I think other western countries like Denmark and Holland have changed there immigration laws due to the fact that immigrants there were making no effort to learn the culture or anything else about there new homeland and not leaving there backward thinking ways behind.

As for England, you might as well stick a fork in it. I wonder if there would be less racial problems in England today. If when they had opened there door to immigrants, they had chosen them from East Asians countries like Japan, South Korea and even China instead of places like Pakistan.

But for people coming from very different cultures, they should be required to assimilate more. I mean, there are entire neighborhoods you can wrong through in UK and not hear a single word of English or see a single female face!

Not gonna happen here.

I certainly don’t see the black community as static. I know it’s gone through huge changes since the beginning of the 20th century. Every generation has been substantially different than the one before, not to mention the diversity that now exists within cohorts from the same generation, depending on region, education, income, etc. And my timing of the question on the cusp of 1/20/09 was a coincidence. But I agree I’m getting in over my head on this one so I’ll stop now. Thanks for engaging.

#149 Dilettante, do you think it’s fair to say that some (many?) African Americans started to feel ‘more American’ after 9/11?

Well maybe it wasn’t a question but an assertion that some AfAm felt ‘more American’. I wonder if your perception of a subtle change was something you noticed with your Black American friends or your white American friends? You have both right? Or do you feel you observed more bonhomie amongst b-w in general. My point that its not just ‘the black’ people, who have had a problematic realtionship with being American, but the continued underlying assumption by the larger society that that’s the case. And without really thinking about the implication of how static they see ‘the black’ people. I’m not attacking you, but its strange that you would ask about 9/11, on the cusp of Jan/20/2008, in the context of a watershed moment of black belonging.

Wealth on paper for a few people renting castles to Germans and Japanese. Not likely to last.

“Have you been to China? And no, I am not talking about Shanghai over the last 10 years.

Admittedly no. Got this from a lady who emmigrated here from Beijing (married a VOA man who broke the rules big time.) She’d been a part of the “cultural revolution” in her teens. I’m sure there are still some left–it’s a huge country after all. But comparatively little remains.

??? When did I question that??? I merely asked if 9/11 made a difference, that is all. My perception is that a subtle change in race relations happened at that time.

You spent 8 years in Ireland and you still think it’s a wealthy country? ye gads. Did you go to villages, small towns, slummy neighborhoods? Sorry, I’m still not with you. But you are entitled to your opinion. Just don’t expect the Irish I’ve known or the Ireland I’ve seen, to share them.