Well, forget about worrying over that story. First of all, it's racist for you to even think about such things; shame on you! Secondly, the fact is, so I read here, that half of Hispanics in this country are White; that is, they are of European descent and are no different from the Irish or the Russians or the Poles or the Greeks. And remember when those nativists like Henry Cabot Lodge said those groups were unassimilable? Racism. For shame. Ben Franklin too held such absurd -- and racist -- ideas. He thought even the Germans were non-White. Or so says Jacoby.
But let's get this right; Ben Franklin did not describe Germans as non-White. In his 'Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind', he said simply that the Germans, like several other European peoples (Italians, French, Russians, and Swedes) were 'swarthy'. Read his words here. Many people scoff at his descriptions of such people as 'swarthy' but there is no doubt that there are variations in complexion among all the people mentioned. Still, that's neither here nor there; he did not say the Germans were 'not White' or that they were not assimilable. He simply stated his preferences that people who were most similar and compatible should be welcomed here.
As for the idea that half of the Hispanics in this country are European-descended and White, who shall we believe? I prefer believing my eyes. And I think I have more experience among Hispanic people than many White Americans, especially those who live in urban areas where relatively few typical Latin immigrants live. The East coast has many Caribbean Latins, who are not the same as the Mexicans and Central Americans. In whichever case, however, most are mestizo, that is, not White.
Jacoby cherry-picks examples of typical White Hispanics like Rita Hayworth -- who was, for the record, half Spanish (her father was from Spain) and half English/Irish. Then he cites Martin Sheen, born Estevez, who, like Hayworth, was half Spanish and half Irish. Then following the same pattern, he names Raquel Welch, who was half-Bolivian (Spanish? Mestizo?) and half English/Irish American. These are assuredly not typical examples. The Latinos, legal and illegal, who we see in increasing numbers on our streets, look very little like any of the above examples.
Actually similar arguments to Jacoby's, pooh-poohing concerns about demographic change, were already deployed by New York Times writers 11 years ago, when Orlando Patterson chides those who are concerned and assures us that no significant change is coming because after all, half of Hispanics are White.
''In any case, the suggestion that the white population of America is fast on the way to becoming a minority is a gross distortion. Even if we view only the non-Hispanic white population, whites remain a robust 69.1 percent of the total population of the nation. If we include Hispanic whites, as we should, whites constitute 75.14 percent of the total population, down by only 5 percent from the 1990 census.''
So pay no attention to your lying eyes. Whites are and will remain a majority. There is no reason to fear change; embrace it. Celebrate it, as your betters are telling you to do.
