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Assimilation happens in Miami just as it happens everywhere else. EVERY SINGLE LAST HISPANIC PERSON with whom I grew up whose parents spoke little/poor English speaks English fluently and in most cases, better than Spanish. My parents were born and raised in the US so I grew up in an English-speaking home. However, many of my friends spoke Spanish in the home and English virtually everywhere else - at school, on the baseball field, at the mall, and on the phone with friends. Well over 90% of my Hispanic friends are assimilated Americans, and the other 10% did not grow up here - they grew up either in Spain or Latin America and are recent immigrants to the US.
The only reason Miami has become "more Spanish speaking" is due to the constant flow of Spanish-speaking immigrants. Just because the percentage of Spanish-speaking residents goes up doesn't mean that the number of English-speaking residents or assimilated Americans goes down as well. [Saying otherwise is faulty logic.] Since most children of these immigrants (who all learn fluent English) speak Spanish at least at a basic level, the percentage of Spanish-speakers continues to rise. There is nothing wrong with this! I am very proud of myself and many of my bilingual friends for being in the small minority of Americans who are functionally bilingual and can use those skills in our professional careers. Miami is a special place because there, becoming American doesn't mean forgetting your cultural heritage - that is something of which I am very proud.
Not knowing Spanish in Miami-Dade County really isn't that much of a hassle. My sister speaks minimal Spanish and gets around just fine. Though many older people and "fresh off the boat" very recent immigrants will speak Spanish much better than English, they can usually speak English well enough to give you directions, answer your questions in a store, or take your order in a restaurant. Miami isn't Latin America, it's America with a strong Latin twist.
Those people you grew up with lived in a Miami of the past where English was spoken at least some of the time in some places.
Like you said massive uncontrolled immigration is causing the balance to tilt severely in the direction of Spanish, kids growing up there today would have little opportunity to hear English spoken. They couldn't assimilate even if they wanted to.
Because Latin Americans will not fix their Latin American paradises, we're to give up vast portions of our country to them. That's what this is all about.
What has happened over many years (not just recently) in Miami-Dade County is not "white flight" in the traditional sense because it has occurred very slowly and has produced neighborhoods with the some of the best Hispanic/non-Hispanic white residential integration of any metro area in the United States. What this means is that the average Hispanic resident lives in a neighborhood with a percentage of non-Hispanic white residents that almost exactly matches the countywide average, and that the average non-Hispanic white resident lives in a neighborhood with a percentage of Hispanic residents that is very close to the countywide average as well. I would be glad to demonstrate this with statistics if anyone here would like that.
Technically, many neighborhoods have experienced no "white flight" at all because (if speaking of "white" racially) most Hispanics in Miami-Dade County are white and moved into already existing non-Hispanic white neighborhoods. What this produced is a drop in non-Hispanic residents, an (often dramatic) increase in Hispanic residents, but often no drop in white residents at all. What happened in Miami-Dade had to do with shifting demographics and is very distinct from "white flight" in its traditional sense (Newark, Detroit, etc.)
Americans are leaving Miami because anti-American racism and discrimination is very pronounced in that city. The businesses might as well put up signs "Americans need not apply" regarding their job chances.
These are people from Latin American countries that have no intention of becoming part of the culture of the USA, they have no desire to learn American ways, our language or our history. They are abandoning their own nations because they allowed them to be destroyed and no longer wish to live in the, so they come for American money and police protection but have total disgust for the American way of life.
Those people you grew up with lived in a Miami of the past where English was spoken at least some of the time in some places.
Like you said massive uncontrolled immigration is causing the balance to tilt severely in the direction of Spanish, kids growing up there today would have little opportunity to hear English spoken. They couldn't assimilate even if they wanted to.
Because Latin Americans will not fix their Latin American paradises, we're to give up vast portions of our country to them. That's what this is all about.
You can't be serious! Every school-aged child learns to speak fluent English and almost all school-aged children I have ever seen (I know plenty of Hispanic families with young children AND my mother is a public school teacher) speak ENGLISH with their friends on the playground, on the baseball field, and at the mall. All of these kids become assimilated Americans. Children growing up in 2008 Miami turn out to be American just like everyone else. It's really insulting to speak of little Hispanic children (almost all of whom will grow up to speak English better than Spanish, and almost all of whom will consider the UNITED STATES as their home country) as if they're growing up to reject the language and traditions of this country. Children in Miami are just as "American" as children in Atlanta or Minneapolis.
Americans are leaving Miami because anti-American racism and discrimination is very pronounced in that city. The businesses might as well put up signs "Americans need not apply" regarding their job chances.
These are people from Latin American countries that have no intention of becoming part of the culture of the USA, they have no desire to learn American ways, our language or our history. They are abandoning their own nations because they allowed them to be destroyed and no longer wish to live in the, so they come for American money and police protection but have total disgust for the American way of life.
I don't know where you get these ideas. Latin American immigrants love this country, and most people of working age and younger assimilate. EVERYONE in their 20's or younger assimilates. It's really a shame that a few radical "Latino" groups like Mecha cloud your vision of how Latin Americans in the US are and how they think; Mecha would get laughed out of Miami!
I was looking at temp jobs in Miami and every single posting had the requirement of being bi or tri-lingual. And these are for $10-$15/hr jobs and they were not for customer service. This severely limits your choices for jobs in the Miami area if you are not bi-lingual. Since the average American is not bilingual, their job field is reduced if they have no working knowledge of Spanish. Chances are I will not be able to find an office job in Hialeah.
I live in Hialeah, FL, probaly the most spanish speaking city in America. I speak no spanish. I live comfortably. Very few times will someone tell me they speak no english. Miami is something america should try to advance to and that is a global city, a world city, a bilingual society. Theres still alot time left till its set right becasue just like theres some immigrants that speak little or no english theres even more of us that don't speak spanish and other languages.
Last year Miami Dade county gained percentage wise white anglos, blacks, asians but lost hispanics The white non-hispanic population grew 2%, and the hispanic population decreased 4%. After decades of white flight and hispanic growth, it seems to have leveled out. Just thought alot of uninformed posters hould know this.
Yet some people on this forum would have you believe that working class / middle class communities like Hialeah are like a "third world war zone with many residents blatantly refusing to assimilate much less learn to speak English." You people are so paranoid that you don't even see the assimilation going on right under your nose. Thanks Tanner for providing a good example from what is probably the most Spanish-speaking city in the continental US.
Yet some people on this forum would have you believe that working class / middle class communities like Hialeah are like a "third world war zone with many residents blatantly refusing to assimilate much less learn to speak English." You people are so paranoid that you don't even see the assimilation going on right under your nose.
This paranoia has existed ever since large group of immigrants came to the US.
There was paranoia against Germans, Irish, Italians, etc.
Americans are leaving Miami because anti-American racism and discrimination is very pronounced in that city. The businesses might as well put up signs "Americans need not apply" regarding their job chances.
These are people from Latin American countries that have no intention of becoming part of the culture of the USA, they have no desire to learn American ways, our language or our history. They are abandoning their own nations because they allowed them to be destroyed and no longer wish to live in the, so they come for American money and police protection but have total disgust for the American way of life.
Sucks, huh?
Seriously though, whats the American race?
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Paranoia
This paranoia has existed ever since large group of immigrants came to the US.