When our schools teach history, they hit on a few big events and a relative handful of "important" people. As is often noted, most classrooms don't get past World War II. Some folks claim that this is because there isn't enough time in the school year to go farther, but I have a feeling that the real problem is that examining the Communist witch hunts, Vietnam, Watergate, Iran-Contra and other tasty tidbits of our recent past would lead to all sorts of protests from parents across the political spectrum.

But even if we taught history up through, say, the 2000 election (a wonderful subject for a civics class, if you ask me), we'd still be focusing on "big" things. And that would be missing the real engine of human progress and expansion--the people who did the digging, hauling and building of civilizations.

We know the names of the Pharaohs who built the Pyramids (their names are all over them, of course), but we aren't even sure how the things were built, much less the names of anyone who did the work. We know that ancient civilizations made fertile the crescent that centers upon modern-day Iraq, but we don't know the stories of the people who built the canals upon which Western Civilization was launched. On and on it goes. It turns out that history was not only written by the victors. It was written by the rich as well.

By and large, the folks advocating stricter immigration laws (and more stringent enforcement of those laws) point to Hispanic immigration from Mexico and Central America as the gravest threat to our society. They complain that these immigrants (illegal or otherwise) refuse to learn English, don't integrate into their new communities and, in fact, retain allegiance to "the old country." Some folks are so silly as to point to the widespread display of Mexican, Honduran and Salvadoran flags in largely Hispanic neighborhoods. Have these folks never seen the Irish, English and other national flags often flown by folks of European descent?

I guess not. But what these anti-immigration zealots don't realize is that this nation has been built in the backs of immigrants. Whether we're talking about African slaves in the "old" South or Hispanics in the "new" South, the fact of the matter is that ever since the first Europeans landed in this country, immigrants have been the work force that built America.

Who built the railroads out West? Chinese immigrants, by and large. Who built the Midwestern farms that fed (and still feed) America? European immigrants from Scandinavia, Germany, Russia and everywhere in between. In fact, if not for the Russian pogroms of 1871, Mennonite immigrants might not have brought over their "Turkey Red" hard winter wheat, the strain that made western Kansas the breadbasket of the world.

And this trend continued in the 1900s. As cities grew, immigrants flowed to them and built houses, buildings, roads, bridges and everything else necessary to "keep America strong." Did these immigrants learn English? Generally not. But their children did. And while the first generation of immigrants often live in "ethnic enclaves" (a phrase I dislike, but one that is reasonably accurate), the children of immigrants spread out across the country. One easy way to see this is to look at the children of the immigrants that came over in the large wave of Chinese immigration in the 1960s. The parents landed and, for the most part, stuck to large cities. Now, the American-born children of these immigrants can be found in all corners of the country. And yes, they speak perfect English.

I live in North Carolina, the state that leads the nation in Hispanic immigration. Why? Because North Carolina is one of the fastest-growing (some might say fastest-sprawling) states in the nation. We need new houses, and we need a lot of them. If you look at work crews at home sites, the vast majority are entirely Hispanic--though the foreman is generally a gringo. This Hispanic immigration is most noticeable in places like Durham. In 1990, a handful (less than 500) people of Hispanic descent called Durham home. In 2000, there were 16,000. Some estimates put that number past 20,000 today.

This has caused some problems. Many of these folks are "part-time" immigrants, and their children are in and out of schools, which plays havoc with rigid state regulations concerning classroom size. Also, the local police force has had to hire interpreters. But the benefits are much greater. We have a skilled and enthusiastic work force available to build much-needed housing (Raleigh, which now abuts Durham in a few places, has added more people--in absolute numbers, not a percentage--since 2000 than any city east of the Mississippi other than New York). And I can now enjoy real Mexican food at local restaurants and shop at stores that stock spices and foods I like to use in my cooking.

Of course, growth is a mixed blessing in and of itself, but when growth is accompanied by an increase in diversity (tech and university jobs have attracted many Asian and Indian immigrants, so that they now make up about 5 percent of the metro area), you can almost feel an area growing more vital by the day.

Yes, the anti-immigration folks are starting make more and more noise here. But do they really want to turn off the pipeline that is fueling our area? They probably don't think about it that way. Some of them are genuinely fearful for their jobs, and some of them just dislike folks who don't look or speak like them. But without the massive influx of immigrants to our area, our cities would be much the poorer in terms of culture and ideas. And we would lose our status as one of the most desirable places to live in the nation.

I don't care so much about that last bit. But someone's gonna pay if I lose my source for fifteen different types of chili powder.

Jon Worley cooks like an ugly American.