In 1965, the Immigration & Nationality Act was passed; 5 decades later, it continues to change the face of America

As numbers increase Asian/Americans drawing the attention of bigots

"We are America."

ON OCTOBER 3, 1965, the Hart-Celler Immigration Act, became the law of the land and America was never the same.

Basically, the bill - also known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 - created for the U.S. a more fair immigration policy that gave immigrants from all countries an equal opportunity to immigrate to the United States. Prior to 1965, the immigration policies in place favored and encouraged immigration from Europe.

"The (1965) bipartisan law ended an unfair quota system, prohibited discrimination based on country of origin, and officially recognized our immigration system's role in reuniting families and attracting skilled workers, all of whom help fuel our economy." said President Obama in a statement on the anniversary of the Immigration Act. 

Fifty years after Hart-Celler, more immigrants are coming from Mexico, China, India and the Philippines. The United States' immigration population has doubled, from 5% of the pre-1965 population to today's 14%, hardly the "flood" nativists claim is "overwhelming" America.

By 2065, no racial or ethnic group will hold a majority in the U.S. Whites will be 46% of the population, Latinos at 24%, Asians at 14% and blacks at 13%. Currently, the country is 62% white, 18% Hispanic, 12% black and 6% Asian. 

If present trends continue and barring any major geo-political events that might skew the predictions, Asians will be the largest immigrant group by 2065 according to estimates in a new study by the Pew Research Center released last month.
 

In 50 years, the percentage of foreign-born, mostly Asian and Latino, is expected to jump to 18% of the United States' projected 441 million. That will be a record, higher than the nearly 15% during the late 19th century and early 20th century wave of immigration from Europe.

Much of the United States' population growth is due to immigration, according to the Pew report. Between 1965 and 2015, new immigrants, their children and their grandchildren accounted for 55% of U.S. population growth. They added 72 million people to the nation’s population as it grew from 193 million in 1965 to 324 million in 2015.

This demographic shift caused by immigration and the number of U.S. births from the same ethnic and racial groups potentially could result with a "good news/bad news" impact.

Good news: As in the past, America will continue to benefit from the influx of immigrants, most of whom are the most adventurous, the risk-takers, the most educated, most innovative and the most optimistic and driven foreign-born. They will become our neighbors.

Democrats and Republicans passed the 1965 immigration reform because, "they understood that immigration contributes to our economic growth by allowing hard-working, entrepreneurial individuals from around the world to pursue the American dream" said President Obama.

Bad news: Expect the xenophobia from current Americans to grow and the likelihood of a backlash increases such as calling for further limits on immigration, calls for "taking back our country," and a return to the "good old days" when Euro-Americans and their descendants dominated the political, social and economic realms.

Esther Cepeda, a columnist for Washington Post, warns, "Once they (Asians) become even more of a media sensation they’ll have to endure any number of silly, poorly worded, stereotype-laden articles that will present facts about them as though they are all brand-new visitors from a far-away land."

RELATED: America's challenge is learning to live with itself

And if Asians become the largest immigrant group, you can expect more incidents of good, old racism directed at Asian/Americans such as the anti-Chinese graffiti that's popped up in San Francisco even though that city has a reputation of being Asian-friendly, and the beatings and slaying of immigrants - including those of us who look like immigrants - in Los Angeles, Oakland, New York, Chicago and elsewhere.

There will also be attempts to divide the immigrant/ethnic groups and pit us against each other, such as Asian/Americans vs. Latino/Americans or Asians vs. African/Americans. We see this already in play in the GOP presidential campaign when Donald Trump and Jeb Bush in their "anchor baby" remarks drawing attention to the Chinese mothers on tourist visas giving birth in America thus giving their babies' automatic U.S. citizenship. Again, those who wish to stir things up don't distinguish between regular immigrants and those mothers and their infants, who almost always return to to their home countries.

Has anyone noticed whenever Trump mentions the "Chinese" or "China," - which is pretty often - he almost spits out the words, with a hard emphasis on the first vowel, such as "Ch-iii-na."

We see the anti-Asian sentiment rising in school admissions. In some cases, there are attempts to limit Asian enrollment by the institutions themselves; in other cases, we see a new "white flight" by those parents who don't want their children attending schools where there are a great number of Asian students.

The model-minority myth doesn't do us any favors among other ethnic groups who are looked upon less favorably by the dominant power group raising the question, "Why can't you be more like the Asians?" or "Asians work hard, study hard, so why can't you?" Is that a divide-and-conquer strategy?

Generally, Americans have a negative view of immigrants. Pew asked Americans surveyed for one word to describe immigrants in the US today. Twelve per cent said “illegal”; “overpopulation” was at 5%; “legality (other than illegal)” at 4%; and “jobs”, “deportation”, “Americans” and “work ethic” at 3% each.

Forty-nine percent offered general descriptions, and of those, only 12% were positive, 11% negative and 26% neutral, according to the report. That doesn't bode well for Asian immigrants and Asian/Americans.

Despite the increase in Asian immigrants, Latinos will still make up a larger number inside the United States. Latino/Americans' birth rate will be the main reason for that growth, said Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew’s director of Hispanic research. “It is really U.S. births that are now the driver of Hispanic population growth, and that’s a recent change from what we saw in the 80s and 90s.” 

“We have a diverse group of immigrants coming from Asian countries that are at different points of readiness to contribute to this country," said Mee Moua, the executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, told the recent National Immigration Forum.  "They’re more highly educated, they come with ready skill sets and they’re coming prepared and ready to contribute to the progress of this country. And isn’t that the whole point of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965?”

America's challenge is learning to live with itself

This post was written a year before the 2016 Presidential elections. The thoughts and issues it presents are as relevant now -- even more so -- than when it was first written.

ON JULY FOURTH, 2015, the 239th birthday of the United States, it's an appropriate time to take a few moments to ponder the question raised by immigration reform activist Jose Antonio Vargas: What is an American?

My immigrant parents and their friends, who grew up in the Philippines, referred to white people in this country as "the Americans." Never mind that my father and his military peers fought under the Star Bangled Banner during World War II and the Korean War, never mind that they led active civic lives, involving themselves in their community affairs, voted every election day, they always considered themselves as outsiders, not really what they thought of as "Americans."

To this day, when most of the world think of Americans, they think of the white folks of our country.

When I toured China a few years back, my tour group consisted of African/Americans, Asian/Americans and European/Americans. We were seen as oddities in that land. Chinese would ask to take pictures with us. Some of us bridled at being stared and pointed at. At one photo taking session, I told the person who posed with us, "We are America. All of us."

(Just so you know, in my other travels, Italian and Germans reacted the same way as the Chinese towards us Americans of color. Curiosity and preconceptions of America is universal.)

I'm not sure what I was trying to do but I thought at the moment that it was important for them to know that Americans are a diverse lot. We may be of different pigmentation, our ancestors arrived on these shores in different times, some of us may speak with accents, but in our hearts and minds, we are all Americans.

A new Census Bureau report shows that my generation of baby-boomers fading further into the what demographers like to describe as the silver tsunami, and giving way to Millennials in a country whose younger generations are also becoming more diverse - and more tolerant, despite the Dylan Roots of the world.

The white population in the United States reached an all-time high median age of 43, while those younger than 5 were outnumbered by minority children.

“That’s a reflection of how the U.S. is aging,” said Mark Hugo Lopez, director of Hispanic research at the Pew Research Center. 

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I live in a small community that has seen its minority population surpass the white population, which has reduced since 1995. The 2000 Census confirmed the trend. Taken together, Latinos, Asians and blacks make up the majority. (As we look at ourselves, we have to be careful not to lump those three groupings into one monolithic bloc.) In other words, my neighborhood is not the "Leave It To Beaver" neighborhood of the 50s and 60s.

This city, this state of California, is a harbinger of what this country is going to be. The next few decades, will be rocky ones as people of color learn to ease their way into the mainstream, not fully accepting of the fact that they ARE the mainstream in many communities. 

Equally critical is the way white Americans become accustomed to just being one of many, instead of the retaining their position of dominance and power to which they are accustomed.

The "privilege" and entitlement many of Euro/Americans believe is the natural order of our society is going to - needs - to change.

Go to any elementary school today, and you will see the diverse future of America.

As this demographic shift occurs, it is being bolstered by the newcomers coming to this country for the same reason my parents chose to become Americans.

The latest census data shows that China has replaced Mexico as the chief source of U.S. immigrants. Immigration from Latin America has slowed overall even as Asian migration continues to grow.

The impact of the Asian/American community goes beyond their mere numbers. 

The Center for American Progress stated in a recent article:

"Asian immigrants play an important role in helping the U.S. economy thrive. The most recent Census Bureau Survey of Business Owners found that Asian immigrants owned 1.5 million businesses, which had total sales and receipts of $506 billion and employed 208 million people in 2007. The number of Asian immigrant-owned businesses increased 40 percent from 2002 to 2007, compared to the average increase of 18 percent for all U.S. businesses.

"Asian immigrants also play an important role in the consumer market. They hold the fastest-growing buying power share—also known as spendable income after taxes—of any racial or ethnic group in the country. The Selig Center at the University of Georgia’s Terry School of Business estimates that the cumulative buying power of Asian immigrants grew from $274 billion in 2000 to more than $700 billion in 2013."

According to a 2012 study, The Rise of Asian Americans, from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, Asian/Americans are projected to make up 1 in 10 residents by midcentury, Asian/Americans as a whole tend to be more satisfied than the general public with their lives and the direction of the country. They lean Democratic and want a government that provides more services.

Besides immigrants, another dynamic is taking place as U.S. universities and colleges seek foreign students to address some of their funding shortcomings.

International students studying at U.S. colleges and universities also are now most likely to come from Asian countries, roughly 6 in 10, and some of them are able to live and work in the U.S. after graduation. Asian students, both foreign born and U.S. born, earned a plurality (45 percent) of all engineering Ph.D.s in 2010, as well as 38 percent of doctorates in math and computer sciences and 33 percent of doctorates in the physical sciences.

In addition, the new immigrants - Latino and Asian - tend to be younger and more prolific than their Euro/American counterparts. “This year is the first time the 0 to 4 population is minority-majority,” said Ben Bolender, chief of the Census Bureau's population estimates branch. It was a shift long expected: In 2013, the rate was close enough — about 50-50 — that young minority children were on the cusp of outnumbering white children, but now the number has decisively moved into the majority, Bolender said.

The University of California released its admittance information for incoming freshmen last week and the data shows that Asians and Latino freshmen outnumbered the white freshmen. The 2015 admission numbers for California students show slight changes in UC's diversity, with Asian-Americans making up 36 percent, Latinos 30 percent, whites 25 percent and African-Americans 4 percent.

Among international students, 15,317, or 62.2 percent of those applicants, were admitted, compared with 13,575, or 60.1 percent, last year, the data showed. Asian students - primarily from China, Korea and India - made up the largest foreign group, according to UC.

New Americans at a citizenship ceremony. 

So what does all of thisl mean?

Rodney King was prophetic when he asked, "Can't we all just get along?" The key to America's future is going to be how, and if, we can answer that simple question.

I'll go one step further and be blunt, the key will be how white Americans learn to live, work and play with the new majority in the coming decades. Will they fight it as those who want to "take back America," or "Make America great again," or return to the "good, old days" when white was right and everyone else knew their place; or will they accept the new Americans' myriad contributions to the American way of life - in all aspects: economically, politically and culturally?

America is changing once again. And for most of us, change is hard. 

The xenophobic fear of balkanization is understandable, but groundless. Over and over again, we have seen that by the second and third generation, English becomes the primary language spoken at home and the "Americanization" process continues. It is already happening with the Latinos who came in the 1990s and 2000s.  "Americanization" will happen with the new Asians.

One possible hopeful sign is the growing multiracial population of America, especially amongst Millennials. 

More and more Americans are identifying themselves as multi-racial, according to a Pew Research Center report released on June 11. "Multiracial Americans are at the cutting edge of social and demographic change in the U.S.—young, proud, tolerant and growing at a rate three times as fast as the population as a whole," says the report.

Although still a small part of America right now, their numbers are expanding exponentially as love does - apparently, indeed - conquers all. 

America is a never-ending work in progress (interpret that any way you like). Each wave of immigrants has changed our country for the better. The latest wave of immigrants and the growing American-born Latino and Asian communities will also have an impact as we all seek our version of the American Dream. America will be slightly different. But, America has always been different. We revel in our individuality and exceptionality, That's who we are, have been and will continue to be.

My apologies to civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr., but to borrow his metaphor of reaching the mountain top. What we find when we reach that mountain top ... is the view of ... another mountain.

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