Happy Mexican Independence Day!

It's September 16: Today's the day Mexico celebrates its independence!

And we've talked a lot about the fast-growing Mexican and general Latino populations, but did you know that Latinos have lived in Washington state since the 1770's?

The below history comes to us from the Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs, via El Mundo newspaper.

In Washington State, the familiar names of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the San Juan Islands, and Rosario Strait are a legacy of Spanish influence in the state. But what is missing is the Latino (Latin American v. Spanish) imprint. The Spanish influence is a Latino legacy, more importantly a Mexican legacy that began in the 1770s.

Two Mexicans in particular contributed greatly to early knowledge of Washington state. José Mariano Moziño participated in the 1792 expedition, known as the Malaspian Expedition. He produced an ecological catalog of 200 species of plants, animals, and birds. He documented his research in Noticias de Nuka: An Account of Nootka Sound in 1792. Also a member of the Malaspian Expedition, Anastasio Echeverría was considered the best artist in Mexico at the time. Echeverría sketched one of the first detailed landscape profiles of the area.

From Mexican mule packers in the 1770’s to the farmers of today, the Latino influence in Washington state is not a new phenomenon, but a tangible aspect of the society. Yakima Valley, Pasco, Burien, or Mt. Vernon will notice an undeniable Latino influence. In the Yakima Valley alone, from Wapato to Prosser, Latinos make up the majority of the population. Yakima County as a whole has a population of 231,586, of which 38.6%, or more than 89,000 persons, are of Hispanic or Latino origin.


So...when you hear talk about how we "suddenly" have so many Hispanics in our state, you may want to explain that the migration to Washington actually started in the late 1700's. And when you hear another myth, that Hispanic immigration is the cause of the population explosion, you can explain that population growth is due more to U.S. births than to immigration--even before the recession.

Que tengas un bonito día.

Great Party Trick

Each year, the U.S. Census celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month by pulling together some great trivia on our dynamic Hispanic population in the US of A.

This is an amazing compilation of facts--some even a surprise to Hispanic marketers!

Among my favorites:

• The U.S. has the second-largest Hispanic population in the world, second only to Mexico.
• By 2050, Hispanics will constitute 30% of the nation's population.
  There are 48 U.S. counties that are majority-Hispanic.
• We have 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses.

See for yourself how significant our country's Latino population has become.

How the García Girls Got Their Surname

I just read an article about a CNN documentary on Latinos in the U.S. (click here for article), slated for broadcast in October.

The most interesting part of it, however, was the quote that García is the eighth most common surname in our country.

Amazing!

This reminds me about the facts that, a couple of years ago, salsa surpassed ketchup in U.S. sales, and tortillas surpassed bread.

Here are some statistics to chew on:

• By 2025, 30% of our national population will be Hispanic.
• Today, this cultural group represents $1 Trillion in buying power
• By 2013 it's expected to have $1.4 Trillion in buying power
• Between 1990-2008, Latinos experienced 494% growth in buying power, while growth in the non-Hispanic market was only 141%.

This cultural population is going to increasingly be the key to success for companies in many if not most categories.

Latino Children: A Majority Are U.S.-Born Offspring of Immigrants

The times, they are a-changin' ...

The Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, released a report showing that Hispanics now make up more than one-in-five of all children in the U.S. - up from 9% in 1980 -- and as their numbers have grown, their demographic profile has changed.

Note that we're seeing something similar right here in the Puget Sound region--for example, in the Seattle School District it has been estimated that one in five enrolled students is Hispanic. So, while the Seattle-area Hispanic population density is at 8%, school-age Latinos make up 20% of the population.

More than half of the nation's 16 million Hispanic children are the U.S.-born children of at least one foreign-born parent, typically someone who came to this country in the immigration wave from Mexico, Central America and South America that began around 1980.

In summary, what we're seeing is that the children of these immigrants are more likely to speak English, finish high school, and be documented U.S. Citizens than their parents--note that fewer than one-in-ten of all Hispanic children are unauthorized immigrants.

The report, "Latino Children: A Majority Are U.S.-Born Offspring of Immigrants," is available at the Pew Hispanic Center's website.