2050/ REPLAY

By 2050, one third of the population could be Hispanic. According to David Brooks(Time/6/27/2013), moderate conservative and columnist for the New York Times and PBS commentator, many folks look ahead with anxiety. What might the New America be like? It should grow faster economically, have  harder workers, more small businesses, and people who save. On the other hand, Hispanics are correlated with crime, different cultural values, language and they are darker than “whites” or those that appear white. To Brooks , cities appear now to like  like villages of different contents (sociologists call it  the multiple nuclei theory.) Some villages are filled with warehouses and others industrial parks. The villages of the prettiest houses are generally filled with light appearing mutts. He indicates that many of us are already mutts, but that there will be even more. The Cracker Lights generally have light complexion by cosmetics or breeding, money, education, and a steady profession. If Walt Disney wanted to portray the America of the melting pot or harmonious salad, these neighborhoods make a great movie.

Location, location, location. Sally with blonde hair and a light tan is an octoroon or 12% Black. She has blue eyes with those blue tinted contacts. Her husband is Euro-Asian and to balance off his appearance, and  his blue tint contacts, is complimented with a light tan bronzer. Sally is  into a law practice and just like the stereotype, her husband can do so many tricks with the computer that he works for MTV on the side and Rockwell here in town. What a pretty couple! They live in the Disney Village and their only  child goes to the best public school. It has the most guards with semi-automatics and teachers with master’s degrees.

So why are residents right now anxious? As we move down the ladder of social class, there are some villages that are really tough. Further, they are all different mutts, but a predominant strain emerges like White, Asian, Black, and Hispanic. If you don’t have the right strain, it is a hard call to live there. By the way, all signs are in English and Spanish all over the city. White Supremacists are really mutts.

Now we have looked at the top and the bottom. The middle has mutt-mutts. They are the rainbow and they have jobs that can keep their house and yard looking good. They have taken what use to be “starter” houses and made them into something very special  with all those tall trees and shady streets. One family in the neighborhood, let the house go bad. The other neighbors had a meeting at another neighbor’s house. Everyone turned out to paint the house the same color that it is now and cut the yard. If the malcontents kept letting it go, the police were called for something over and over until they finally got the message.

So there are Cracker lights with so much and then there are Non-Lights. Light also means good and Non-Light  can mean bad. What kind of mutt are you? Well,  you are  all white and not one neighborhood wants you. So, can I say it? You are a Non-Light! That is like the “N” word  in the future, a  sort of lousy white person.  On the other hand, there is a Hispanic and African who are Lights. The last two live in Disney Village. You were  thrown out of Mutt-Mutt Heights. So let’s  celebrate diversity  and  yet bring back some  old melting pot themes, where the men are strong and the women are tough, and  most of us will have a tan complexion, one way or another.