AUSTIN, Texas — When walking down North Lamar Boulevard in the 78758 ZIP code, hundreds of minority-owned businesses line the blocks, from restaurants to supermarkets to auto repair shops. This is just a glimpse into the growing diversity highlighted by the 2020 Census.
Many businesses along this stretch of Lamar showcase the growth and resiliency of Hispanic- and Asian-owned businesses. Even labeling them that way comes up short, though. Within the Hispanic/Latino community exists dozens of home countries and even more languages and cultures.
According to the United Nations, nearly 50 countries make up the Asian continent. Within many Asian countries, people speak many languages. Countries sharing borders have vastly different cultures too.
"Culturally we are very, very diverse," Sumit DasGupta, the former president of Network of Asian American Organizations, said. "The person from Bangladesh is very different from its next-door neighbor, Myanmar. ... We need to break it down into more layers. OK, just saying Asian or Asian Pacific Islander isn't enough."
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DasGupta volunteered as part of a group to ensure the 2020 Census went smoothly for people of Asian descent across Austin. In short, Census numbers don't do the population justice.
"I wish the census count was more accurate. We undercounted," DasGupta said. "The tracts we missed were the ones in East Austin. Those are the poorest areas where there are refugees. There weren't enough smartphones, there weren't enough iPads, there weren't enough laptops. We could not launch our [Census 2020] ads."
As minority populations continue to grow, DasGupta added the inequity these groups face will become more apparent and severe. On the same side of that coin, the growing groups also means they have a stronger voice, according to DasGupta.
"We reached a critical mass where now we can take advantage of business opportunities, of educational opportunities, of the opportunities of living in a wonderful city," DasGupta said. "I must caution you that we don't want to look at the Asian population in an amorphous manner. ... There are hundreds of languages, official languages, thousands of dialects just in India alone."
According to India's Ministry of Home Affairs, there are 22 languages officially recognized. DasGupta's point still stands: with so many different people, languages and cultures, the "Asian population," according to the Census description, is too vague.
The Hispanic/Latino population has the same issue.
"We're not a monolith, so we have at least 25 subcultures of Latinos here in Austin," Paul Saldaña, a spokesperson for the Austin Latino Coalition, said. "Obviously, Mexican-Americans represent the largest population, but we have a large Cubano, Puerto Rican, South America, Central America [population]. Our community is very, very diverse in that regard."
Both DasGupta and Saldaña agree Census questions are too limiting. The head demographer for Texas agrees too.
"There is a question on are you Hispanic or not? And then a separate question about what your race is. And for the non-Hispanic Hispanic, it's a dichotomy. You can only say yes or no," Lloyd Potter said.
Potter believes this is one reason why the Census reports another increase in multi-racial responses. That may also lead to new Census questions in 2030 in regards to race and ethnicity.
"Remember that Latinos are not a race. We're considered an ethnicity," Saldaña said. "A lot of folks from the Latino community have an issue with the fact that they are actually categorized as white Americans and they have to check the little box below that says Latino or Hispanic. And so I think I think certainly that might be a conversation that make that might come up at Congress. That remains to be seen."
The Hispanic/Latino population makes up 32% of Austin's residents. The Asian population now makes up 9% of Austin, with the second-highest number of people moving to Austin in the past decade. As both populations continue to grow, so does the diversity within these groups.
The real, more-immediate impact, though, comes during elections. Both groups have an increased say at the ballot box than they did just 30 years ago in the Texas capital.
"People should be concerned with the quality-of-life issues and experiences that are facing the Latino community, because what faces and impacts us has an overall impact in the quality of life for all Austinites," Saldaña said.
"We are a larger voting bloc, one thing so politicians take note, of course, it's a two-way street," DasGupta said. "If you don't have anything to do with politics, ultimately the politicians, elected officials will lose interest: they don't vote, they don't participate, they don't contribute to campaigns. OK, so it's a double-edged sword. Size matters, but then the size has to feed back to the community as well."
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