Hispanics find power in numbers
Bernard Weinstein, an economist with SMU's Cox School of Business and associate director of SMU's Maguire Energy Institute, talks about the growing influence of Hispanics in Texas.
By FRANK TREJO
Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
When the morning of April 9, 2006, dawned, with its clear blue skies and warm sunshine, it unveiled the reality of a dramatic demographic shift that had been building in Dallas and North Texas for a decade.
Thousands upon thousands of people, most of them Hispanic, came downtown by bus, DART train, automobile and foot to protest what they believed to be unjust immigration laws. The numbers astounded even the organizers. Slowly at first, then rapidly, the streets filled with people spilling onto side streets and eventually into the plaza in front of City Hall.
The exact numbers of the 2006 “mega march” are still in question — anywhere from 300,000 to 500,000 protesters. But there is no question that for the first time in the city’s history, most of Dallas’ Hispanic community roared in unison. And perhaps for the first time, in a tangible way, North Texas’ Hispanics showed how far they had come — and how far they could still go. . .
Bernard Weinstein, an economist at Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business, says migration to the state may have slowed since the recession of 2008, but Hispanic growth continues.
“In Dallas County, Anglos are already a minority, and in the not-too-distant future they will be in all of North Texas,” Weinstein says.
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