Just caught this on iconoculture.com regarding the demographic changes in Miami. As someone that has only been there on vacation, the Cuban and Latino culture was less obvious, mostly because we were in South Beach with tourists from around the world. The rest of what I know is just what I read about anti-Castro folks and refugees…so this little piece of information about English speakers leaving seems interesting. I was reading a NYT travel piece not long ago about the Latino Quarter of Chicago, which sounds like a fantastic place, but perhaps that was the writer’s intention (travel=puff, most of the time). At least for a displaced Californian, anything that sounds remotely authentic Latino food will engender some kind of Pavlovian response. I feel my gastric juices moving already.

OBSERVATION
As Miami becomes a one-language city, non-Spanish speakers leave

WHAT’S HAPPENING
Throughout Miami, Spanish has replaced English as the dominant language in everyday business and personal life. A downside: English speakers are leaving the area.
Español is heard in upscale malls, corner stores, banks and supermarkets, as well as in hospitals, post offices and health clubs; Spanish is needed even to ask directions (Iconoculture observation 6.2.08). Spanish-language billboards are everywhere. Almost all of Miami’s top-rated TV and radio stations broadcast in Spanish.
In 2006, the Census Bureau estimated that the number of non-Hispanic whites in Miami-Dade County was only 18.5%, and in 2015 it is forecast to be 14% (AP 5.29.08).
WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS
Businesses in Latino areas must have bilingual employees, marketing campaigns and signage to make English-only customers feel welcome.
In Latino-dominated regions, some people who don’t speak Spanish and can’t find work move to other cities or states.
In places like Miami, diversity takes on a different meaning, with differences rooted in Latino nationality, acculturation levels and generation.

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Saw this on vip.bokee.com–it says that unmarried women in Guangdong are not allowed to receive artificial insemination because the right to be a mother is tied to wedlock. Another factoid worth noting: in the ten years that they’ve been doing reproductive planning Guangdong province has “saved itself” an estimated 40 million people. That’s pretty darn amazing if you think about it, and regardless of whether or not you agree with the politics or ethics behind it. The numbers are just impressive, in the way that numbers from China are always kinda impressive or astounding.

Technorati Tags: reproduction, parents, parenthood, china, one child, chinese, guangdong, abortion, birth, death, population, marriage, women, insemination

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