Wu’s particular spin on this argumentrnwas that his dients were fleeing forcedrnsterilization, the supposed fate of thosernwho violate China’s strict birth controlrnmeasures. That this edict applies only tornwomen, and that all but nine of thernship’s passengers were men, does notrnphase Wu or the cadre of immigrationrnlawyers who have rallied to his cause.rnThe “right” to alight on America’srnshores, and to reproduce one’s kind andrnone’s culture without sanctions or limit,rnis unquestioned and unquestionable inrnthis most politically correct of all cities.rnElsewhere, however, this incident mayrnraise a few questions. While the Presidentrnof the United States nearly goes tornwar over the territorial integrity of thernmake-believe state of Bosnia-Herzegovinia,rnordinary Americans are beginningrnto ask why the integrity of our ownrnborders is being massively violated on arndaily basis. They read of the Pai Shengrnincident and wonder how many otherrnships have made midnight landings, undetected,rnand dumped the detritus ofrnuncounted nations on our shores.rnhi California, the economic consequencesrnof this invasion were dramatizedrnwhen Governor Pete Wilson askedrnfor three billion dollars in federal aid tornpay for the costs incurred in handlingrnillegal aliens. Hospitals, schools, andrnwelfare agencies are deluged, andrnCalifornia taxpayers foot the bill. Therncultural consequences are equallyrngrotesque. In San Francisco, where thernBoard of Supervisors has voted to barrncity police from cooperating with INSrnagents, city officials and parents are engagedrnin a bitter struggle over which languagernought to be spoken in the schools.rnIn the city’s West Portal district, studentsrnin the school’s “immersion” programrnare required to speak Cantonesernalmost exclusively while they cover thernsame subject matter as the other students.rnAccording to a story in the SanrnFrancisco Independent, “the program targetsrnEnglish-speaking children with therngoal of making them bilingual.” For thernpast eight years, the school offered twornregular classes and one immersion classrnfor each grade; this year, bilingual proponentsrndemanded that the ratio bernchanged to two immersion classes andrnone regular class. A “compromise” favoringrnthe bilingual advocates wasrnworked out. The school board has votedrnto encourage the growth of immersionrnprograms, on the theory that it would bernnothing less than racism to require Chinesernspeakers to learn English withoutrnalso requiring English speakers to learnrnCantonese. The same goes for Spanish,rnwhich has its own immersion program.rnIn the multicultural paradise of postmodernrnCalifornia, linguistic egalitarianismrnis the order of the day.rnAs the rising tide of unrestrictedrnimmigration threatens to inundate whatrnis left of America’s cultural uniqueness,rnthe political consequences are just beginningrnto make themselves felt. Inrnavant-garde San Francisco, however,rnwhere the future is now, the results arernalready sadly apparent. Here a corruptrncity bureaucrat who happens to be Chinesernis fighting his firing on the groundsrnthat to expel him from office amounts tornanti-Chinese “racism.” A recent demonstrationrnby his supporters on the steps ofrnCity Hall was sponsored by a grouprnknown as “Chinese for Affirmative Action.”rnSuch is life in San Francisco, thernmodel city of the new multiculturalrnAmerica.rnAs an indication of just how loony thisrncity is, we have the situation created byrnPresident Clinton’s appointment of cityrneouncilwoman Roberta Achtenberg, anrnavowed lesbian, to a top post at HUD.rnThis opened up a seat on the city councilrnand created a dilemma for MayorrnFrank Jordan: Which victimized minorityrnwould he appease in filling the vacancy?rnLatinos demanded the seat becausernthe only Latino on the council hadrnbeen defeated in the last election. Onrnthe other hand, the powerful gay communityrnwas upset because it consideredrnAchtenberg’s seat its personal property.rnIn a masterful political maneuver, whichrndisplayed his keen understanding of thernnew urban politics, Jordan killed twornbirds with one stone and appointed arnlesbian Latina.rn—Justin RaimondornO B I T E R DICTA: Poet and novelistrnFred Chappell and historian EugenernGenovese are the recipients of the 1993rnIngersoll Prizes. Chappell will receivernthe T.S. Eliot Award for Creative Writing,rnand Genovese, the Richard M.rnWeaver Award for Scholarly Letters.rnThe awards, each of which carries a cashrnprize of $20,000, acknowledge writers ofrnabiding importance whose works affirmrnthe fundamental principles of Westernrncivilization.rnFred Davis Chappell was born in Canton,rnNorth Carolina, in 1936. Althoughrnhe always thought of himself as a poet,rnhe was first recognized as a novelist afterrnwriting three critically acclaimed novelsrnin the I960’s: It Is Time, Lord (1963),rnThe Inkling (1965), and Dagon (1968).rnThese novels earned him the 1971 Prixrnde Meilleur des Lettres Etrangeres inrnFrance, where his writing had enormousrnimpact. Chappell’s other novels, whichrnall involve moral crises woven over timernand shifting memory, include: ThernGaudy Place (1973), I Am One of YournForever (1985), and Brighten the CornerrnWhere You Are (1989). Moments of Lightrn(1980) and More Shapes Than Onern(1991) are two of his volumes of shortrnstories, for which he has been cited fiverntimes in Best American Short Stories.rnAlthough his first book of verse. ThernWorld Between the Eyes, was not publishedrnuntil 1971, Chappell has alwaysrnbeen a prolific poet. He wrote a series ofrnbook-length poems containing both biographicalrnand fictional elements (River,rnBloodfire, Wind Mountain, and Earthsleep)rn, which were published together asrnMidquest in 1981. His other books ofrnverse include: Castle Tzingal (1984),rnSource (1985), First and Last Wordsrn(1989), and C (1992). Chappeh receivedrnthe Bollingen Prize in Poetry inrn1985. He currentiy teaches writing at thernUniversity of North Carolina in Greensboro.rnEugene Dominick Genovese is widelyrnregarded as America’s foremost authorityrnon the history of slavery in America.rnBorn in Brooklyn in 1930, Genovesernis the author of Roll, Jordan, Roll: ThernWorld the Slaves Made (1974), for whichrnhe received the Bancroft Prize, the FrederickrnG. Meltzer Award, and the Ainsley-rnWolfe Award. Roll, Jordan, Roll was alsornrecognized by the New York Times as onernof the ten best books of 1974. For suchrnother works as The Southern Traditionrn(1994), The Slaveholders’ Dilemmarn(1991), From Rebellion to Revolution:rnAfro-American Slave Revolts in the Makingrnof the Modern World (1979), In Redrnand Black: Marxian Explorations inrnSouthern and Afro-American Historyrn(1971), The World the Slaveholders Madern(1969), and The Political Economy ofrnSlavery (1965) Genovese has earned hisrnreputation as “ruthlessly honest” and freernof ideological cant.rnFrom 1969 to 1990, Genovese was arnprofessor of history and distinguishedrnprofessor of arts and sciences at the Universityrnof Rochester. He has held teachingrnpositions at Sir George WilliamsrnNOVEMBER 1993/7rnrnrn