. . . and Praising Immigration

With Congress confronting (or running from) immigration reform, I thought I'd share the story -- as told in numbers -- of the New Jersey borough where Your Faithful Correspondent's brother and his Filipina wife live as a shining example of the great and ever changing American Melting Pot.

Here's a breakdown of the borough's residents by race:

White (58 percent), Indian (16), African American (7), Chinese and Hispanic (6 each), Filipino and Korean (2 each), Japanese, Vietnamese and Pacific Islander (1 each)

Who are these residents, how old and how established are they?

They are evenly divided between male and female, are an average 36 years old and 64 percent own their homes.

What's the point of all of this number crunching?

Barely 20 years ago, the borough was nearly all white and had a crime problem.

Ten years ago, it was 75 percent white and had a diminishing crime problem.

Today immigrants run the borough government and lead the school board. There is no crime problem to speak of, although my brother did have his car stolen from the parking lot of train station in the next town.

The public schools have improved markedly and ethnic markets and restaurants have proliferated.

And lest a hungry xenophobe who finds himself in the borough be concerned, you can order dim sum, saag paneer, pho tai or a berger and fries in English. You see, nearly everyone speaks it or quickly learns it.

(Illustration by Chris Chappelle)