Muchas gracias, y'all

I got my butt kicked into the 21^st century last week.  It happened on my road trip  up the east side  of the US,  from Hobe Sound in south Florida to Katonah, just north of New York City.

I don’t do this often enough, and when the opportunity comes along I always try to route myself through North Carolina, ‘The Land of the Long Leaf Pine”  and land of my birth.

A few miles after crossing the NC/SC border I took at left at  Lumberton NC  and headed up Rte 211 to Red Springs, Raeford – destination Chapel Hill.   Two-lane blacktop all the way.  I love it.

As the miles ticked by I started to see interesting signs, like  “Se habla Espanol”  -“Iglesia Santa Maria”.  When I was in school at UNC the state was pretty much 100% black and white and while I had trouble with the accent at times, English was the first and only language.  Now this?

“What gives?” I asked my friend Sharon who has lived in Kinston NC long enough that I think of her as a native.   Her reply opened my eyes.

“North Carolina is home to the fastest-growing Hispanic population in the country.  That's right -- not CA, or AZ, or TX, or NM.  The Old North State.  I sit on an advocacy task force for our Community Health Center with at least two Hispanic members and two Hispanic staff people; all of our public agencies have Spanish-speaking staff;  several churches now hold a Spanish-language service to their Sunday rosters.

Kinston is typical, and this is a town of only 24,000 people.  More than 5 years ago, I was driving cross country to a meeting in Wilmington and rounded the curve between Beulaville and Chinquapin -- and nearly had a wreck.  St. James Baptist Church had morphed into Iglesias Santiago. The state legislature is practically under siege to reverse a law it passed four years ago granting in-state tuition at state educational institutions (including Blue Heaven) to the American-born children of illegal immigrants. So that's what gives.

A friend and ex-colleague who lives in Chapel Hill added, “ ALL the service people -- plumbers, painters, electricians, yard maintenance--are hispanic.  A working knowledge of Spanish is becoming vital.  Why NC?  This a builder's mecca and one of the fastest growing states in the nation.  NC passed NJ last year as the tenth most populous and Raleigh is the new Seattle, a magnet for young people.  As a realtor said, "We are the new Florida (for retirees)."

The melting pot of our grand parents is bubbling all over again, in every corner of the country.  I imagine on my next trip there I’ll be having salsa with my hush puppies.