The Census: Minority Report.(Brief Article)

The 2000 census, its numbers crunched at last, shows that Hispanics have drawn practically even with blacks as an American minority. In 1990, there were 30 million blacks in America and 22.4 million Hispanics. Now, there are 36.4 million blacks and 35.3 million Hispanics. This statistical photo finish got big play-and deserved it. The consequences for America's course are profound.

As all history textbooks now tell our students, the first black slaves in what would become the Thirteen Colonies arrived in Virginia in the early 17th century. But by that time, Spain had long explored the southern portions of North America, and had garrisons from Florida to Santa Fe. Throughout the 19th century, a host of Americans, from Aaron Burr to Davy Crockett to Teddy Roosevelt, schemed and fought to acquire pieces of this empire. Some Americans wanted even more than we got- President Grant tried to buy what is now the Dominican Republic. The broad story seemed very simple: Spain was an incompetent power, as was the successor state of Mexico. The United States took and bought what it needed, and gave it liberty and good government. The story, it seems, has a coda. Spain's empire vanished-except for its people, more and more of whom wish to enjoy the benefits of El Norte.

History never stays in the history books. The meta-story of slavery and emancipation affects politics today, from racial profiling to the career of Colin Powell. At the same time, the ...