d people I know are Hispanic. I use this group as an example. One could draw the same conclusions, from a religious standpoint, to current trends in the American Islamic communities. I may be looked at as a liberal on certain issues, but this is one that I definitely fall into the conservative camp on.I got into a little bit of a debate with Lilly this morning on the telephone over multiculturalism in America. The topic came up when we were discussing taxes oddly enough. I made the comment that as someone who had lived in Southern California for many years, I had some negative feelings towards the growing immigrant population, specifically in that state. I'm not going to bring up citizen status here, as undoubtedly many of these people are here illegally, but many are not. That is another whole discussion entirely.
My irritation lies in the perceived failure, at least as I see it, of said immigrants to assimilate themselves into the English-speaking American society. I have no problem with people legally immigrating to the United States. The problem is that it seems like when they move here in such numbers, as the Mexican-American population has, they don't attempt to learn the language or customs of their new home, nor, do they attempt to help, and sometimes even, allow, their children to adapt. Because of political correctness, the state has made it that much easier for them to continue to segregate and ostracize themselves from society. The state must print all legal documents in English and Spanish, which costs taxpayers money. The state must hire multilingual workers for most jobs that require working with the public. Schools must take on the burden on more and more ESL classes for children, as the parents are unwilling to teach their children English, but continue to speak Spanish in the household.
Now all this works out wonderful for the hispanic community at large. They can move here, enjoy the benefits of higher wages and a more bountiful standard of living, yet not have to do anything to mesh with the established society.
On the other hand, those of us who grew up in the state and have paid taxes with the sweat off of our backs get screwed. More and more jobs require the ability to speak Spanish as well as English fluently. Our tax dollars get funnelled into paying for extra paperwork, extra employees, extra hassles at the DMV. I worked in retail for a few years and found myself chided by some Mexican-Americans because I couldn't understand them enough to help them out. Even now, part of my current job entails calling restaurants on the west coast and troubleshooting data connection devices (modems, DSL lines ect) with the store managers. One out of every four calls I make to Southern California ends up being a huge hassle, due to the communication barrier. The funny thing is, I do know a few words of Spanish. For instance, if I'm asking a manager 'how many' people were on the clock that day, and they can't understand the phrase, I'll often ask, "Cuantos 'hourly labor'?" Then the person at the other end assumes I speak Spanish and stops attempting to speak English. This is something I've learned to avoid doing now.
In my opinion, the laws and culture of California has made the immigration population lazy, and not forced them to adapt to America or it's culture. The more this is allowed, the more demands will be made by that population that we, the hosts, adapt to their culture and language. I just do not think this is right.
Now Lilly's take on all of this is that she believes the situation gives me, the American, the responsibility to better myself by learning a new language. She feels that it gives us incentives to up our learning and better integrate ourselves in an ever growing multicultural society. I shouldn't be focused on the jobs I am losing to less qualified Spanish-speaking individuals, but I should focus on taking advantage of the situation by learning Spanish, thus upping my value greatly as an employee. While I see her point here, I can't get past the fact that I'M THE ONE WHO HAS TO ADAPT!
I had a friend who's parents were immigrants from Macedonia. They moved here in the early 70's, knowing not a lick of English. They grounded themselves in New Jersey and found themselves poorly paying jobs (factories don't care about your native tongue). They learned to speak English and moved on to better jobs. The father went through citizenship classes and eventually passed the citizenship test. The mother, while she still is considered a resident alien, speaks English well enough to get by and has never expected the government to provide translation tools or to accommodate her because of her native tongue. They did what they had to do to fit in with society around them, and thus make a good life for themselves. They are now living in Dublin, OH... one of the richest 'burbs of Columbus. Looking at them, I know that immigrants can assimilate themselves, they just need to have the drive to do so.
What is your take on this?
