Power Line's Steven Hayward posts a quote from the New York Times (behind paywall) which I need to share with you. It concerns focus group research with minorities concerning public policy.
We began by asking eligible voters how “convincing” they found a dog-whistle message lifted from Republican talking points. Among other elements, the message condemned “illegal immigration from places overrun with drugs and criminal gangs” and called for “fully funding the police, so our communities are not threatened by people who refuse to follow our laws.”
Almost three out of five white respondents judged the message convincing. More surprising, exactly the same percentage of African-Americans agreed, as did an even higher percentage of Latinos.
Progressives commonly categorize Latinos as people of color. (snip) Yet in our survey, only one in four Hispanics saw the group as people of color.
In contrast, the majority rejected this designation. They preferred to see Hispanics as a group integrating into the American mainstream, one not overly bound by racial constraints but instead able to get ahead through hard work.
No kidding. I grew up with the Lopez family living across the street in a nice ranch-style house. The parents were legal immigrants from Mexico, their kids (older than me) born here, and the whole bunch completely assimilated middle class Americans.
One of the brightest kids in my public high school graduating class of 100 was Bob Castro, who became an attorney. All this was over 50 years ago. Hispanics definitely can "make it" here, I've never had reason to doubt it.
