Talk:McAllen, Texas
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Racial makeup is wrong for this. It says 75% is white, and 80% are hispanic. The math is all wrong. I'm white, so according to this, my people are -5% of the population.
It's because wikipedia articles on population demographics in cities invariably use the official US census categories, and most hispanics are counted as "white" in the census. Some hispanics may also be counted as "black," however (think Sammy Sosa). So that accounts for the difference. 75% of residents are white (including both Anglos and Hispanics) and 80% are Hispanics (including "white hispanics" and "black hispanics"). I agree, it's rather misleading, and it's a big problem in wikipeda articles. If you are familiar with McAllen and the Valley, you know that the overwhelming majority of the population is Mexican, and can figure out what the demographic breakdown probably means But if you're not-- you could get the impression that there is a 3/4 majority of Anglos living along the border (!), or simply get confused since the numbers don't add up to 100% (given that the categories are like comparing "race" to "ethnicity", i.e., apples to oranges).
Thank you for clearing that up.
[edit] Just read the web page on McAllen.
And being from McAllen, born and raised, I feel that the short description of my town is accurate. Although I do agree with the previous person who left a comment on this web page about the racial makeup, the census bureau population counts are not accurate counting many American’s from Mexican descent as white is very misinforming. Ignoring that the page does undeniable explain this region explosive growth goes hand and hand with birth of NAFTA and the influnces of wealthy and upper middle class Mexican citizens who spend their pesos in the valley.
- The census bureau's figures are based on how people describe themselves. There are usually two questions on the census form, one being "What race? White, African American, Asian, Native American, Pacific Islander, mixed race or other?" and the other being "Are you Hispanic/Latino or not?" Most Hispanics/Latinos will answer "white" to the first question and "yes" to the second (although some will give other answers for the first question, especially "other"), while most Anglos will answer "white" to the first question and "no" to the second. I suspect that the vast majority of the 15.85% in McAllen who declared themselves to be of "other" races were Hispanics who felt uncomfortable calling themselves "white" even though other people with basically the same ethnic background did call themselves "white". User:Angr 15:53, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
Some of this article still reads too much like a tourist bureau advertisement, i.e., the "musical sounds of the Spanish language," etc. There is still too much POV. Another scrub to take out a few adjectives and POV phrases here and there is needed.
What % of the poplulation would you call white in the city--not hispanic?
there should be a picture of McAllen's skyline.76.211.213.85 03:38, 15 January 2007 (UTC)
