Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Angeles, where more than 1 million African-Americans live. It is in the former
plantation regions of the old rural South that the proportion of black population
remains the highest with African-Americans making up over half of the population
of the Yazoo River basin along the Mississippi or in the “Black Belt” of Alabama,
two regions which are symbolic of the old Cotton Belt. Among metropolitan areas,
Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, are the two cultural capitals of
American blacks (see Figure 4.7).
While the most pessimistic statements made in the Kerner Report of 1968 on the
separation and hostilities between two societies - white and black - may now be
considered outdated, animosities and inequalities among the two communities still
persist today (see Chapters 8 and 9). The average per capita income of African-
Americans was still only 67% of the national average in 1999.
The success of Democrat Barack Obama, the “post-racial” presidential candidate
in 2008, who is of mixed race with an immigrant father from Kenya and a white
mother originally from Kansas, reflects the progress of the promotion of people of
color in American society and appears to realize the dream that Martin Luther King
proclaimed 45 years ago. President Obama is rather atypical, however, of the
African-American community, the territorial, demographic, and cultural isolation of
which remains visible. Today, multiculturalism is preferred to assimilation and
African-Americans are now encouraged to develop strong community identities.
Comparing the US to Brazil, one may note the low share of population of multiple
racial ancestry in the US (US 2% in 2005 vs. 43% in 2006 for Brazil).One relevant
issue in US society on the first decade of the 3rd millennium, might be the inability
of communities to “mix”. In our opinion, this fact would seem to be “cultural” in a
society of Protestant tradition after nearly four centuries of cohabitation. The fact is
that only 4% of black Americans acknowledge having ancestors of another “race”.
The “black issue” is still a current one, and the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) continues to be very active.
4.4. America and Mexico
There is a tendency today to draw a parallel between the Hispanic community
and the black community because of the generally lower social status of Hispanics
and the fact that they are another visible minority. This is, however, an
oversimplification since the situation of Hispanics differs from that of African-
Americans. The label “Hispanic” is not a racial one, but it refers to the geographical
origins of the population, as well as certain cultural features such as their native
language. Hispanics are recent immigrants from a variety of very different countries.
For a long time, there was no awareness of a Hispanic community, and the Cuban
