Hispanics and what to call people from Indiana (English, Wallace: bankruptcy, high school)

[SweethomeSanAntonio]

Originally Posted by theycallmeoj

I live in Kokomo and i work in Lafayette.

I don't suggest ANYONE move to Kokomo. This place just plain sucks for anyone with 1/2 a brain. If your a crack smoking, NASCAR loving hillbilly, with a big fat mouth, then Kokomo may just be the place for you!


As for the racism in Kokomo towards "Mexicans", it's pretty biased. This town is basically Blue Collar, Pro-union kinda place where people are narrow minded and stubborn as hell.

Most of the mexicans i see here appear to be "poor". They are usually working at McDonalds, Construction or shopping at Wally World when i seem to see them.

I think it would be safe to say that the typical white person in Kokomo doesn't like the mexicans. Want to prove it? Go to any of the craptastic bars here and start talking about all the Wet tbacks and see how many people join your conversation. You'll be supprised.


As for Lafayette, I work with a few lazy Mexicans, and a few that actually work decently. This is supprising since i work in a union shop as well, where many of us don't exactly bust our butts for a decent paycheck. You'll commonly hear "Wet tbacks" or "Mex-i-cant", etc etc. In a few of the bathrooms you'll see a few things written on the walls about Mexicans, and the blacks too for that matter.

Compaired to the whites, there aren't many Mexicans or any other races for that matter where i work. To be honest, I don't really mind that either. Who would want to be the center of negitive attention based solely on your skin tone? I'll pass.

Lafayette has a much stronger mexican population compaired to Kokomo. This may be due to the fact the Hog slaughter houses are closer to Lafayette than Kokomo.

Logansport, Delphi and Flora all seem to have alot of Mexicans. Again, these towns have or are near Hog slaughter houses. Walk into IBP (Tyson Foods) in Logansport and you'll feel like your in Mexico. I know i did when i went for a office job there.


I wont even get started on my feeling about "Mexicans". I could really give a $h!t. I have enough problems of my own to worry about. It is funny, yet interesting to me though watching the influx of Mexicans.


I don't think you'll find any town in Indiana that greets MExicans with "open arms" and embraces them. Thats just not how people here are.

I will be easier to "Fit in" in a city that has a higher Mexican population though.

It's really up to you. Do you "fit in" and just put on the fake for everyone, or do you be yourself, and deal with adversity as it comes?

If you work hard, pay taxes, and just be a decent citizen, who the hell can complain? If they do, you can still tell them there are more whites on Welfare than ANY other race.

I've noticed well educated, and i don't mean those with pieces of paper from some college, who are polite, usually don't have many problems when interacting with other races.

If you choose to fit the stereotypical mold of a "Mexican", then sure, you'll catch just as much flack as the rest of them.

I say go live life as an American and forget about if your Mexican, white, black, Asian, Indian, Chinese, blah blah blah. We are all human's regardless. If you let racism bother you, then you simply open the door for people to comment on it. If you close the door, then you generally shut their mouths too!

Racisim is ignorance. Prove me wrong.

There are different economic classes of Mexican's, the illegal or the ones that have green cards, ones you describe working at McDonalds, etc. Then their are the American born Mexicans, such as myself and most everyone I know personally in San Antonio that are hispanic. Indiana is no San Antonio, so the lifestyles and roles for hispanics is quite different in the southwest than up north. You can go into a neighborhood with million dollar homes and most everyone is hispanic, you will not find this in Indiana or any northern state. I'm not saying if your a Mexican National you are poor, because that is further from the truth. My family from Mexico City, blondes with blue eyes are very wealthy. Mexicans can be more Spanish or Indian decent, Mexicans can be as pale as caucasans. The darker ones have more indian blood. Just recently, the riches man in the world is from Mexico. Richer than Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, I believe. Just a little food for thought.

Anyhow to get back too what your asking, I think you will run into some racisim in Indiana. I'm sure even in San Antonio but not on the same level.

I work in Adminstration and handle insurance claims for several states. Minnesota is the top market i handle daily. When I talk to my clients, I hear silence or a pause, when I give them my last name. One lady asked me, have you lived here a long time because you have no accent whatsoever? I replied, "I was born in San Antonio, USA." That was the end of that conversation. I just wanted to laugh. Another time, this white lady in a lobby was talking too me about Mexicans, and she said , "I don't really trust them" and this is too my face. I assume she didn't catch on that I am of Mexican decent. When I told her I was Mexican, I think she must of saw a ghost. She may have swallowed her dentures, LMAO. I just chuckled and walked off. The only other time I had somewhat of a racial slur, nothing really derogative, is when i lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This lady at the Toll both asked me, 'Where did you come from?" Maybe it was just my good looks, hah. People up north mistake me for Itallian. lol!

I don't think you will have too much of a problem, my mom grew up in Marion, Indiana, and then moved to San Antonio. She did say most people are friendly, they might look stare at you becasue you look a little different, thats about it.

[ImGibby]

Most people, wherever, will accept, or would want to accept, anyone that is law abiding, friendly, and hard working. Unfortunately I think the large majority of illegals who are doing bad things, over running cities / towns, and bleeding the medicare and assistance programs dry have made it hard for anyone to assume you are not here to do the same thing. Call it stereo typing or racial profiling, whatever you want, it is just human nature.

And to be fair, most of the people that are "ruining" these cities / towns are doing so ignorantly...they don't undertand that when they go to a hospital and dont have to pay for it that they are making it harder for everybody else....they dont have social security and such in their home countries and do not understand how it works or the implications....they are not required to have auto insurance in their countries and dont understand how this effects everyone else when they are involved in an accident...they do not understand the concept of you have to pay in to take out. This is why the whole illegal thing is such a problem, they come here and do not get educated on how our society functions, and the result is a profound milking of the system, and most just don't get it.

So unfortunately the result is bad attitudes and low tolerance for any one they see as a foreigner...even if you may have been born here, if you look like a foriegner, some are going to judge you regardless, and prejiduce may prevail. It is a shame, because I feel a lot of good can come out of cultural diversity, and anyone who is willing to be a productive member of society should be welcome without prejiduce, but it is just hard for most citizens to trust anyones intentions when they come here when we have seen far too often the problems that the bad ones have created. The system is REALLY broke, and until it is fixed, intolerance will prevail for a lot of communities that have been scarred by these ethnic influxes.

But, the same can be said about a large population of americans who abuse the goverment assistance programs as well...it's not just the foriegners creating problems, we have plenty of our own bad seeds as well, and that problem needs fixed to.

This is just how I see it, from my experiences and what I see. I believe in giving anyone a chance to treated for who they are regardless of skin color, but at the same time I feel strongly that most illegals are doing a great dis service to the town, city, state in which they live as well as the country. Come here the right way, and do what is expected of you (the same thing that is expected of us that were born here) and more people than not will accept you. You will always have those who will not.

[msabo]

Uncontrolled illegal migrations, change in national identity and culture, loss of morals and work ethic, decline of a once all powerfull nation. Now I know how the Romans must have felt around 400 A.D.

[FLTPR]

I Can't Believe I'm Reading Such Racist Things In 2008. Lets Not Blame Our Immigration Problem On The Immigrants. Put Yourself In Their Shoes. What Would You Do If You Were Born In Such Countries Where You Don't Have An Opportunity To Better Yourself Or Your Family? Our Immigration Problem Falls On Our Goverment. If The Goverment Refuses To Support Law Enforcement By Not Deporting Illegals, Why Are We Mad At The Immigrants. Honestly, I Would Come To America Too. It's Easy To Sit Around And Point Fingers, But When Was The Last Time You Did Something Besides Complain About Our System. Have You Writen To Your Senator? Have You Writen To Your Local Goverment? Probably Not. Hey If We Americans Don't Get Our Act Together, We're Going To Loose This Battle. Don't Blame Other "people" For Coming To This Country In Search Of What Your Ancester Were Doing Too. Be Mad At Our Goverment For Allowing It To Happen. You Know, You Should Compliment And Commend The Immigrants For Coming Over. If I Was A Little Kid, I Would Want My Father To Bring Me Over To Give Me An Opportunity To Have A Healthy And Safe Life. Hey Grow Up And Leave Your Racism Behind. Better Yet, Educate Yourself And Do Something Politically About The Situation. We're All Humans In God's Eyes, Did You Forget That?????

[Ronzou]

Many of us have written our government, but most of them don't care about what we have to say. Which is why so many of them are big on just forgetting about the entire problem. And you can't blame the ones complaining, because the reason we are losing is because the big businesses want them here because they don't have to pay them much of anything so they hire them, and then it encourages more to come over. Do you really think THEY care that over 80% of Americans DO NOT want them here? NO! And not all of our ancestors came here through Ellis Island. Some of them were already here and got thrown out of their homes by the Americans! DID YOU EVER THINK OF THAT??? NO! You were too busy whining about DOING NOTHING! Why don't you do something then? Instead of posting about it on a forum complaining about others.

[ImGibby]

Originally Posted by FLTPR

I Can't Believe I'm Reading Such Racist Things In 2008. Lets Not Blame Our Immigration Problem On The Immigrants. Put Yourself In Their Shoes. What Would You Do If You Were Born In Such Countries Where You Don't Have An Opportunity To Better Yourself Or Your Family? Our Immigration Problem Falls On Our Goverment. If The Goverment Refuses To Support Law Enforcement By Not Deporting Illegals, Why Are We Mad At The Immigrants. Honestly, I Would Come To America Too. It's Easy To Sit Around And Point Fingers, But When Was The Last Time You Did Something Besides Complain About Our System. Have You Writen To Your Senator? Have You Writen To Your Local Goverment? Probably Not. Hey If We Americans Don't Get Our Act Together, We're Going To Loose This Battle. Don't Blame Other "people" For Coming To This Country In Search Of What Your Ancester Were Doing Too. Be Mad At Our Goverment For Allowing It To Happen. You Know, You Should Compliment And Commend The Immigrants For Coming Over. If I Was A Little Kid, I Would Want My Father To Bring Me Over To Give Me An Opportunity To Have A Healthy And Safe Life. Hey Grow Up And Leave Your Racism Behind. Better Yet, Educate Yourself And Do Something Politically About The Situation. We're All Humans In God's Eyes, Did You Forget That?????

No, I don't blame them for wanting to come here. But lets focus on what the REAL problem is.....ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION....the key word there is ILLEGAL. No one is blaming "IMIGRANTS" here...you left out that one critical word. You are saying don't blame them, but rather blame the govt for letting it happen? They are breaking the law!!! So with your rationale, we should also not hold the murderers, rapists, and thieves responsible for breaking the law either, but rather the govt. for "letting it happen"? Come, on they are knowingly coming here illegally, and that is WRONG no matter if our govt "is letting it happen" or not...the blame is on those that commit the crime. And why should we have to write our congressman or senators when this is a problem that has recieved national attention for years!?!?!? We are not talking about adding a stop sign at a dangerous intersection here, this a well known problem that should have never been, and ceratinly should have been fixed by now without the common folk telling our elected officals how to do their job.

There is nothing racist about this at ALL....it is just about common sense...parricularly where economics and social structure are concerned. You cant just let people come here willy nilly, take jobs for lower wages, not pay taxes or SS, and many will additionaly leech off of society...there has to be structer and order for any civilization to succeed and thrive...when that structure and order is compromised, the results are never good. Don't play the racist card here.

[ImGibby]

Lets not forget that the govt of the countries that the illegals are coming from, lets say like Mexico for example, ENCOURAGE their people to immigrate here. Why? Because their economy sucks...and most, if not all, Mexicans that come here send money back to their country to their families....illegal immigration is a problem in America, but it is big boost to the economies of the countries where the immigrants are coming from....think about that....now whose govt is REALLY to blame for the problem?

[FLTPR]

I Still Blame Our Goverment. Only They Can Help Us With This Problem. Immigration To This Country Was Not Just Ellis Island. Americans Have Been Coming From All Walks Of This World. We Have Illegal Russians And Many Other People From Other Countries, But I Don't See Them In The Media. They Are Also Working For Alot Less Than What Americans Are Being Paid. Again, If You Have People Smoking Crack On The Corner And All They Get Is A Little Slap On The Hand, Then They Will Continue To Smoke. Put Some Harsh Punishment And You'll See What Happens. Our Goverment Needs To Deport And Support Local, State And Federal Law Enforcement. I'm Tired Of Paying For Medical Care And So On. I Don't Have A Problem With Illegals, If I Was In Their Shoes, I Would Do The Same In Order To Better My Life And My Families. I Assure Most Of You Will Do The Same. Think About It, If You Live In A Country That Has No Hospitals, Health Care Or Education What Are You Going To Do? Do You Think Your Kids Should Have To Live That Way? I Would Take My Changes Of Being Mistreated By Americans, But I Know That I'll Have Health Care, Work And The Opportunity To Send My Kids To School. I'm Not Trying To Start Any Animosity Here, My Intensions Are Good.

[ImGibby]

It is our Govt.s responsibility to fix the problem, and I fault them for not doing so already.....but it is not our Govt that created the problem is all im trying to say.

I still think that you are not distinguishing / recognizing the difference between Immigration and Illegal Immigration FLTPR...I dont think anyone here can blame anyone for wanting to come to this country in pursuit of a better life...but the fact remains if you come here Illegaly and are playing by your own rules, you are more of a problem than an assett. As much as I would like to see the whole world live the American dream, it just is not that easy...if people are going to come here they have to do it the right way, be documented, and have an eduaction, skill, or something of value to contribute to society otherwise they are not needed here...that is reality, which is quite different than the fantasy world perception of just let them all come in, they are not hurting anybody, they are taking jobs that nobody else wants blah blah blah. FACT: This is a real problem that has already destroyed local economies, and if it is not stopped, it will continue to reap havoc at the State and National levels MYTH: Illegal Immigration Reform is racist or based on racism

Just like our Govt needs to take responsiblity and fix our illegal immigration prob., these other countries Govt.'s should step up and fix their own countries problems, which is mostly attributed to corruption anyway. Let me end by saying I understand your compassion here, but would you at the same time be willing to feed the hungry by letting them just walk into your house and raid your pantry and take food right off of your kitchen table that was prepared for you and your family? Essentially causing you and your family to become hungry? I think not. It's the old "give them a fish" vs "teaching them how to fish" adage...I would much rather see increased support to humanitarian and cooperative efforts to help these countries become prosperous...but that would require govt reform on their behalf, and why would they want to do that when they can ship half of their citizens over here to send money back there to support their economy and enable their politicians indulgent lifestyles that at the same time repress the rest of their people.

This problem is far more complex than a simple border control issue, but it is likewise far from a racial issue. The boat can only hold so many people before it will no longer stay afloat.

[FLTPR]

Imgibby, I Must Say You Put Several Things To Light. I See Your Point And I Can Honestly Respect It. I'm Just Upset At Our Goverment. I See What Illegal Immigration Is Doing To This Country And It Sucks. I Really Hope Things Get Better. The Stock Market Is Down, Jobs Are Hard To Find, And Our Goverment Is Spending A Lot Of Money Overseas. God Bless Us All. Thanks For Your Smart And Non-sarcastic Response.