The Washington Post reports today that the population of minorities, largely Hispanics, has been growing at spectacular rates the past 6 years in Northern Virginia. In Prince William County, for instance, "the share of minorities grew from 35 percent in 2000 to 48 percent in 2006, according to census estimates to be released today." Manassas Park was "one of eight jurisdictions nationwide that shifted to majority-minority status in 2006." The share of minorities - again, this surge is coming almost exclusively from Hispanics - in Loudoun and Stafford increased sharply as well, to 32% and 29%, respectively. And four other Virginia counties - Fauquier, Spotsylvania and Stafford - "have among the top 20 fastest-growing Hispanic populations in the nation."
In other words, NOVA is fast becoming "majority minority," with minority populations increasing fast in many other parts of Virginia as well. The implications of this surge are large, and the potential for a backlash - we've already seen some of that in NOVA and also in Culpeper. According to the Post article:
County governments in Prince William and Loudoun have passed measures to deny public services to illegal immigrants, intended to discourage them from settling there. And yesterday, Culpeper's Board of Supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution declaring English the county's official language.
These measures are highly unlikely to have much impact on the long-term, powerful demographic, social, and economic trends we're seeing in Virginia. The forces are far too great to be stopped - even if would really benefit us to stop them - by "English only" laws and the like. The question is mainly how our nation, our state, our counties and communities will deal with these changes. Will we move aggressively to help integrate immigrants into the great American melting pot? Will we simply let things play out, without any particular intervention one way or the other? Or, will we pass more laws aimed at restricting and/or discouraging immigrants?
Regardless of what we do, it looks highly likely that America is moving towards becoming a "majority minority" nation. As Richard Rodriguez says, what we are seeing is the "browning" of America. That this is taking place not only in south Texas and Los Angeles, but also in Loudoun, Prince William, Stafford and Culpeper, is what I find so fascinating.
P.S. So much for George Allen's concept of what constitutes the "real Virginia." What happens when a "red" state turns "brown?"
The politicians who killed the Senate bill for offering "amnesty" have never offered a workable alternative. Their one big idea is that harsh, unrelenting enforcement at the border, in the workplace and in homes and streets would dry up opportunities for illegal immigrants and eventually cause the human tide to flow backward. That would be true only if life for illegal immigrants in America could be made significantly more miserable than life in, say, rural Guatemala or the slums of Mexico City. That will take a lot of time and a lot of misery to pull that off in a country that has tolerated and profited from illegal labor for generations.
I've been in rural Guatemala - and Quito, and many other parts of South and Central America - and I definitely agree with the NY Times on this one. We're not going to persuade illegal immigrants to keep away from America by petty harassment. Frankly, they're used to a lot worse. And, hopefully, our country won't sink to the levels of nastiness that would be needed if we REALLY wanted to make immigrants' lives here untenable. Is that the kind of America we want to live in? I sure don't.