If You Can't Stand the Heat . . .

Here are some interesting numbers about Los Angeles County:

* Two-thirds of all births here are to foreign-born mothers.

* Educating undocumented immigrant children costs about $1 billion a year.

* A Latino immigrant is paid, on average, 72% less than his native-born counterparts.

Feel the heat that comes from these numbers? It is the heat, I think, of racism. In our hearts, few of us can escape thinking in racial terms. And few cultures have been asked to absorb so many different races, in such a short time, as has ours.

So when we confront numbers like these we sense a small wave of fear or triumph, depending on our situation. We feel control slipping away from us, or coming into our grasp. In the end, racism is all about control.

But these numbers, which come from a new book on California immigration, just may help us rise above racism. Because the numbers suggest, along with much additional evidence, that we face a common problem and have a common interest in solving it. In fact, the future of all Southern California may depend on finding that solution.

The book is titled "The California Cauldron" and was written by UCLA geography professor William A.V. Clark. In one disturbing section after another, Clark describes how California's cities and towns have been inundated by one of the greatest waves of immigration in human history and how no one--particularly the immigrants themselves--has been spared by the result.

Some of Clark's statistics will seem familiar, but they bear repeating. Since 1980, 5 million foreign newcomers have arrived in California, joining the 25 million already here. The mix of newcomers is astounding, from Vietnamese to Ukrainians, and entire cities have switched their racial compositions in less than a generation.

Within California, startling differences emerge. Currently, for example, 41% of all California immigrants wind up in Los Angeles County. One ZIP Code in Glendale, 91205, has absorbed 16,000 immigrants since 1980, and another ZIP Code in San Francisco has absorbed 25,000. Meanwhile, the state's best-known ZIP Code in Beverly Hills, 90210, has absorbed very few.

All of this makes California the great exception when it comes to the costs and benefits of immigration, Clark writes. At the national level, he contends, new immigrants have probably produced a plus for the economy. But in Los Angeles County and other heavy-influx areas, they have produced a large deficit. The federal government, after all, receives the lion's share of revenue from immigrants through income taxes but pays only a small portion of their education and medical care costs.