Orange County Foreign Populations

For about a year now, the Primer family has been riveted to the television. Death counts from their disintegrating homeland of Bosnia drone on inside their Mission Viejo apartment. They flip on the electronic images of destruction upon awakening each morning and shut off the talking heads just before going to bed. Even their 2-year-old daughter Andrea's bright blue eyes recognize the ever-present CNN Headline News on the screen.

To understand the future of American politics, look closely at Dana Point in Orange County, a Stanford University professor says. And keep in mind that in a few years whites will cease to be the majority in California. Around the year 2000, the state estimates, whites will make up less than half of California's more than 31 million people.

When Taiwanese immigrant Ke-Chhi Tsai moved to the United States 24 years ago, the one thing she nearly had to leave behind was her faith. A devoted Christian for 60 years, Tsai could not find a congregation where members spoke her native dialect--until about six years ago, when she was spotted at a supermarket by members of the Taiwanese Mennonite Church of Buena Park.

For 55-year-old Martie Myers, the main attraction was a chance to sample all the different kinds of food. For 12-year-old Edie Tiscareno, it was trying his hand at the carnival games and enjoying the rides. They were among 5,000 people of varied ages and distinctive backgrounds who came from across the Southland on Saturday for "Thank You, America," a weekend festival at Rancho Santiago College.

Since emigrating to Orange County four months ago, Jampa Kahdup has been both haunted and heartened by the question most frequently asked about his homeland: "Where is Tibet?" While most seek only the general location of this little-known place, the question is a stark reminder to Kahdup of Tibet's precarious fate under 40 years of Communist Chinese domination that he fears is wiping out what little remains of the mountainous region's national identity.

For 55-year-old Martie Myers, the main attraction was a chance to sample all the different kinds of food. For 12-year-old Edie Tiscareno, it was trying his hand at the carnival games and enjoying the rides. They were among 5,000 people of varied ages and distinctive backgrounds who came from across the Southland on Saturday for "Thank You, America," a weekend festival at Rancho Santiago College.

To understand the future of American politics, look closely at Dana Point in Orange County, a Stanford University professor says. And keep in mind that in a few years whites will cease to be the majority in California. Around the year 2000, the state estimates, whites will make up less than half of California's more than 31 million people.

Shopping can be more than finding the best bargain; it can be a cultural experience. Therein lies the attraction of such ethnic shopping enclaves as Little Saigon in Westminster and 4th Street in downtown Santa Ana. While Little Saigon caters mostly to Asian Americans and 4th Street to Latinos, more and more shoppers are finding that these places offer not only some of the best buys but also the pleasant surprises of visiting a foreign country.

If you are willing to forgo the standardized opening and closing times offered by malls, neighborhood shopping can be fun, leisurely and productive. Alternatives to crowded malls can be found all over the county, from the shopping district next to the San Juan Capistrano Mission to Seal Beach's Main Street to Fullerton's historic district. Perhaps the biggest attraction for those who venture off the mall path is being outdoors.

When Taiwanese immigrant Ke-Chhi Tsai moved to the United States 24 years ago, the one thing she nearly had to leave behind was her faith. A devoted Christian for 60 years, Tsai could not find a congregation where members spoke her native dialect--until about six years ago, when she was spotted at a supermarket by members of the Taiwanese Mennonite Church of Buena Park.

Lovely Moua wears a Hmong costume whenever something special comes up: A wedding. A birthday party. A festival. Looking lovely in the tribal dress of her people--the Hmongs are native to Laos--Moua appeared at the Civic Center Sunken Gardens on Tuesday to salute something she's equally proud of--the American flag. "It's wonderful," said the 14-year-old, an eighth-grader at Willis Warner Middle School. "I'm happy that I can dress up and participate in something like this."

At Sunny Hills High, the language barrier was a Berlin wall so thick that it divided parents into wary camps that worried about the power of foreign words instead of the usual PTA concerns about enlisting enough volunteers for the football snack shack. Korean families hosted parents' meetings in Korean and duly anointed a leader of the "Korean Family Support Group."

With a growing number of local employers placing a premium on bilingual employees, it's tough these days to get a seat in Spanish instructor Art Espinosa's class at Rancho Santiago College. "My students are professionals who need to learn a practical vocabulary and phrases and they need to learn it pretty quickly," said Espinosa, who has taught Spanish for Public Personnel at the college for the past 10 years.

The debate about the nation's common language is as new as Luceo Marquez's arrival in Tustin and as old as Benjamin Franklin's bitter, pre-Revolutionary war letters attacking German immigrants who will "never adopt our language customs any more than they can acquire our complexion." Today, the enduring war over words and accents is often played out in tense skirmishes in suburban Orange County settings as placid as a McDonald's restaurant.

Shopping can be more than finding the best bargain; it can be a cultural experience. Therein lies the attraction of such ethnic shopping enclaves as Little Saigon in Westminster and 4th Street in downtown Santa Ana. While Little Saigon caters mostly to Asian Americans and 4th Street to Latinos, more and more shoppers are finding that these places offer not only some of the best buys but also the pleasant surprises of visiting a foreign country.

Congressional negotiators agreed Wednesday to a major restructuring of national immigration policies, permitting at least 45% more foreigners to enter the country in each of the next three years and about 35% more in every year thereafter. Under terms of the deal, struck by a House-Senate conference committee, 700,000 persons would be allowed to immigrate to this country each year from 1992 to 1994, up from the current 500,000.

If you are willing to forgo the standardized opening and closing times offered by malls, neighborhood shopping can be fun, leisurely and productive. Alternatives to crowded malls can be found all over the county, from the shopping district next to the San Juan Capistrano Mission to Seal Beach's Main Street to Fullerton's historic district. Perhaps the biggest attraction for those who venture off the mall path is being outdoors.

For about a year now, the Primer family has been riveted to the television. Death counts from their disintegrating homeland of Bosnia drone on inside their Mission Viejo apartment. They flip on the electronic images of destruction upon awakening each morning and shut off the talking heads just before going to bed. Even their 2-year-old daughter Andrea's bright blue eyes recognize the ever-present CNN Headline News on the screen.