As previously noted, economic integration with the United States has reached new
heights, particularly with the development of the tourist economy in the 1960's.37 Associated
with that process has been a profound set of demographic effects. Immigration from the Eastern
Caribbean and the continental United States, combined with the impact of past population
movements from Puerto Rico and the French Caribbean, have resulted in major numerical
growth, an altered group composition, and increased density.
 Immigration, of course, has always been characteristic of the Virgin Islands and the
Caribbean as a whole. It has been estimated, for example, that 20% of the population at the
time of the transfer was non-native-born"38 But the volume and impact of the influx that has
occurred over the past twenty-five years has been unprecedented. It has made native-born
Virgin Islanders a numerical minority. It has also created a society divided along complex lines
of race, class, color, ethnicity and citizenship.
 At a conference on political status held at the then College of the Virgin Islands in
March, 1968, Mr. Philip A. Gerard of St. Croix made a presentation entitled "Social
Configurations and Some Problems". Mr. Gerard's comments are still very relevant:
 The Virgin Islands society is indeed plagued by factional disputes; racism does
 exist; economic exploitation is a fact of daily island life; poverty abounds in
 many quarters; functional illiteracy is assuming alarming proportions; and the
 opportunity to participate fully in our economic and social life is not open to all
 members of the society.39
 Mr. Gerard went on to describe the links between ethnicity and socio-economic position
 that were then emerging. He noted that whites dominated the economy and were well
 represented in the professions. The native black upper middle class was largely professional
 rather than entrepreneurial and controlled the government. The mass of native blacks and
 Puerto Ricans were consumers occupying the middle and lower economic and social positions. At
 the bottom of the ladder were recent Caribbean immigrants and unskilled native blacks and
 Puerto Ricans.40
 Mr. Gerard's description of Virgin Islands' society in 1968, with only modest
 modifications, applies today. Furthermore, over the past thirty years the Virgin Islands has
 been transformed from one in which the black native-born segment constituted the clear
 majority--estimated at approximately 60% of the population as late as 1960 41-to a segmented
 one in which none of the major groups has a majority position. According to the 1980 Census, of a
 total population of 96,569, only 43,234 were born in the Virgin Islands, or 45% of the population.
 And this 45% is not composed exclusively of the black native-born. If we examine the
 percentage of the population with mothers born outside the Virgin Islands, the figures are even
 more revealing. A total of 66% of the 1980 population belong in this category. Just one-third of
 the residents of the islands had maternal roots that extended beyond one generation.

 Another significant demographic factor with important implications is age
 composition. The 1980 Census indicated that 43% of the population was 18 years or younger. In
 addition to obvious ramifications for employment and crime, there are political and social ones