Hmmm, what about when white people are less than 50% of the population

[ImVinny!]

Or maybe people will decide that it doesn't matter what skin color someone has and they can just move on with themselves...

[Gary Glitter]

yeah, uh, history certainly compels that result...

[tzip]

i think you're forgetting one factor that might change this outlook. Europe is facing a very tough situation in the next 50 years, mostly due to its own migration problems, ie muslim and arab communities which are failing to integrate into the local societies, but are growing in numbers that are quickly outnumbering the white population. therefore, i predict that starting in the next few years, and increasing ever more through the century, you'll see large waves of immigration of white europeans to the US. this immigration would be a great boost for this country, as most of the people coming over would be rather affluent, well educated europeans, who realize the changing state of their homelands, and will look to advance their lives in the U.S. for obvious reasons.

[ImVinny!]

So another Ellis Island sort of situation? Is history goin to repeat itself down that route again? Hmm, that would pan out rather interestingly!

[Gary Glitter]

yeah the situation of the southwest somewhat parallels what is happening in france, though the french have a much bigger problem on their hands...

you know, with muslims having such a "decorated" history of assimilation

white flight from europe to the US? haha interesting (kidna like the jewish influx during hte 40s and 50s)

[tzip]

that's just my prediction. the European situation is much much worse than what is happening in this country. while integration isn't going so easily here, in France (and Italy, and Holland, and Britain and...and...and..) the minority group in question is purposely refusing to integrate, rather than facing integration difficulties by the structure of the system. the Muslim population in Europe doesn't want to become a part of the local culture, in fact, they seem to resent it. see the Berlin opera that was canceled just a few weeks ago because of religious threats.

[ImVinny!]

Opera? Sheesh, and stravinsky thought he had it bad with the Rite of Spring, hehehe...

[guyminuslife]

On a total a side note, I have this theory that I can tell the difference between a person from Africa and a black person from the U.S., before even talking to them and hearing an accent. It usually pans out. I notice a phenotypic difference. Possible explanations: 1) I'm full of *&^%, 2)  American blacks often have some mixed racial heritage, 3) African immigrants come from different parts of Africa than those in which the slave trade thrived, and since there is a large degree of genetic differentiation among Africans, there is an actual phenotypic difference, 4) Africans have different mannerisms than Americans, dress differently, etc.

Anyone else experience this? I'll be utterly honest and say that I can't tell a Chinese person from a Japanese person from a Laotian from a Korean. (On the same vein, I can't tell the difference between a Dutch person and a Russian, so don't even start.) Or is this a figment of my imagination?

[guyminuslife]

that's just my prediction. the European situation is much much worse than what is happening in this country. while integration isn't going so easily here, in France (and Italy, and Holland, and Britain and...and...and..) the minority group in question is purposely refusing to integrate, rather than facing integration difficulties by the structure of the system. the Muslim population in Europe doesn't want to become a part of the local culture, in fact, they seem to resent it. see the Berlin opera that was canceled just a few weeks ago because of religious threats.

I was talking to a guy in Spain who said he'd never visit America, it's too racist.

Somehow, with what I saw in Spain, and all the news coming back about Western European immigration woes, I find this hilarious. Yeah, there are Minutemen here, but we're a pretty unified culture, take that as you will.

Actually, talking about race relations in Spain, a funny anecdote: I was at a train station, and a British guy (who was black) gets off the train wearing a business suit, with a briefcase. He starts standing around a bit and says something about waiting for his brother. An African immigrant, wearing a crappy T-shirt and so forth, comes up to him and starts blabbering on in some African dialect.

"I'm terribly sorry, I don't speak your language," says the British guy in a crisp London accent. The African keeps on. "No, I don't think you understand. I do not speak your language." He looks very flustered and offended. Meanwhile, I'm cracking up. It sort of spins race relations on its head---the British man has significantly more that is culturally common with me, a white American, than with the African man who clearly immediately believes him to be part of the Sevillan African community.