Statistics released by the U.S. Census Bureau find that whites are no longer California's majority race. The state, with a total population of 33 million, has seen large numbers of Asian and Hispanic immigrants for years, which accounts for the demographic shift, the Washington Post reports.

The California Department of Finance says it is the first time since 1860 that whites have not been the majority in the state.

California’s Latino population grew 35 percent -- to 10.5 million -- between 1990 and 1999. The population of Asians and Pacific Islanders grew 36 percent during the same time, while the African-American population -- which accounts for just 6.7 percent of the overall population in that state -- expanded from 2.1 million to 2.2 million, the Washington Post reports.

"The definition of being a Californian is going to get more interesting every year," Connie Rice, a Los Angeles-based civil rights lawyer and co-director of the Advancement Project think tank, told the Post. "We keep remaking ourselves in terms of our identities. We take the best and regenerate ourselves out of the mix. It's not assimilation or integration."

Observers say the changes will foster a new political landscape in California -- one that consists of different alliances rather than the traditional two-party dynamic. But first, minorities need to institute a campaign drive to register their populations to vote -- especially in Latino communities, where the number of citizens not registered to vote is soaring, the newspaper reports.

While the newspaper states that California usually "serves as a bellwether for the rest of the country, the place where trends, for better or worse, begin," this growth by minorities is mostly likely to happen in big cities and least likely to take place in rural areas and the nation's midland.

Many states, such as Colorado, Washington, Idaho and the much of the Midwest, continue to be far less diverse than the rest of the country.

"Melting pot regions will become increasingly young, multiethnic and culturally vibrant," William Frey, a demographer with the Milken Institute and the University of Michigan, told the Post. "Heartland regions will become older, more staid and less ethnically diverse."

the Northeast is one region that continues growing much like California. States growing along similar demographic lines include Texas and Florida, and to a lesser degree Washington, D.C., the Post reports.

Full text of the article is currently found at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
articles/A52278-2000Aug30.html