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11 de Mayo, 2006
White People Shrinking as a Group - US Census
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Even if you build a five-hundred foot wall and keep all the immigrant Mexicans out of the USA forever, Latinos are still going to keep growing, as a group, right here in our dear nation. Recent Census Bureau stats show that it is mostly natural-born Latinos that are swelling the ranks of Americans. From July 2004 to July 2005, almost a million new Latino babies were born right here in our beloved US of A—and the entire US population only grew by 2.8 million.
With growth will come increased economic and political clout.
'Already, Hispanics are an economic force, and because they are growing in number, that won't change,' said Jacobson, who added that corporate America is taking notice.
Libbey Paul, a senior vice president of marketing for ACNielson, the marketing information company, told The Associated Press that supermarkets are looking to stock more of what large, young families need [...] and food companies are producing more products that cater to Hispanic tastes."
CNN.com, "Minorities getting closer to the majority," Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Personally, I think it's good. In fact, I think the polarizing opposites (while very pretty—from the bluish-dark skin of some Africans, to the alabaster translucence of the palest Caucasians) make it too easy for us to draw lines. The sooner we all become a multi-faceted representation of the entire planet, the harder it will be to keep turning US into THEM and loosing rivers of blood. Perhaps it is best if we all continue to mix for another thousand years or so until we are all basically the same shade of light brown. You won't be able to call Iraqis "ragheads" because there will be Iraqi blood in your veins, albeit only a little. You won't be able to drop the N-bomb because your lovely granddaughter will have the deepest cocoa summer-skin and everyone will know why. You won't be able to slur the potato-eaters because your line will carry a wee bit o' the Irish. You won't be able to sneer at the "spics" because one of your ancestors ladled on the salsa extra thick, and the flex is still in your hips to this day.
Oh, you don't like that idea? Well, I understand. Who wants homogeneity? It is an anti-tribal notion. And we are certainly still tribal creatures.
Then let's please learn how to be kind to each other, fair to each other, and sensitive to the Other while still looking so different and sounding so different. Because most of us do NOT handle these differences so well. We are not in war paint. And I'm tired of watching one kind of human exploit and degrade and kill another. Especially when it is to make the few rich, and the rest of us suffer.
Addtionally, it's time we all came to the understanding that America is made up of a lot of different types of people; that America would not be America if it did not exploit all these people at one time or another (we can talk about the Chinese, we can talk about the African slaves, we can talk about the railroad recruitment of the Mexican labor force into the Southern US during the late 1800s and early 1900s, we can talk about outsourcing on the cheapo), and that you cannot grab shit from people, use it to build your own house bigger, and then kick them into the swamp when you feel you need to stretch out more in your living room. Or if you do, you will reap consequences.
But this entry is not about that. It is only about figures. About the latest stats collected from the US Census Bureau. The stats that show yes, Latino presence is rapidly growing in this nation. And no, it isn't mostly from illegal immigration. It is mostly because we are having more babies than you. So if you want to get in this game, you better up your Viagra prescription, Lou.
And Mr. Dobbs, I hope the facts are okay by you. I do very much appreciate your insistence upon the Facts. So I hope you can live with Latinos soon becoming the majority. I hope that doesn't freak you out too much. I know you are in love with a Fence, but I'm thinkin' maybe you ought to be making friends with us. Maybe you even want to leave a door in that fence, in case you have to run real fast. A vacation might appeal to you. Perhaps a land where things are...pinker.
It occurs to me that there is plenty of room in a land of open minds. Even for Lou Dobbs.
(and that there is more than one way to take back stolen land)
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kick it, ése.