America & me: A love story

Readers complain that Big Media, while professing to be enlightened, is in the dark on those occasions when it gathers a half-dozen pundits to discuss Latinos but doesn't include any Latinos.

My 75-year-old parents lived through the indignities of segregated schools, job discrimination, English-only laws, and signs in restaurants in the Southwest that said "No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed." They witnessed the ugly side of America.

But, in time, my parents also learned that America could redeem itself by finding its way back to its founding principles. And like most Mexican-Americans, they raised their kids to be crystal clear about the fact that we have only one country, one flag and one allegiance. Mexico hasn't given us anything since it unceremoniously gave our parents or grandparents a shove toward the door.

And yet, my father will often note that, these days, prejudice is still alive and lurking below the surface. It's more subtle now, he'll say. But it's still there.

Some of this prejudice has developed into a more malignant strain of racism or ethnocentrism. It's largely driven by fear of changing demographics. With the nation's 56 million Latinos now accounting for 17 percent of the population -- on its way to 25 percent in a couple of decades -- white Americans and African-Americans are feeling disoriented and displaced.

But my father is right about one thing: In the politically correct post-civil rights era in which we live, insults and slights are served up more politely than they used to be.

We all have our own story. Mine -- which could be titled "America & Me" -- is all about gratitude for my U.S. citizenship, even if one snarky reader did refer to it as a "technicality."

I love my country for the greatness it reveals, and the potential it has to be even greater. And you know what? I think America loves me back, and that it shows its affection with every blessing it bestows.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.