Our changing US population

"As hundreds of scholars get ready to gather in Harlem on Thursday night for a conference on the state of black studies, many find that suddenly their attention is turning to another topic: Hispanics," reports Felicia R. Lee in today's NYT.

Some folks are having a hard time coping with these issues, which are the same ones I raised in Hispanic Nation (1996): this country can't go on thinking of itself as just black-and-white any more. Identities are too fluid, and the newcomers -- especially but not only those from Spanish-speaking lands -- refuse to accept the simple dichotomy.