America’s and Quincy’s Face is Changing
The face of America is changing each and every year with additional foreigners residing in the United States. I was watching a story about the upcoming election and the ethnic breakdowns of citizens in the country and how the politicians are trying to attract them for votes. Once the story ended I turned off the TV and headed to the grocery store. I was thinking about how the face of Quincy has changed as well over the years. The story was still vivid in my mind as I was walking through the store and I began to search out how many different ethnic groups of people were actually shopping in the store with me. As I made my way through the isles, I passed by a person of Asian decent, a few black people, a person who appeared to be Mexican and a couple of people who dressed as though they were from the Middle East. Now that was in a grocery store in Quincy, Illinois. So the diversity of ethnic groups appears to be shifting even locally just from my very unscientific survey.
A recent Time Magazine report on the percentage of foreign born residents in each state in 2010 shows that 13.7% of the population in Illinois is foreign born. 4.6% of Iowa's population is foreign born and 3.9% of Missouri's population is foreign born. The state with the highest percentage is California at 27.2% followed by new York at 22.2 %. The state with the lowest percentage is West Virginia at 1.2% followed by Montana at 2%. I am sure that the numbers will be rising in the 2011 report that will come out soon.