Race and Ethnicity in CA: a
minority majority state
Native Americans
• 1770-1870 CA native population fell by
90%, almost totally disposessed
• 1850-1863 “slavery” legalized for CA
native Americans
• 1879 CA granted them the right to vote,
although they were not given US citizenship
until 1924
Native Americans Cont’d
• 1969 Alcatraz--native radicalism
• Today about 1% of CA is Native American,
mostly urban, mostly from out-of-state
• Who is an Indian? What is a tribe?
Casinos
• 1980s Indians began running Casinos on
reservations
• 2000 CA passed Proposition 1A enshrining
right to establish casinos in CA constitution
• CA negotiates terms
• Today tribes take in over $5 billion
annually--unequally among tribes
• tribes are biggest single political donors in
CA
Hispanics
• 1849 Constitution officially bilingual,
recognizing large percentage of Californios
• bilingualism dropped in Constitution of
1879, as CA continues to “Europeanize”
• 1960s Growing Mexican immigration
• 1980s Central American immigration
• Today about 1/3 CA, after 2010, larger
percentage than whites
Hispanic political power
• socially conservative, fiscally liberal
• traditionally politically weak
• some not citizens, young, low registration
• 1986 IRCA--one time amnesty and path to
citizenship
• increase in citizenship
• 1994 Pete Wilson helps pass Prop 187-limiting services for illegals
• % of hispanic registered voters more than doubles since 1990
• Hispanic erosion towards Republicans reverses
• L.A. Mayor, Lt. Governor, Assembly Speaker, etc.
English Only--Prop 227
• In 1986 CA voters made English “official
language”
• Between 1987 and 1997, number of CA
students with limited English tripled
• Bilingual ed better?
• majority of Hispanic parents opposed bi-ed
• Prop 227 passed in 1998, bilingual ed
largely disappeared
• .
African Americans
• Some black slaves prior to constitutional
abolition in 1849
• Great migration during and after WWII
• Riots of 1965 and 1992
• Visibly represented in CA politics--although
now less so
• stallwart Democrats
• a stable 7% of population
Asian Americans--the internment
issue
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1913 Alien Land Law
1943-45 Japanese internment
Korematsu vindicated in 1982
CA and US give reparations
Asian Americans
• 1965 Immigration Act
• ended national quota system, allowed family sponsorship
• Cold War tensions and partnerships lead to
immigration from Korea, Vietnam,
Cambodia, etc.
Asian Americans
• CA about 10% Asian/ PI
• Economically various: Indian-Americans
on average wealthier than Caucasians,
Laotians, Hmong, Khmer poorer.
• Politically:
- growing in political strength--% reg voter doubled in 15 ys
- Asians in CA mostly Dem, voted for Gore and Kerry, but
often more conservative than other minorities/neighboring
whites
- differences between nationalities/ethnicities
Whites (Euro-Americans)
• Aging
• Declining as a percentage of the population
(46%)
• Still a majority of registered voters (67%),
but declining
Mixed race
• 1948 CA first state to abandon ban on
mixed race marriages
• 2000 Census the first to allow choosing
multiple racial categories
• Only Hawaii & Alaska have higher %, CA
nearly 5%, 2x nat’l avg, and growing
• by 3rd generation, most Asians and Latinos
marry outside ethnicity
Segregation
• 1874 Ward v Flood
• CASC ruled that segregated schools do not
violate the 14th Amendment--later cited in
U.S. favoring “separate but equal”
conditions
• Until 1920s segregation frequently
paracticed in CA for Blacks, Asians,
Mexicans
End of Legal Segregation
• 1946 CASC throws out segregated schools
for Mexican students
• 1947 Governor Earl Warren signs law
abolishing segregated schools
• 1954 USSC Chief Justice Earl Warren
writes Brown v Board Ed--ending US legal
segregation
CA desegregation post-Brown
• In CA, most segregation was not de jure but
de facto--what to do?
• Especially in LA, forced busing led to white
flight to suburbs and private schools
• 1979 Prop 1 passes--no mandatory busing
for de facto segregation
Desegregation in SF
• SF 1983 Consent decree: no more than 45%
of any race at any school
• 1999 Ct struck down decree
• today: “race neutral” diversity index
• resegregation: top schools White/Asian,
bottom Hispanic/Black
Affirmative Action
• Beginning in 1960s
- preferences for minorities and women for govt hiring,
contracts, and govt funded education
- voluntary preferences in private sector
• Bakke v Regents of UC (1978)
- no quotas, but as a factor OK
• California’s Prop 209 (1996)
- race-blind admissions, but not quite sweeping the country