Cultural Infusions
I try not to book out of the newspapers -- at least not the big ones -- but when USA TODAY puts a big whopping 100 MILLION in your face, you kind of have to go...OK.
I'm talking about the fact that this country is now officially one third "minority:" over 100 million people here are people of color.
This hits us where we live -- literally. One of the core concepts of this program has always been the "multicultural experience," that is to say, what does it mean that we are this melting pot or whatever, and not Sweden or Finland?
So, over the next few weeks -- or however long its interesting and makes sense to do -- we want to explore the implications of those numbers. We started off in New Jersey because we just happened to know that there's an excellent immigration reporter at the Bergen Record who keeps track of how smaller cities are coping with change. (We also had two leaders on from two different small cities in New jersey to talk about what's going on.)
But here's where we could really use your help: we're interested in other cities and towns where change has come. And we'd like to talk to you (or them) about it...especially about places that are unexpected -- Darfurians in Indiana, Vietnamese in Idaho. That is to say, not the major cities and coastal areas like New York, LA, Miami and south Texas (places that we usually associate with immigration).
If you have a story to tell we want to hear it and, I'll be real about it, we want the real stuff -- irritations, strong bonds, big disputes. Of course, we want it all...
Next week, we're looking ahead to the immigration bill that's supposed to be debated Monday in the Senate. We know it'll be big news all weekend, but we plan to get beyond the headlines and drill into some deeper questions about what we are really saying with our immigration policy.
And, as if there aren't already enough reasons to stay tuned, we'll have some celebs for you. They'll talk about some atypical celeb subjects. No, I cannot (or at least will not) reveal all. You'll just have to come back and see us.
Have a great weekend...I plan to try.
7:49 PM ET | 05-18-2007 | permalink
