State's fast-growing Hispanic community seeks greater political voice

Published on Sun, May 01, 2011

Through two recessions, the number of Hispanics in South Carolina spiked more rapidly than anywhere else in the country in a boom that’s remaking sections of the Upstate and could soon put more Latinos into public life.

Business leaders say Hispanic small business owners now make up a key economic driver and that the growth is a likely prelude to more entering politics as the population finds its voice.

All told, the 2010 census counted nearly 236,000 Hispanics in the state, a 148 percent jump from 2000 that accounts for a quarter of the state’s total growth, though that’s partly due to a more rigorous count.

The number of Hispanic children in the state increased by 192 percent, an increase that also led the nation, according to census calculations by the Pew Hispanic Center.

Greenville County has the state’s largest Hispanic population, and it has increased by 156 percent since 2000 to 36,495 or 8 percent of the total population.

Longtime Greenville entrepreneur Ruben Montalvo believes the official census numbers are still “way, way under” the actual Hispanic population, which be believes is closer to the national average of 14 percent of the total Greenville population.

Perhaps 4 percent can vote, however, and when you add the communication challenge for many Hispanics and the national debate over immigration, he said it’s “naïve” to believe the population will be fully represented politically.

The demographic is still nowhere near the size and concentration to trigger minority voting districts under federal civil rights law, but the next likely step is more Hispanics moving into public leadership, said Dean Hybl, executive director of the regional collaborative nonprofit Ten at the Top.

It’s now the interim phase, said Wifredo Leon, publisher of Latino Newspaper, in which the population size has become substantial but hasn’t yet developed politically.

Within six or eight years, he said, large numbers of immigrant children born here as U.S. citizens will begin to vote.

State Rep. Dwight Loftis said the population jump hasn’t escaped his notice.

“I think it gets the attention of all the representatives,” said Loftis, whose district includes Hispanic populations in Berea.

In Nyliam Brignoni’s chiropractic office on Wade Hampton Boulevard, the need for advocacy is basic. They come for back adjustments, but many need unrelated help such as referrals for other care, then translators once they get there.

Part of the problem, Brignoni said, is that some local residents assume all Spanish-speaking Hispanics are here illegally. She said she’s seen some offices deliberately direct Latinos to the wrong place.

“And they’re the cash patients,” she said.

To be a legal resident but not a citizen is to pay taxes but not vote, to be present in the census but not in the Legislature.

Ironically, Leon said, it was likely Hispanic participation in the census that triggered South Carolina’s new congressional seat.

“There is no representation at all,” said Evelyn Lugo, who started the state Hispanic Chamber of Commerce from her home and who said the community has traditionally been slow to engage in politics.

Loftis said although he can observe some of the community’s needs, others can only come to his attention if someone tells him.

“Quite frankly, we do not hear a lot from the Hispanic (community), at least I don’t in District 19,” he said.

Lugo said that’s true in part because many Hispanics have typically been too busy running businesses to think about politics, and she’s aiming to change that.

Hybl, who came from Orlando where Hispanics have long been recognized as a business force, said the numbers locally are likely a surprise to some because the community tends to run small, less noticed operations.

He said a sometimes overlooked aspect of Hispanic business owners is that they tend to be well educated, entrepreneurial and involved in the broader community.

Brignoni is one of them, acting as a mother, chiropractor, translator, medical adviser and even nonprofit provider of care at Miracle Hill Ministries.

The Hispanic demographic, officially 5 percent of the overall Upstate, isn’t large enough to produce a Latino seat on a County Council, Hybl said, but a next step is engaging leaders in the community in ways that could lead to public office.

“It’s a matter of time,” said Leon, noting Latino leaders already in place in local civic boards, including the Rotary Club and United Way — but no one yet elected in Greenville.

Leon has been recruiting Hispanic pastors, reminding them of the crucial role black pastors played in the civil rights struggle. He takes some to public hearings and the Legislature to expose them to public business and tells them they can’t wait for a nomination — they must be active.

Many of the Hispanic churches are under the wing of American congregations, he said, offering a chance for additional voters to take up their cause.

“They come here as the outsiders,” Leon said, “but then they become the insiders.”

Even in major Hispanic areas such as Houston, however, when it comes to drawing voting districts, public officials face a dilemma: The overall Hispanic community can be large, but the number of voters is often a small minority.

Lugo said the local Hispanic community is still quite young compared to Western population centers, with the third and fourth local generations now in school.

Her son has taken an interest in politics, she said, and she took care to make sure he had options.

He now sits on the Greenville County Human Relations Commission, she said.

Montalvo, who served on the state Commission for Minority Affairs under Gov. Mark Sanford, created a TV show in 2004 out of what he describes as a desperate need to better connect local police, schools and hospitals with the Hispanic community.

The tragedy for Hispanics and the challenge for the region, he said, is a lack of higher education. He believes that comes before political engagement. Then again, he said, Hispanics in leadership could help change the issue.

Loftis said he’s paying attention to the needs common to his constituents.

“There are certain basic wants and desires of all of our citizens,” Loftis said. “When we start drawing lines of distinction, sometimes you create friction that is not helpful to the cohesiveness of a community and even a community that is changing.”

Even among illegal immigrants, many pay taxes. The Immigration Policy Center estimates that the total South Carolina taxes paid in 2010 by households headed by illegal immigrants was $43.7 million, including sales, property and income taxes.

Nationwide, the figure is $11.2 billion, the center estimates.

Published in the Greenville News | Read Article