Jose can you see?

1 million plus protesters marching (and boycotting) to make a point: immigrants, illegal or not, matter in the US.

The National Anthem in Spanish?

What seemed to be a bubbling issue when I was in the States has now spilled over.  Immigration: wanted or not? Good or bad? Encouraged or stymied?

It's a fundamental issue of resource scarcity.  When something is good (i.e. an environment designed to produce 'quick' economic dividends like the US), people often want it (i.e. immigrate, any way they can).  Immigration can bring diversity, cheap labor, and intellectual growth, among other economic and cultural benefits.  But it can also breed cultural instability and a burgeoning welfare state. Boil it down to basics and there is a zero sum game.

As a country, what's our philosophy? I've yet heard clear cut arguments from either side. Fact: immigration is and will continue to increase, no matter the govt's best efforts at curbing it.  Opinions: Are all immigrations bad? Are there groups that are more desired than others? Immigrants from Mexico are generally of lower income than say, immigrants from Taiwan.  Should our immigration policy be needs-based – and whose needs?

America prides itself on being multi-cultured -- but are we open enough to adopt Spanish as another official language?

It's a fascinating experiment, this America.  Living in Vietnam, where society is pretty much homogenized (the Kinh dominates over 95% of the population, with the other 35-40 ethnic minorities left to squabble over scraps), I see the US in a new light. 

Here, the ongoing discourse is about the breakdown of the traditional Confucius order brought on by rapid economic developments.  4-generation households are giving way to.. gasp (!) 3 or two generations (grandparents living with their children and grandchildren).  Divorce rates are climbing as women have little patience with their husbands – men's work here often entail beer drinking, gambling, chess on sidewalks, and wife beating.  Teenagers now (another gasp) have sex before marriage.. and they are even talking about living with each other (song thu) to test out before jumping into marriage.  And marriage? It's about love instead of 'affection and gratitude'. Discourse about race in the public domain? None.

Not to say that ethnic issues aren't here.  Minorities have almost no government representation. Their land is often quartered and diced until they're left with mountainous regions best shown to tourists and not much else.  Discrimination happens. A lot.  Stamping out hill and mountain tribes has been a priority for the government in Vietnam's history only until the recent decades. To the Kinh majority and Westerners, ethnic minorities here are little more than museum pieces.

Compared to the world, America is the grand experiment for diversity.  Take New York. Where else can you see a Greek neighborhood side by side with Turkish and Egyptian community, as found in Astoria, Queens? How about an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood facing a Puerto Rican and black enclave (Williamsburg, Brooklyn). Point two fingers anywhere on a world map, and you'll see that combination, living together, complaining together, and struggling together, in the United States.

The question is... is there such a thing as too much diversity?  Or – is diversity only desirable when one group dominates and the rest are minorities (e.g. the Judeo-Christian/Caucasian hegemonic force), or can two, or even three dominant groups live peacefully within a diverse society?

Are we naïve enough to assume that assimilation will continue – I mean, look at the Irish, the Italians, the Poles, the Czechs, the Greeks, and yes, even those Asians... they made some noise, and now they've accepted the Anglo customs, haven't they?  So too will the Latinos... all 35 million...