Last week, the U.S. Census declared that latinos are the largest minority group in the country. Technically speaking, of course, the largest minority group in the country is men (as there are a few more women out there than us guys), but in terms of race, latinos are first in the minority line.

But wait. Latino is an ethnic designation, not a race. As my high school Spanish teach back in New Mexico liked to say (in a classroom of whites and latinos), "we're all caucasians here." Her literal point was that racial terms are silly, and anyway, racial and ethnic labels are meaningless once you get to know people.

And while that's an admirable and idealistic thing to believe, that's just not the way our society works. For starters, there's a 400-year history of white domination to get past. And while the last forty years (or so) have seen remarkable, if not stunning, improvement in terms of making our society truly pluralistic, the fact remains that there are people out there wish things would go back to the way they were.

Witness the recently retired Sen. Jesse Helms. He was the last unrepentant segregationist in the Senate--and he was elected in 1972! Jesse mellowed a bit during his last few years in office (in the last couple of years Bono goaded him into supporting foreign aid for AIDS treatment in Africa, for example) but he never apologized for the race-baiting tactics of his campaigns or for his many racist policies. My guess is he won't. He'll die dreaming of white robes in the White House.

In the years since the civil rights movement, our nation has turned more to class than race when it comes to judging people. The children of middle and upper-class black families are, by and large, able to move in and out of social circles without the slightest whisper. Interracial marriages in the professional classes are common enough to not raise eyebrows--even here in the New South. In particular, people of Asian descent are as likely to marry someone who is white or black as they are someone who is Asian. Of course, many of those "Asian" people are like Tiger Woods and have a pastiche of ethnic and racial backgrounds.

When I was a little kid, I asked my mom how long it would take for everyone to turn brown. That is, how long it would take for whites and blacks and Asians and Amerindians and everyone else to get together and produce a single brown human race. I don't remember her exact answer, but I'm guessing it was something along the lines of "a long time."

So when Warren Beatty's character in Bulworth came along and expressed the same notion in somewhat cruder terms, I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't the only one who thought this might be a good idea.

Of course, I myself am not helping out my own cause. I married a woman who is pastier white than me (in terms of skin color), and our son is decidedly pale. I guess I don't put racial politics above love.

That's probably a good thing. And as far as I'm concerned, there's really no need for the differences in skin color to go away. For starters, these differences in "plumage" make the human race a more varied and beautiful one. And for another, these differences remind us that each person is different. More importantly, we're reminded that the strength of our human culture is dependent on the widest variety of thoughts possible. No one person or group has a monopoly on good ideas, just as no one person or group has a monopoly on bad ones. We've got to work together to have progress.

There are those who get their hackles up every February when Black History Month rolls around. "What about White History Month?" they like to ask. That's like a child asking "When is Children's Day?" when Daddy takes her out shopping for a Mother's Day present. I was told that every day is Children's Day, and while that may not be entirely accurate, it's pretty close to the truth--even if the kids don't see it that way. Every day in history class is White History Day, so taking a little time out to focus on some folks who still aren't in the textbooks is fine by me. Should we have a Latino History Month? An Amerindian History Month? A French History Month? How many groups should we bring to the table?

Fair questions. I think history should be taught as a way of explaining the culture where you live. When I lived in Lawrence, Kan., there was a big emphasis on abolitionists, and John Brown was lionized as a hero. The fact that he led an attack on a government armory and tried to incite the Civil War a few years early was mentioned, but only in passing. You see, without John Brown, it's quite likely that Lawrence wouldn't have survived the events of "Burning Kansas." Sure, he had a lot to do with causing some of those bloody battles, but with or without him slave traders were agitating in the northeastern corner of the Kansas territory, and towns like Lawrence that were populated with free staters were ripe targets. Brown organized the defense of the city more than once. Then he killed all the pro-slavery people he could find and high-tailed it back east. My guess is that very few places are as kind to John Brown as Lawrence is.

Down here in the New South, there are plenty of schools who teach the Civil War as "The War of Northern Aggression" or "The States Rights War." As far as I'm concerned, they can call it "Lincoln's Folly" as long as the question of slavery is well-discussed and a reasonably accurate portrayal of events is presented. If there are dingbats who want kids to believe that the antebellum South was full of gallant men and graceful women, that's fine, as long explain what those fine upstanding men and women of the South had back behind the house. Kids can sniff out hypocrisy faster than anyone.

My wife Barbara was born in North Carolina and went to junior high and high school in Nashville (Tennessee, not to be confused with the one in the Tar Heel State). One of the first things she did when decorating her dorm room at the University of Missouri was to put up a Confederate Flag. She was quickly shamed by her newfound friends into taking it down. She didn't understand that a symbol she saw as simply expressing pride in the South could also be seen as a symbol of hate. She was thoughtful enough to put the away. After all, if heritage includes hatred, then maybe we ought to be focusing on building a better future and not propping up the past.

There are, of course, lots of ways to interpret that bit of wisdom. Still, I prefer to look forward to my future in this nation that is, for reasons other than military or economic might, the greatest on the planet. Our strength comes from our diversity and the freedom to be different. All of those differences simply add up to a better America

Jon Worley never feels more patriotic than he does during Black History Month.