latinos as does Marion. Indeed, the top 10 counties in Latino population in Indiana account for nearly three-quarters of the group, but less than half of the state's total population. Further reflecting Latino patterns elsewhere, Latinos in Indiana are predominately Mexican in origin, with Puerto Ricans constituting a distant second place among the remaining nationality groups. Cubans are the third most numerous such group, but their numbers actually declined over the 1980's. Their decline in numbers is very likely to stem, in part, from the significant attraction South Florida (especially Miami) poses to Cubans throughout the nation. Many, if not most, Cuban immigrants initially settled in areas designated by government relief agencies, rather than of their own choosing, and many have come to exercise their preference for settlement in or near the great Cuban enclave in Miami, widely known as "Little Havana." The major Hispanic origin groups in Indiana, as well as the state's Latinos as a whole, are a relatively youthful group. Both Blacks and Whites show higher median ages than Hispanics in the state, as is the case at the national level. No one factor explains this, but migration patterns are almost certainly one important reason for it. Migration tends to be selective of young adults and families, and Latinos in the U.S. are disproportionately immigrants, while those in Indiana are disproportionately inmigrants from outside the state, some even from abroad. However, the proportion of the state's Latinos that are foreign born is significantly smaller than that for the nation at large. Another factor that contributes to the group's relative youthfulness is their higher than average fertility, as subsequently shown. An additional item of great significance concerns intermarriage. Research cited here (Gannon et al., 1996) indicates that the state's Latinos intermarry with non-Latinos at a remarkably high rate, especially outside of the Gary (Lake County) area. However, the suggested scenario is actually consistent with research efforts on Hispanic intermarriage elsewhere: it is more likely to occur among higher status Latinos and Latinos outside of major Latino concentrations (Aponte, 1999b). Not only are Indiana Latinos generally better off than those elsewhere but, outside of the Gary area, Latino concentrations are modest and the general pattern of settlement is a diffuse one. The final substantive topic of note concerns current trends in Latino growth in the state. Unfortunately, there is little hard information on this issue. Yet, there are clear indications that growth has accelerated as a result of inmigration. Two poles of recent growth are Indianapolis and the nearby town of Frankfort. In the latter case, there is a meatpacking plant which appears to be drawing large numbers of Latino workers, as has occurred in numerous similar rural towns throughout other midwestern states in the very recent past, especially Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kansas (Aponte and Siles, 1997; Gouveia and Stull, 1997). Frankfort, which held few Latinos when the 1990 census was taken, is now reputed to be 20-40% Hispanic. In the case of Indianapolis, recent Latino growth is less clearly the result of a particular industry or other specific source of attraction. Yet, anecdotal information and even the most casual observations make clear the obvious substantial growth. Caseloads for ESL staff (English as a Second Language), for example, have mushroomed just in the last few years. Further, at least one recently launched storefront clinic in the inner city, to the organizers' steep surprise, now serves a clientele that is perhaps half Hispanic! The subsequent version of this report will hopefully shed more light on these developments as ongoing efforts uncover them. In closing this section, a number of acknowledgments are in
order. First, the reader is alerted to some of the very worthy
work on Latinos in Indiana that preceded and facilitated the
present work. These include the excellent edited collection in
Lane and Escobar (1987), in which several articles give an in-depth
history of Indiana Latinos in the northwest (Gary) area. Also,
a recent brief, but excellent, work on the history of Latinos
in the Indianapolis area has been produced by Guthrie and his
colleagues (1995). Finally, and most recently, the likewise excellent
and important report by Gannon et al. (1996), upon which we draw
here, is acknowledged. The latter provides an additional portrait
of the state's Latinos, much like that attempted here, though
far more extensive. However, the dearth of information on the
group is so extensive that the two reports provide useful and
important information with only minimal overlap between them.
Finally, we note that time constraints precluded any descriptive
analyses of the labor force and occupational status of the state's
Hispanics. These will be reported on in subsequent work on this
topic by the author. Hardcopy Price: $0.00
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