CHAPTER FivE • Civil RigHTs 105
Today, the United States has a below-replacement fertility rate of 1.9 children
per woman. Hispanic Americans, however, have a current fertility rate of 2.4. African
Americans have a fertility rate of 2.0. Non-Hispanic white Americans have a fertility rate
of 1.8. Figure 5–1 below shows the projected changes in U.S. ethnic distribution in future
years. These estimates could change if immigration rates continue to be lower than in the
past, as they have been since 2008.The Civil Rights of immigrants. The law recognizes that Latinos have been subjected
to many of the same forms of ill treatment as African Americans, so Latinos are usually
grouped with African Americans and Native Americans in laws and programs that seek to
protect minorities from discrimination or to address the results of past discrimination. Such
programs often cover Asian Americans as well.
Immigrants who are not yet citizens, however, possess fewer civil rights than any
other identifiable group in the United States. The rights of unauthorized immigrants (also
called illegal aliens or undocumented workers) are fewer still. As you learned in Chapter 4,
the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, reinforced the belief that the rights of noncit-
izens should be limited. Should the roughly 11 million unauthorized immigrants currently
in this country be granted a route to legal status and even citizenship? We take a look at
that question in the At Issue feature on the following page.The Agony of the American indian
Whether living on rural reservations or in urban neighborhoods, American Indians have
long experienced high rates of poverty. There is much history behind this problem. (In
recent years, a majority of American Indians have come to prefer this description—or even,
simply, Indian—to Native American. Still, both terms are in use.)2000 2010 2030 * 2050 *
White—55.5%
Black—12.6%
Asian—6.2%
Hispanic—23.0%
Other—2.8%White—46.3%
Black—12.6%
Asian—7.7%
Hispanic—30.3%
Other—3.1%White—63.7%
Black—12.2%
Asian—4.7%
Hispanic—16.3%
Other—3.0%White—69.4%
Black—12.4%
Asian—3.8%
Hispanic—12.6%
Other—1.8%2000 2010Figure 5.1
2030 * 2050 *FiguRE 5–1: Percentage Changes in u.s. Ethnic distribution
*Data for 2030 and 2050 are projections. Numbers may not sum to 100 percent due to rounding.
Hispanics may be of any race. The chart categories White, Black, Asian, and Other are limited to non-Hispanics.
Other consists of the following non-Hispanic groups: American Indian, Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian, Other Pacific Islander, and Two or
more races.Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census and authors’ calculations.Copyright 2014 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.