America Beyond Black and White: How Immigrants and Fusions Are Helping Us Overcome the Racial Divide

Fernandez, a professor of sociology in the criminal justice department at Central Connecticut State, discusses the impact of immigration on America's economy and culture, proposing that rampant racial bigotry, rather than the unchecked influx of immigrants, is what threatens to tear society apart. After covering the history of U.S. immigration law, the economic role of immigrant labor in maintaining large-scale agriculture, and the cultures of Latin America and the Caribbean, Fernandez contends that as long as whites are the ""designer originals,"" while the rest of the population are ""knockoffs,"" immigrants will not be assimilated into U.S. culture. Dedicated to his grandson, ""a fantastic fusion of Columbian, French, Irish, Japanese and Spanish heritages,"" Fernandez's book suggests that the prejudice that sustains the dominance of whites can be undone by racial mixing, ultimately making Americans ""one race, united in peace and driven by our desire to celebrate a nation of all-American fusions."" Utopian perhaps and confrontational certainly, but definitely thought provoking.