January 22, 2008

Blacks outnumbered by Indians

Montana, nation's least-black state, confronts issues on MLK DayAs the Missoulian news staff gathered to plan coverage of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it bumped into an uncomfortable fact. Finding someone in Western Montana to represent the results of King's fight for civil rights felt like an exercise in tokenism.

Montana still struggles to bridge the gap between its white majority and American Indian communities. But today honors King, and 40 years after his death blacks remain rare here.

Montana is not the most white state. It is the least black. According to the latest U.S. Census population estimates, 0.43 percent of Montana's 944,632 residents are black. There are only 4,094 black people here, which is also numerically the smallest black community of any state in the nation.

By contrast, Montana's American Indian population is the fifth-largest by percentage. The census counted 60,725 American Indians, or 6.43 percent of the population. Just more than 90 percent of the rest of the state falls into the category "white alone."

3 comments:

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Relevance? Which statistics, put in one hand with $4.75, might get you a small latte at Starbuck's. Otherwise, quoting Montana's population numbers merely suggests attention deficit dis-- Oh, look! There's a bunny rabbit!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

Popular perception that American Indians are the smallest of the "major" minorities. Turnabout when blacks have to deal with being the smallest minority instead of Indians. How perceptions change when roles are reversed. Etc.

writerfella said...

Writerfellahere --
That might mean something, until one analyzes WHY there are more Vietnamese in the US of A than there are Native Americans...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'