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Maybe you're right, but the map I posted earlier in the thread shows that Catholicism is the predominant religion in the area.
What religion are the majority of non-Hispanic Whites? The ARDA Database appears to be down, but I'd be willing to bet there are more Southern Baptists in S. Texas than there are in S. Florida.
And that's important because, in all honesty, Whites are going to have an influence on both politics, business, language and culture that is not proportionate with their numbers.
That said, I think the answer here is clearly South Florida.
There's not that many whites in South Texas to begin with. Especially in the Rio Grande Valley which makes up the bulk of the South Texas population. Most of the cities and towns are at 90% Hispanic or more.
Both South Florida and South TX have some Southern features, but are so vastly different than other parts of their state. South Texas at least still has a strong ranching culture. Not necessarily a Southern tradition, as it is a Spanish influence, but things like Cowboy hats, horses, farms are still there.
Tejano culture in South TX is one of the most unique and over looked subcultures. Generations of Mexican Americans who transformed a culture from the Texas independence days. I had a personal friend who could trace his roots back to when Texas was still part of Mexico. I have met plenty of these people from South TX, and a few will have some pretty thick Texan accents.
I know accents are used as litmus test, and using the Pitbull example is a perfect one. He sounds like a lot of Latino youth who are now growing up in very close relationships with Southern blacks. Latinos in Houston, Atlanta, and Miami sound southern because the urban Southern accent is now becoming more and more normalized among 2nd and third generation urban Latinos. I have heard Latino Miamians and Houstonians. They dont sound too far apart.
I compare it to Latinos in New York City. Nuyoricans and Dominicans sound like black NYers. A Colombian from Corona Queens, or a Salvadoran from Uniondale, won't sound that much different.
Tejano culture is unique in that way. The younger generation of Latino youth from Houston could sometimes sound more like Pitbull, than their cousin from Brownsville. Depending where they grow up, inner city vs burb.
There's not that many whites in South Texas to begin with. Especially in the Rio Grande Valley which makes up the bulk of the South Texas population. Most of the cities and towns are at 90% Hispanic or more.
You could say the same of Blacks in South Florida. Blacks make up 21.0% of the Miami metro area. According to a document titled "South Texas Population Characteristics" (PDF), 25.2% of South Texas' total population is non-Hispanic White. So while Whites are less there than they are elsewhere, they still comprise a larger percentage of the population than Blacks do in all but a select few places.
And do you really think that 25.2% is less Southern in its political outlook, culture, language, etc. than that 21% in South Florida, which is largely composed of people not even born in this country? Also, would you say that 21% in South Florida enjoys more economic and political power than that 25.2% in South Texas?
It seems that the argument for South Florida being more Southern than South Texas turns almost entirely on its native born Black population. But that population in South Florida is obviously smaller and less influential than the White population in South Texas.
Most of that white population I bet is probably because of San Antonio and to a lesser extent Corpus Christi. Outside of these two cities, the rest of South Texas is heavily Hispanic that has very little in common with the rest of the state and especially the rest of the South.
As far as the Black population of South Florida, no I disagree with you. Black American population is still very large in South Florida and the influence is still notable as well. I went to school down there and they spoke with Southern accents and my cousins spoke with it as well. Pronouncing man as mane and hand as hang. Many of the Blacks in South Florida are multiple generations of Blacks that moved from Florida and South Carolina. The culture is far closer to Blacks in the rest of the South than it is anywhere else. Now they have assimilated with others from the Islands and I do admit that is not seen in other parts of the South. That is different from South Texas where you have many communities that are 95-100% Mexican communities and many of them being first generation Americans and they have not assimilated with whites from Texas let alone America as a whole.
I don't associate either with the South. I'd barely put East Texas as Southern. Can you get sweet tea and biscuits and gravy?
You probably can in East Texas however, the Sweet Tea is funny to me. I don't know about East Texas but growing up in Central Texas including Austin, if you order a Sweet Tea, you will get raspberry tea or unsweetened tea with a bunch of sugar already there as your disposal at the table. I've heard the same from natives in Dallas as well.
It's funny. Growing up in Texas, I heard countless times from Georgians, Alabamans, some from Tennessee and South Carolina that Texas is not the REAL South. The only states that accepted Texas as the South was Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arkansas lol. Funny thing is those same Louisianans didn't think that states like North Carolina and Virginia was Southern. I didn't either for VA until I actually came up here. Never thought about people saying Miami wasn't Southern until I came to city-data lol. Friend and family would probably say the same thing if they visited this site.
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