I think what he’s trying to say is that for years people came to the US and became “Americans”. Proudly holding onto their heritage, but never putting it in front of their now home country. In several instances groups of immigrants have come here and tried to make an insular community that mimics what they had back home. Many do not feel the need to learn the native language or adhere to native customs.
Oklahoma City is an excellent case study. You have a growing a vibrant Vietnamese community who’s genesis was dirt poor refugees. In a couple of generations they are grudating doctors and lawyers that speak English and truly consider themselves Americans. Traditions and culture are still very important to them, but the scale doesn’t tip. There is also a thriving Nigerian community that is doing much the same.
Now if you look at the Hispanic culture you do see some great examples. The guy who does our lawn is a resident alien. He started with just him and a cousin pushing mowers and he now has multiple employees and several trucks and trailers. He’s worked hard to improve his English and he’s told me he intends to sit for citizenship - as he considers himself American. He’ll be the first to tell you many, if not most, of his compatriots have no desire to follow his path. They only look south and are only using the US as a means to an end. My wife is a teacher in Edmond and let’s face it ... Edmond is as white bread as it gets, yet she has Hispanic students that struggle mightily because their fathers don’t allow English to be taught or spoken in the home. She has told me that parent communication is nigh on impossible, because the moms in the home especially are not English speakers. How do they expect to thrive in this country if learning the language isn’t important to them?
I guess I’m more sensitive to this, because much of my heritage comes from Germans who were living in Russia. They were sponsored and arrived in this country in the late teens and twenties, because they were forced out of their homes by the Bolsheviks. When they came here, none of them spoke English, but in a generation they were sending their sons off to war against Germany. They could have stayed in Germany, but they chose to come here to be Americans and it was important to them to assimilate. It’s another topic all together, but if you don’t think Germans in the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s went through massive shunning and persecution, you’re greatly mistaken. Yet, they built lives, acquired property, sent their kids to school and the result of that is a family who now lives the American dream.
I think this should be the minimum for people who want to immigrate here ...
Anyway ...
I thank you for such a thoughtful reply. You make a very convincing anecdotal argument. I do not deny that many immigrants from our southern border are here only for the work. They consider themselves to be Mexicans, for example, not Americans, and they have no desire to become Americans. Frankly I see nothing wrong with that.
One of my anecdotes: I have a 42 year old man from Texas that works for me. He has lived in Oklahoma since he was 15. But to this day he insists he’s Texan, roots for the Longhorns and Dallas Cowboys, returns to El Paso for every holiday and vacation. I do not see him as being an unacceptable person to live in my community. I view the immigrant Mexicans who have his attitude also to be perfectly acceptable neighbors.
My anecdotal experience is far removed from yours. The Mexicans, Guatemalans and Hondurans with whom I have come into contact have followed the same linguistic path as your German ancestors. The first generation, the immigrants, speak little to no English. Their children, the second generation, are bilingual, and their children, the third generation, know only enough Spanish to understand a little of what their grandparents are saying.
I see history repeating itself. Irish immigrants settled in Irish conclaves in Boston, and were vilified. Russian Jews formed their own communities in New York. We have Chinatown in San Francisco. Mormons fled and created their own state.
Today we see Latino immigrants trying desperately to create communities with which they are familiar. It’s not a rejection of American culture, as so many Americans suppose. It’s trying to hold onto somerhing familiar while they try to figure out their new surroundings.
I strenuously disagree with you that they are not ambitious. The percentage of ambitious, go-getters in the Latino community is every much as strong as in others.
I’m baffled by your comment that I am mistaken if I don’t believe German immigrants were harassed and faced prejudice. That’s been exactly the argument I have been making! The Germans survived the prejudice of the 20’s and 30’s and prospered. I guess today it’s the German’s turn to harass and bring scorn upon the Mexican immigrants. But the Mexicans will survive and prosper just as the Germans did.
