30/wws: Thank you for that wonderful description. It is some of the best news I could imagine.

In the Pre-World War One days one would see storefronts with Italian, Yiddish, and other signs. Old country language newspapers were plentiful. In New York there was a thriving Yiddish Theater. Ethnic establishments, especially grocery stores and restaurants were everywhere. Different ethnicities seemed to corner different crafts. There was the Chinese Laundry, the Italian Shoemaker, etc. So the idea of your town’s Hispanic/Latino neighborhood with Spanish language signs on the stores doesn’t phase me one bit. Neither do the Chinese equivalents in towns like Monterey Park California.

The next generation of these immigrants went on to college, many becoming teachers or accountants or opening small businesses of their own. And their children — that would be many of us today — became professionals: doctors, lawyers, etc.

What made this possible was the strong American identity that prevailed in those days. Immigrants could keep their culture and still enter the mainstream because there was a robust sense of America. Today that is much less the case. That is why I worry about the course Hispanic/Latino society will take.

Left to the individuals themselves, I agree that most will choose what I am calling the Italian way. But their leadership is trying to lead them down the other path.

As to the fate of Black African America, I share your pessimism. Interestingly enough, as I read about Marcus Garvey and W. E. B. Du Bois, both regarded as radical, and Booker T. Washington, regarded as “conservative,” all three highly valued self-reliance and education. Too bad that getting good grades and being diligent in school is now considered “too white” for so many young Black African Americans.