We are a nation of immigrants and should be proud of it. French, English, Irish and Welsh blood runs through my veins and maybe some American Indian.

Soon we whites will be the minority, particularly in California, and the Hispanic, African and Asian Americans will be the majority.

So what ~ In essence, we are all immigrants with blood lines that crisscross the world.

Yes, In truth, we are all brothers and sisters, on this increasingly shrinking planet, who are being forced to unite, cooperate and eventually love one another.

Or as columnist Eugene Robinson wrote ~ Don't freak out, folks. It's not the end of the world ~ You might ask your black neighbors for advice on how to cope.

Allen L Roland

THE CULTURE OF IMMIGRATION

Eugene Robinson, Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/10/ar2006041000987.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns

I don't think the immigration debate is about economics . . . It's about culture and it's about fear.Among other things, it's about this voice-mail message: "Para continuar en español, oprima el numero 2. To continue in Spanish, press 2."

Many Anglos in Phoenix and elsewhere were surprised by the size of the protests two weeks ago, but the demonstrations were coordinated and publicized in the open, on Spanish-language radio.

Latino immigrants in this recent wave, whether they intend to stay permanently or just work for a while and go home, are learning English but also keeping their Spanish -- and the fact is the United States now has a de facto second language. That seems to frighten a lot of people. . .

Maybe the real fear is more visceral . . . Maybe it's that you don't have to extrapolate immigration and fertility rates very far into the future to see an America in which minorities -- Hispanic, African and Asian Americans -- are a majority.

To put it another way: an America in which whites join the rest of us as just another minority. That's already the case in our two most populous states, California and Texas, according to the Census Bureau, with others including New York, Arizona and Florida likely to follow soon.

Don't freak out, folks. It's not the end of the world. You might ask your black neighbors for advice on how to cope.