Colorado's Ethnicity History

Colorado's Ethnicity

Colorado along with many other wonderful places to live, have a smorgasbord of ethnicities. That phrase "build it and they will come" really has applied to Colorado over the years. People far and wide have all decided to call Colorado home, increasing the ethnicity pool to great numbers. This increase has not come without diversity; many people have not been welcomed to Colorado with open arms.

The largest ethnicity in Colorado by far is Latino and Hispanic residents of Colorado. In 2000 the population count of the Latino and Hispanic was raising over 700,000 (Colorado Ethnic Groups). The 1990's brought a great deal of tension due to the great number of illegal immigration coming from Mexico but there was also the traditional migration from another state. By 2003 the growth had gone up 100,000 from the previous count just three years earlier, to 833,000. In 2000 Denver was listed as the Hispanic Capital of Colorado. (Abbott, Leonard & Noel pg 429)

The legal immigration in Colorado scared many residents; they feared that minimum wage would drop from the willingness for them to take lower paying jobs. But there was the added benefit that they also would be adding to Colorado's economy by living in the state. At one time or another some residents of Colorado took a pone themselves to go after certain ethnic groups. The target of racial discrimination ranged from Italians and Chinese. (Abbott, Leonard & Noel pg 429)

Since then racial discrimination can be seen in many different aspects. More recently I believe that people find resentment towards the Muslims, due to the 911 attacks. Also more at the beginning of Colorado becoming a state the Native Americans faced many kinds of discrimination. Which I believe has and probably will always suffer the worse be cast off their own lands is pretty horrible. (Abbott, Leonard & Noel pg 429)

Abbott, Leonard, and Thomas J. Noel. Colorado A History Of The Centennial State. Boulder, Colorado: University Press of Colorado,