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Allentown PA for 20 years has had a tidal wave of Puerto Rican's moving here in an attempt to escape the high cost of living in NYC and Northern NJ.
Allentowns downtown called Center City houses the majority of those Puerto Rican's that have moved here.
The crime rate including murder, rape, gang and drug violations overwhelmingly happen within the Center City area.
Puerto Rican's moving here from Puerto Rico make up the majority of the Spanish only speaking residents here and as a result have caused the overwheming amount of problems having to do with language barriers.
The unemployment rate for the Puerto Rican population in Allentown is much higher and tends to be very long term than for the rest of the cities population including blacks.
As a result you have a massive drain on city and county services without reimbursement.
You will hear the word's " Speak Spanish? " uttered everywhere here.
Large populations of Puerto Rican's refuse to learn English and have made this known to the rest of the cities population.
Outside Center City the rest of Allentown and the outlying areas are very white, well educated as a whole and the two cultures together sometimes make for a very stark comparison not only in skin culture but in educational attainment, cultural norms, number of offspring and net worth.
Because of this there is a tense and uneasy balance between cultures.
You'll see these cultures mix at different retail environments like the Lehigh Valley Mall where I overheard a woman tell her companion after hearing a diatribe in Spanish "" You'll always know who the underclass are just by listening "".
That statement speaks volumes.
From personal experience,even legal hispanics prefer to speak Spanish.
When they are around each other,that's no problem.
The problem is when they are also around english speakers,such as at the nurses station.
This specific story certainly doesn't trace to any connection with illegal immigration as well. But an unknowing outsider, coming across the same situation may assume the Spanish-speakers are illegal aliens instead. How many Hispanic Legal Permanent Residents and U.S. citizens are being unknowing identified from a distance as "illegals"?
This brings me back to a story I have told before. A woman goes through my wife's cashier line to pay for her purchases by personal check. Following store policy, my wife asks for her driver's license to write down the number on the check. The woman complies, but later my wife is called into the office.
The customer has left the store, but calls to say my wife attempted to "steal her identity" (she heard my wife's accent, and made an assumption). Of course the office did not hold the customer on the phone (or tell her my wife's legal resident status), they simply said they would "handle it", and then called my wife in. They then created an adjustment on the fly: My wife was to call the floor CSR every time after that ANY customer was paying by personal check to complete the transaction.
The customer still probably thinks they helped catch an identity thief. Worse still, if she returned to the store later (my wife did work there for several months after the incident), she thinks the store is turning a blind eye to it. Word of mouth goes around - "That store hires illegal aliens that try to steal your identity!" - and another myth gets perpetrated further.
Rather than trying to reject these stories, it needs to be realized with how they are mistakenly cycled from person to person, who knows how far it will go...
Oh yeah, I am sure this same scenario plays out all over the country in notable numbers.
I was 1 of 4 who used to work in a member services call unit for a Medi-Cal HMO in southern California. Two spoke absolutely no Spanish, one fluent and I spoke broken spanish. The fluent one got stuck with the most difficult calls (the illegal immigrant mothers with american born children) while the white girls didn't. I felt like I should have never given them the idea that I spoke ANY spanish because it made my workload a little heavier.
Well you should blame illegal immigration for your dilema not your workplace.
From personal experience,even legal hispanics prefer to speak Spanish.
When they are around each other,that's no problem.
The problem is when they are also around english speakers,such as at the nurses station.
I fully agree. Those that call me a racist simply by desiring English to be spoken while interacting in a public venue are simply objectifying their own fears as they live another day in this country.
Speaking of the nurses station; My niece is an RN at a large hospital here in the Lehigh Valley.
The issues surrounding language barriers have been addressed by her managers and they have sided with the overwhelming majority of not only nurses but Physicians as well in outright rejecting mandatory Spanish language classes for medical staff.
They have a staff of interpreters that are focused on that one task and are paid accordingly for their talent.
The divide here in the Lehigh Valley of PA between the Puerto Rican population and the indigenous population is very wide.
Considering that Puerto Ricans are US Citizens by birth and are taught English on the island I seriously doubt the problems that plague Allentown's Puerto Rican's population have nothing to do with language. It has to do with their socio-economic status instead but language xenephobes think that if they magically learn "English" those problems will disappear. I could only imagine what you think of blacks too.
Outside of the black person that has immigrated here from predominately black populated countries that do not speak English I have absolutely no issues whatsoever understanding them because they speak.................ENGLISH!
Even those black immigrants that have moved to the U.S. that speak a language other than English as their native tongue do not hesitate but to learn English starting immediately upon entering the country.
You never hear of a black person or any other immigrant including eastern Europeans that flat out refuse to learn the English language.
Another cultural oddity here in this area is that Puerto Rican children act as interpreters for their parents and grandparents.
It is commonly known that the puerto Rican population as a whole refuses the English language here in this area and as a result they only exacerbate already severe social and cultural divides.
Being a moderate Democrat and a supporter of the Affordable Care Act, same sex marriage and social safety nets, I'm also a supporter of militarization of our southern border, a staunch supporter of the 2nd amendment and a national mandate that legally declares the official language of the United States as English.
The way to rectify this situation is to provide English language instruction for every non English speaking immigrant and for those moving from a non English speaking territory.
This instruction would be paid by the government.
If the immigrant refused they would be denied any stay status other than maximum time allotted for visitation.
There is a positive outcome concerning Illegal immigrant status and the Affordable Care Act.
If one cannot prove legal immigration status one will be refused medical care concerning said law.
Of course this will be changed eventually but for now it sends fear through the illegal community.
Outside of the black person that has immigrated here from predominately black populated countries that do not speak English I have absolutely no issues whatsoever understanding them because they speak.................ENGLISH!
Even those black immigrants that have moved to the U.S. that speak a language other than English as their native tongue do not hesitate but to learn English starting immediately upon entering the country.
You never hear of a black person or any other immigrant including eastern Europeans that flat out refuse to learn the English language.
Another cultural oddity here in this area is that Puerto Rican children act as interpreters for their parents and grandparents.
It is commonly known that the puerto Rican population as a whole refuses the English language here in this area and as a result they only exacerbate already severe social and cultural divides.
Being a moderate Democrat and a supporter of the Affordable Care Act, same sex marriage and social safety nets, I'm also a supporter of militarization of our southern border, a staunch supporter of the 2nd amendment and a national mandate that legally declares the official language of the United States as English.
The way to rectify this situation is to provide English language instruction for every non English speaking immigrant and for those moving from a non English speaking territory.
This instruction would be paid by the government.
If the immigrant refused they would be denied any stay status other than maximum time allotted for visitation.
There is a positive outcome concerning Illegal immigrant status and the Affordable Care Act.
If one cannot prove legal immigration status one will be refused medical care concerning said law.
Of course this will be changed eventually but for now it sends fear through the illegal community.
I think many Hispanic immigrants, Puerto Rican or otherwise learn English out of necessity but many of them will never use English as their primary language. I think this is also true of those who are citizens of this country. I don't think our government (aka the taxpayer) should pay to teach any of them English. It should be understood that in order to come here or remain here they will have to enroll in English classes paid for by themselves. If they don't comply then they should be deported. Of course monitoring it is something our government isn't good at since they can't even seem to monitor visa overstayers.
As for Obamacare illegal immigrants will still get emergency medical care and that is costly. We need to rid ourselves of these people rather than spending anymore of our tax dollars on them.
The Hispanic population will also continue to grow...
I live in the Southwest, I am a New Mexico native. Certainly all of the Spanish I have ever heard around here didn't come from illegal aliens, or even those that were descended from illegal immigrants. To this day, I am not aware of anyone around me to be an illegal alien.
I'm not talking in mutually exclusive terms, I don't know why that is so hard to comprehend...
You are still contradicting yourself by again stating that Spanish usage will continue to grow, after agreeing with Rogers who clearly said it won't. How on earth do you expect anyone to understand your position, when you hold two opposing views simultaneously?
So, which is it? Either Spanish usage will continue to grow, as you claim, or as Rogers stated, it won't. Again, you can't have it both ways. And, please don't reply with more deflection. The issue is not the continued growth of the Hispanic population; or whether the Spanish-speakers in New Mexico are citizens, legal immigrants, or illegal aliens. At issue is the growth (you) or decline (Rogers) of Spanish usage by the Hispanic population in this country. For the final time, make up your mind.
In addition, after arguing on this forum that "Spanish usage will continue to grow" including, repeating it in this post, you commented in P&OC on the lack of Spanish usage and the preference for the English language by Hispanic immigrants using your Mexican stepchildren as an example.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IBMMuseum
Today, they are indistinguishable from their peers in school, with the primary language (more words during the course of the day) being English.
Some time in that first year, they happened to have a late-night argument. I was the only one to overhear, without it even being known that I was awake in bed. The younger two children were asleep. Point was - without knowing I was listening (and it didn't relate to be phrased towards me hearing anyway) - they were arguing fully in English.
I too encountered the same thing when employers found out I speak Spanish. One employer had many Spanish speaking customers (and most were illegals since the area was an illegal haven)and they wanted me to speak Spanish. At first I did this until I realized that I was doing twice the work to cater to a population that didn't deserve it so I stopped speaking Spanish unless they paid me more. They refused so I stopped speaking Spanish.
Meanwhile education in European countries and China, India, etc. includes learning English because that is the global language of business.
Anyone see the irony in this ?
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