Our Generous Ancestors

The Washington Post responds to Samuel Huntington's assertion that Mexican immigrants are not likely to assimilate into American society and are threatening our Anglo-Protestant culture in this month's Foreign Policy.

I quote: "Hispanics stick to their own kind, Huntington says, clustering in places like Miami and Southern California, where they find lots of their compatriots. This is true, too -- and downright un-American. Why can't they expand their horizons and move into Chinatown or Little Italy? As we all know, Huntington's beloved Anglo-Protestants were always eager to share their neighborhoods (and their country clubs) with folks of other colors and creeds. In fact, before the Civil War, many Anglo-Protestants were so eager to meet folks from other cultures that they actually purchased them. That's an act of brotherhood that today's Mexican immigrants just can't match."