Whites will fall below half of California's population sometime between 1998 and 2002, and they fear a commensurate loss of power. The left and the media, in California and elsewhere, consistently underestimate the depth of this fear, which blows east like a bad Pacific storm. Last year, the state led the national movement against immigration with the passage of the anti-Latino Proposition 187, and now it's going after affirmative action. The state's reactionary laws aren't being approved by conservatives alone. And it's not just whites vs. everyone else.
Class is also a major factor.
Californians hounded the Chinese in the mid-1800s, leading to the Exclusion Act of 1882. There also have been movements against Filipinos and Mexicans. When California starts whacking minorities, race-baiters from the Atlantic side of the country eagerly join the rumble. Now, however, the stakes are higher. Wilson has been chiseling in the dark mine of fear that was El Dorado for Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, both of whom had political roots in California.