Minorities may soon become majority in Nevada

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005 | 10:53 a.m.

Clark County's minorities now make up nearly half of the total population, while numbering four of 10 people statewide, according to Census Bureau figures released today.

Together, Hispanics, blacks, Asians, American Indians and Hawaiians make up 44.1 percent of the county's population, the estimates indicate, based on vital and tax statistics.

Only four years ago, Census 2000 figures showed that minorities made up 39.3 percent of the county's population.

State Demographer Jeff Hardcastle said the trend leads him to project that the county may reach what is known as a "majority minority" status by 2020, meaning more that half of the population would be made up of those groups.

"Obviously, what's facilitating (the trend) is job creation in the service sector and construction industry," he said.

"As long as this continues to hold, the trend will continue."

Debra Nelson, vice president of corporate diversity and community affairs for MGM Mirage, said she wasn't surprised by the figures, which "reflect what we've been doing for the last 10 years in the shifting demographics nationwide."

Nelson said her corporation, with 70,000 employees, is the second-largest employer statewide -- and more than half are minorities.

So the figures released today "have direct ramifications for our employee population," she said, predicting that MGM Mirage's "work force is likely to become more diverse."

Both major political parties saw the figures as an indication of who they will be trying to reach for support in the coming years.

John Hambrick, chairman of the Clark County Republican Party, said, "Obviously, the (Republican) party is trying to reach out to all minorities. "It's a very large tent, and we're trying to get everyone involved."

And though Hambrick admitted that minorities have traditionally been supporters of the Democratic Party, he pointed to the recent "fragmenting" of the AFL-CIO as an indication that voters may be willing to "look at individual candidates and races and see what best serves them."

Kirsten Searer, spokeswoman for the state Democratic Party, said the figures were "great news for Democrats, who stand for the issues that matter to minorities -- like safe neighborhoods, education and health care."

Andres Ramirez, a Democratic activist who lost in his bid to become mayor of North Las Vegas in June with 41 percent of the vote, said the large minority populations in Clark County will likely have specific cultural and social impacts before they achieve predictable political results.

"Look at Los Angeles -- how long has the Hispanic population been huge there and it was over 100 years since it had an Hispanic mayor. The political impact is hard to deduce," he said.

Antonio Villaraigosa was elected mayor of Los Angeles in May, becoming the first Hispanic mayor of the city since 1872. Nearly half of the city's residents are of Hispanic origin.

Ramirez said the success of programs such as mariachi bands in the Clark County School District show how the Las Vegas Valley's largest minority population -- Hispanics are 25 percent of Clark County's total population, according to the census figures -- has made its mark in Southern Nevada.

At the same time, he said, such changes will require tolerance on the part of the longer-standing population locally.

"As Clark County continues attracting communities that once were smaller, the rest of the population has to be more tolerant," he said.

In any case, the minority populations are helping fuel the economic success that makes the valley top all kinds of growth charts, Ramirez added.

"It's good news."