Isn’t the most obvious prediction is that Hispanics will just become white like all of the other white ethnic immigrant groups? And Asians, just like every other immigrant groups, seem to assimilate pretty thoroughly. I think U.S. racial politics will always be black/white.
No, you’re wrong. America has always been about assimilating groups into the culture, not about estabishing them as isolated subcultures.
I think the American secret to multiculturalism has been for a long time letting people identify with being “ethnic” while really becoming completely Americanized.
For instance is there anything like a New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade in Ireland? Or does Cinco de Mayo in the United States remotely resemble anything in Mexico? In many ways, Irish-Americans, Italians-Americans, or Polish-Americans, in being “ethnic”, usually display just how American they are.
I think the question of ethnic makeup will be irrelevant as such, but, on the other hand, I think it’s safe to say that most of our immigrants are coming from cultures that are socially and culturally more conservative than ours, and some to a radical degree. I’m concerned lest this lead to a firmer clampdown of social mores than we now have. Our legislation of public morality is already considerably more puritanical than that of most European countries, and I would not like us to move further in that direction.