‘New Americans for Next America’

In the Opinion Section (May 12), Kevin Phillips wrote about the “New Americans for the Next America.” Three salient points are worth making.

First, more than once in his article he referred to the Puerto Ricans as immigrants. Since 1917 Puerto Ricans have been American citizens. They are not, therefore, immigrants but migrants, or in-migrants.

To refer to them in the same manner that one speaks of Mexicans, Salvadorans, Ecuadorans, etc., is to perpetuate the erroneous idea that they are still outsiders needing to become part of the American system. They may still be going through the acculturation process, in so far as they choose to do so when they migrate to the mainland (if they had not already begun to do so on the island). But they are no more to be classified as immigrants for that reason than Native American Indians, who are also often culturally different, when they choose to migrate off their reservations to the cities, or elsewhere in the country.

If the political commentators perpetuate this mistaken description of Puerto Ricans, they not only do an injustice to our fellow citizens but they also fix in the minds of other American citizens that Puerto Ricans are outsiders. This will in no way contribute their integration into American society or into the American political process.

Second, Phillips speaks at length about the conservatism of many immigrants and their proclivity for the Republican Party. There is nothing unusual about that, for many peasant groups migrating here earlier in the century were equally conservative (pro-business or otherwise) and many were inclined to vote for the Republican Party until the New Deal began and Roosevelt’s coalition was forged.

Finally, Phillips’ concept of the Sun Belt was extensively discussed at a conference in Miami in November 1985, entitled “The Sun Belt: Region and Regionalism in the Making?” At that meeting many debated the very validity of the term and what areas ought to be included. I presented immigration data arguing that the term ought to apply as equally to Honolulu, a city often omitted from consideration because it is not on the Mainland. The Miami-to-Honolulu axis, which I elaborated upon, more completely encompasses the whole national process that has been taking place throughout the whole United States.

ELLIOTT R. BARKAN

San Bernardino