From my own standpoint, all those derogatory comments I used to regularly hear amongst my own extended family about Mexicans, became muted in my presence when I married one. Further, my wife's own parents and two older siblings were undocumented immigrants in this country for 28 years, before attaining citizenship with the last real round of federal immigration reform in the mid-80s. And my own multi-ethnic family has caused more than a few of my relations to seriously reconsider their own prejudices.

My generation was the first in urban Southern California to attend desegregated schools. As a result, many of us became friends with kids from different racial backgrounds and ethnic heritages, and we soon came to see the ingrained bigotries of our parents' and grandparents' generations for the utter nonsense it still is. The experience was empowering.

Racism and xenophobia will not end during our own lifetimes, but I do have every confidence that their corrosive social effects in this country will be greatly reduced, mitigated and in some instances eliminated by the time our own grandchildren attain our age bracket. That's six to seven decades hence, of course, but meaningful social change often takes several generations to achieve in whole or great part.