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California is only known for one hispanic population, which is Mexican..... not very diverse.
On the whole, nowhere in East outside of NYC and Miami, are that much more diverse than CA in their Hispanic population. Even NYC and Miami themselves are primarily known for their PR(NYC) and Cuban(Miami) populations. I didn't even know there was a growing Mexican population in NYC until I moved out here.
Nobody's quantifying anything. It's a purely qualitative matter. The thread calls for people to give their opinions, and then when people give those opinions, people get their panties in a bunch. All I can do is state my opinion, and in my opinion, Puerto Rican communities tend to be more colorful and vibrant than Mexican communities, which are rather reserved in comparison. Besides, before we even engage in a discussion about "vibrancy," it might help to define what the word actually means.
Eh. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. If we have a bias (including myself), it's that many of the most popular things non-Latinos associate with Latin culture (merengue, salsa, reggaeton, bachata) have their origins in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. But from my perspective, PR communities are the most vibrant because they have the most flair. Just like West Indian communities have more flair than regular African American communities. There's a world of difference between African American Day in Harlem with Al Sharpton preaching about the pangs of discrimination and West Indian Day in Brooklyn which is a flat out party.
I know of the vibrant Caribbean communities, I'm Haitian. West Indian Day in BK is vibrant. But whatever....
I can agree with you somewhat about the differences between Mexican and Carribean hispanic culture. Theres something about Mexican culture that feels deep down "country" in a way that even rural america can be similar too.
If you don't believe me, look at the western wear shops in mexican neighborhoods even in chicago, where you can purchase cowboy hats and boots. American cowboy culture derived from the mexican vaquero. Mexico is largely vast tracts or isolated plateaus, deserts, and mountains with remote haciendas. Even though more urbanized today, that still has an influence on Mexican culture.
Carribean hispanic sphere was quite different. Small islands, port cities, agriculture was largely plantations not far from port cities, which brought in more ethnic variety, and mixing through the centuries. Sure you also had highland farms in the carribean, but theres much less that is remote and rural in the caribean.
However I disagree that west indian culture is more vibrant than african american culture. Without African American culture we have no popular music in America. African american culture may not have quite the loud celebrations of west indian culture such as Jamaican, but the music, and performing arts, creativity, dance, that came out of black america, can not be overstated.
That's more in-line with Northern Mexico though. The further South you go, the more tropical it gets, if I'm not mistaken.
yeah, dunno why that would surprise anyone. The bulk of Mexicans in Dallas and Houston came between the mid 90's and the present. (there was a major wave in the 80's too after that mexican depression coupled with the amnesty fiasco but not as big a wave as the present one).
San Antonio most definitely was NOT a historically hispanic town as people would like you to believe. Oh yes the roots are longer than anything in Houston or Dallas, but the Mexican population was rather small until the 1970's.
San Antonio was a white town, with white culture sprinkled with a little hispanic. I met an old mexican woman last year who was complaining about the new mexicans. She said she was in the 90's, she was born and raised in SA and she had resentment towards the new peeps of her kind.
She said the old ones were assimilated, they learned English, and went on with their everyday lives, and was indistinguishable from the rest of the population. SA actually had a large black population back in the day and was a major cotton producing area. It was as southern as Houston- with a large black community, many plantation houses, lots of white land owners. Anyway, the old woman was implying that LULAC and the Chicano movement gave them a voice but also made things worse for them. She said the mexicans in SA went largely unnoticed, but now people look at her as something foreign instead of an american like everyone else.
Her story may seem odd, but in SA especially I met a lot of people who remember the old days. The days when more Mexicans flew US flags instead of Mexican flags. Many of these are the 'send them back' crowd.
Anyway, SA is a city that has a long rich Spanish History. It had Latin style homes and buildings for a longer part of its history, it is very catholic, it has a spanish name, but don't be fooled. It may seem that it has been a Hispanic town forever, but that is just because the large hispanic population was just overlaid over the long hispanic foundation making it seem like it has always been that way.
Which like Miami, means that the "native black/white" population in those 2 cities(MIA/SA) were at one point just as much transplants, as the Latinos currently inhabiting these cities. HISTORICALLY speaking, the SA originals were Spaniards and Mexicans. it may have gone through a period of white migration(The Battle Of The Alamo, Post-Civil War era) but when it's all said and done, it was part of Mexico. In other words, what makes the so-called native blacks, and whites, more deserving of the land, than a 3rd, 4th, generation Mexican-American who can trace there roots back to the area? I thought the same of Miami, most of Miami's native black population didn't start inhabiting the city till the 30's 40's. There are Bahamian communities in Miami that go back further than the American Southern Blacks in that city.
Nobody's quantifying anything. It's a purely qualitative matter. The thread calls for people to give their opinions, and then when people give those opinions, people get their panties in a bunch. All I can do is state my opinion, and in my opinion, Puerto Rican communities tend to be more colorful and vibrant than Mexican communities, which are rather reserved in comparison. Besides, before we even engage in a discussion about "vibrancy," it might help to define what the word actually means.
I grew up in Boston with lots of Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, etc etc friends, classmates, and early girlfriends. I just fail to see a lack of "vibrancy" as the word is literally defined when compared with Mexicans.
If I go to the Mission in SF or to East LA - to say nothing of the numerous other "Mexican areas" around the CSA - I see many of the same hallmarks that I'd see in Puerto Rican or Cuban neighborhoods around the Northeast: lively music, restaurants and shops where locals meet and congregate to socialize as opposed to just coming to shop, people keeping an eye out for one anothers' kids, etc.
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Eh. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. If we have a bias (including myself), it's that many of the most popular things non-Latinos associate with Latin culture (merengue, salsa, reggaeton, bachata) have their origins in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.
Out here, we hear more rancheras and baladas... banda, mariachi, and norteno music is extremely popular across all age groups (I recall my surprise when I moved out here and some of my younger Chicano coworkers were enthusiastically translating the insanely badass lyrics to some mariachi band... I always thought they just sang about being happy or something). It's probably regional; I think most people in CA would associate the above types of music with Latinos versus reggaeton and bachata.
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But from my perspective, PR communities are the most vibrant because they have the most flair. Just like West Indian communities have more flair than regular African American communities. There's a world of difference between African American Day in Harlem with Al Sharpton preaching about the pangs of discrimination and West Indian Day in Brooklyn which is a flat out party.
That's definitely an "agree to disagree" thing on both fronts... I don't think that Puerto Ricans necessarily have any "flair" over Cubans or Mexicans, nor do I think that West Indians necessarily have any "flair" over African Americans. Plenty of very festive events happen all over the US in African Amercian communities that do not have Al Sharpton in attendance, nor do they have any stand-in harping on past injustices. I lived in a few African-American communities growing up despite my being white, and found most block parties and whatnot to basically just be people from the neighborhood getting together to enjoy life.
That's more in-line with Northern Mexico though. The further South you go, the more tropical it gets, if I'm not mistaken.
I cant speak for The Bay Area, but the Mexicans in DFW and Chicago tend to come from Central to North Mexico. Mexicans from South Mexico tend to favor Houston, but Houston doesnt have quite as much pull from the interior states (sans Nuevo Leon).
Out here, we hear more rancheras and baladas... banda, mariachi, and norteno music is extremely popular across all age groups (I recall my surprise when I moved out here and some of my younger Chicano coworkers were enthusiastically translating the insanely badass lyrics to some mariachi band... I always thought they just sang about being happy or something). It's probably regional; I think most people in CA would associate the above types of music with Latinos versus reggaeton and bachata.
I grew up in Santa Maria, CA (something like a 75% hispanic population, mostly Mexican but from all over in Mexico) and I always associated anything Latino with mariachi and norteno music.
Then as an adult I moved to Boston. Most of the latinos in Boston are not Mexican, so mariachi music and norteno music are rarely heard. Hearing reggaeton music did not seem to resonate with me as being Latino, so at first I assumed Boston just didn't have much of a latino population.
But don't get me started on the burrito situation in Boston.
I cant speak for The Bay Area, but the Mexicans in DFW and Chicago tend to come from Central to North Mexico. Mexicans from South Mexico tend to favor Houston, but Houston doesnt have quite as much pull from the interior states (sans Nuevo Leon).
Interesting. Do you know the exact states of Mexico that tend to go to DFW, Chicago, or Houston.
Interesting. Do you know the exact states of Mexico that tend to go to DFW, Chicago, or Houston.
I wrote a thesis on it in college. Im going based on what I remember researching. Things may have changed since 2004 so I cant say for sure, but thats the way it was. From what I researched at the time:
Mexicans in Houston came from: Veracruz, Yucatan, Quintana Roo, Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, Puebla, Chihuahua, Oaxaca, and Jailisco.
Mexicans in Dallas came from: San Luis Potosi, Durango, Augascalientes, Nuevo Leon, Zacatecas, Queretaro, Toluca, and Chihuahua.
Mexicans in Chicago were largely from Guanajuato, Durango, Zacatecas, Queretaro, and Jailisco (some Nuevo Leon too).
Mexicans in Phoenix were fairly homogenous in that they came almost entirely from Sonora, Chihuahua, Michoacan, and Baja.
LA has Mexicans from just about everywhere though the greatest concentrations are from Baja.
Again, that was based off of a paper I wrote in college years ago. Things may be different now, I havent looked it up. However, the point of the paper was that there seemed to be some reigional patern. Coastal Mexicans overwhelmingly prefered Houston and Los Angeles. Interior Mexicans (including Chihuahua) prefered Dallas and Chicago. Finally, desert Mexicans prefered Phoenix and Los Angeles.
I heard alot of Mexicans from the Mexican state of Michoacan favor Chicago.
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