A Clever Approach

In a June 4^th, 2012 article entitled, “Ten thingsyou should know about the demographics of Texas”, blogger Charles Kuffner of offthekuff.com shares statistical data regarding demographics in Texas that support his apparent affinity for immigration and immigrants. Now, because Kuff’s blog is left-leaning and liberal, his assertions need not be readily apparent as it is primarily liberals who read his blog, but nonetheless, Kuff’s support of immigrants is not as ambiguous as it may initially appear to be.  Kuff lays out his argument in the simple format of 10 interrelated facts. The first seven facts that Kuff presents basically provide information showing the prevalence of communities of color/minorities and immigrants in Texas, and then the final three facts get to the point  Kuff is really trying to make, which is that immigrants and minorities are important to Texas and it’s economy. Each of Kuff’s facts or pieces of evidence is well supported in the fact that nearly all of his numbers have embedded links to their original sources, and the numbers are specific, rather than general estimates. In Kuff’s final three statements, he says that “Communities of color add billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs to Texas’s economy through entrepreneurship”, “Immigrants are essential to the economy as workers”, and “Immigrants contribute to the state economy through state and local taxes”, thus formulating a conclusion that there are many positives that come from minorities and immigration. His evidence is not only persuasive, but it covers Mexican Americans, Asians, Latinos, those in Houston and in Dallas, and immigrants as a whole, in all of Texas. The way in which Kuff went about sharing his thoughts on immigration was clever, in my opinion, and his less straight-forward approach should be welcomed by many. He adds at the end, with likely the wink of an eye, “Just some things to keep in mind.”