Nations Within Nationsrnby Samuel FrancisrnBy the end of 1998, it was no longer possible for any informedrnand honest person to claim that the massive immigrationrnexperienced by the United States since the 1970’srnwas not significantly altering the culture, economy, and politicsrnof the nation. Last summer, the Washington Post, long a zealousrnopponent of immigration restriction, published a series ofrnarticles that effectively conceded the point. “Lives Transplanted,rna Region Transformed. Steady Immigration Changes Facernof the Region; Schools Add Up Immigrant Costs,” one headlinerninformed its readers. The series, as well as other accumulatingrnfacts about immigrants not included in it, was not simplyrna confirmation of what supporters of immigration control havernalways suspected, indeed knew—that it is not humanly possiblernfor millions of people from one culture to transplant themselvesrninto another culture without exerting some deleterious eflFect—rnbut actually pointed to an even more important truth: Massrnimmigration is not merely destroying one nation but also isrngiving birtli to a new one, and the new nation will not be a placernwhere most Americans would feel comfortable or even bernwelcome.rn”I think I’m still a Mexican,” Maria Jacinto, a working-classrnwoman from Mexico who left her native land for ours somernyears ago, told the Post’s reporter. “When my skin tiirns whiternand my hair turns blond, then I’ll be an American.” Mrs. Jacintornsurely knows that most Americans are not blond and thatrnmany of them are not white, but her identification of our nationrnand hers in terms of these biological traits tells us a good dealrnabout the nation that is emerging in our midst, about the nationrnwe are ceasing to be, and about the very nature of nationalityrnitselfrnMrs. Jacinto thinks of nationality in racial terms. Not for herrnthe soft abstractions of the “first universal nation” or the “propositionrncountry” beloved of neoconservative apologists for openrnborders, nor the happy evasions of race that other nationalismsrnlike to invoke—language, culture, history, religion, etc. ForrnMrs. Jacinto, as for many of her co-nationals, the nation is simplyrnwhat they have always told us it was—La Raza—and therernSamuel Francis is a nationally syndicated columnist and editorrnof the Samuel Francis Letter, a monthly newsletter.rnis no quibbling about the dangers of Darwinism and “scientificrnracialism.” Spokesmen for La Raza make it very clear that thernnation, the political expression of their race that they plan to organize,rnwill have no place for folks who are not part of the Raza.rn”California is going to be a Hispanic state,” announces MariornObledo, one of the major leaders of the Hispanic “community”rnin California and a nominee for the Presidential Medal of Freedom.rn”We are going to control all the institutions. If peoplerndon’t like it, they should leave.” Richard Alatorre of the Los AngelesrnCity Council told an Hispanic audience in Septemberrn1996,rnBecause our numbers are growing, they’re afraid of whatrnthis great mass of minorities that now live in our communities,rnthey’re afraid that we’re going to take over the governmentalrninstitutions and other institvitions. They’rernright, we will take them over, and we are not going to gornaway, we are here to stay, and we are saying ya bastarn[enough]….rnJose Angel Cutierrez of the University of Texas at Arlington, arnfounder of “Chicano nationalism,” said in January 1995,rnCroup ascendancy. Why in order for us to have a homelandrnwe must give up our Mexican-ness and becomernwhite-like? Wliy? Hostages in our land. Prisoners ofrnwar. We are millions. We just have to survive. We havernan aging Wliite America. They are not making babies.rnThey are dying. It’s a matter of time. The explosion is inrnour population.rnIt is not just Mrs. Jacinto, but fairly representative leaders andrnspokesmen for Hispanics generally who glimpse the friture nationrnLa Raza is creating. Their vision of Hispanic identity isrnone of us (La Raza) against them (whites, gringos, Anglos,rnblondes, what Mrs. Jacinto in the Post interview called gueros,rnAmericans), and what in their minds distinguishes us fromrnthem is not for the most part (and perhaps not at all) language,rncultiire, history, or religion, but race, pure and simple.rnOf course, race by itself is not really what distinguishes andrnJANUARY 1999/21rnrnrn