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I never thought of it like that, but wow. SO TRUE! I grew up in Niagara Falls, Ny. I used to walk over the bridge and just pay a quarter. Because Mexicans are not happy how the USA is treating them, they started trying to get into Canada. Canada wanted nothing of it! Now I have to have a passport to go to a place I practically grew up in. I cannot afford a passport because I have to file bankruptcy because a mexican stole my social security number. Go Figure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bigfoot Wallace
The question everyone should be asking is why would any American community want Hispanics considering the fact that Hispanics have totally ruined their own countries and have now set their sights on ours?
I actually love trying to speak another language. And I love other cultures. But I respect those. I demand the same in return.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ImGibby
It's not the citizens that have ruined their country, it's their govt. Most of the illegals that I know and have met are good hard working / family oriented individuals....but that does not excue the fact that they came here illegally
I'll give you a better one, and tied to Indiana. I went to grad school at Purdue where I met my fiance. I'm Hispanic (Puerto rican, not mexican, this will become relevant in a second) and she is a good ol' Midwestern girl from Crawfordsville, half hour south of Lafayette. Well, when it came time for her to tell her family, scattered mostly around Tippecanoe, Carroll, Montgomery and Clinton counties, that she was dating someone, all the stereotypes came out.
The first one came about as soon as they asked "where's he from?". As soon as she said 'oh he's Puerto Rican' the very first instict was to assume I was some sort of migrant worker, never mind the fact that it wouldn't have taken a rocket scientist (ironic...since that was the degree I pursued while at Purdue) to tie up the conclusion that if she was dating someone close to her age it was probably another student at her school, which accounts for about 50% of the population swell in the Lafayette/W. Lafayette area.
I'll temper that with the reality that the majority of "Hispanics" the average Indiana folk comes across with are your typical poor brown-skinned rural Mexican with no formal education and looking for manual labor jobs. Places like Frankfort, IN are a good example of a place where the hispanic population makes a substantial portion of the town, and at that it is mostly mexican. My only beef with native indianans is the lazyness in attitude in asserting there can be no Hispanic to penetrate their world who ISN'T a poor brown mexican looking for work. I didn't show up in Lafayette with the working assumption everybody in Indiana was a country-bumpkin corn farmer can't-stop-talking-about-Hoosiers closet racist. So why would it be ok to spring load yourself towards the idea that there are no Hispanics who can have a positive impact in your otherwise mostly-homogenized white construct of life? The fact I was as white as her daughter shattered their construct of who actually categorizes under Hispanic, and the dominoes fell from there, but the point remains. Why be spring loaded to it? I know thousands of people choose to live in the Midwest because they are less likely to encounter large concentrations of black people, or otherwise non-whites, but Jesus what would it say of my own prejudices if I were to assert that everybody lives in the midwest because they don't want to see a black person. So I gave them the benfit of the doubt, I don't think it would hurt them too much to step out of their comfort zone regarding Hispanics. As to her family today, they love me, they think I'm the best thing that ever happened to their daughter and all is good....of course I welcome that perspective
All that said, I severely dislike Mexican concentrations for similar reasons as native Indianans do. I think it is counter-productive to adopt an attitude of non-assimilation, it really chaps me. They argue cultural identity issues; I don't feel any less Hispanic due to being fully bilingual. I happen to embrace the cultural idiosyncracies of my Indiana fiance's family with no conflict to my own cultural upbringing. I think Mexicans in this country should assimilate if for anything else the fact that they are able to somewhat provide for their families better than if they were back in rural Mexico. I don't have a problem philosophically with you breaking fences to provide for your family, but to visibly reject assimilation to the host country that provides that PRIVILEDGE is a foul, and as a Hispanic myself, I reject that collective attitude and have no quarrels calling out Mexicans out on it. Of course, not all Mexicans in Indiana fit that mold, but as a collective they have a long way to go and I don't see many of them making strides towards assimilation. That's a problem and Indianans have a legitimate beef to have with that.
Regarding immigration and our history, the biggest difference I see with the modern Latin American immigration problem is the issue of assimilation. In pre-20th century America assimilation was a granted affair. Populations were not averse towards assimilation. Mexicans as a group resist assimilation and that's where the historical difference resides. I recognize that historically puerto ricans didn't have the naturalization issue that other ethnic groups have had in the CONUS, we went from a spanish colony with no citizenship of any kind for 500 years to US citizens by law overnight. That said, the same cultural assimilation issues are as valid, and that's where I distance myself from the argument Mexicans make regarding racism and acceptance in places like Indiana. Complex issue and the thing is folks, it ain't going away.
hindsight2020, with all due respect, your post reads a bit hypocritic, in the fact you categorize Hoosiers/Midwesterners as racists who don't want to live around anyone non-white (as a Hoosier/Midwesterner, that is insulting), but a family you're soon to be part of doesn't have a right to care about their loved one you're marrying, regardless of the fact of your skin color/ethnic background? Chances are, if they live that close, they are bound to be a tight family. You could be white and their same religion and they're going to find a reason to wonder about you until they know you better. I think you're bringing up two dissimilar situations. Not trying to pick on you for this, but just noting that the two situations have different emotional roots to them.
As to the differences in "Latin American immigration" and other historical immigrant populations, when the Germans, Irish, Italians and so forth imigrated, we didn't have social programs for them to take advantage of and steal from (identity theft, etc.). Assimilation is a problem, I lived in Texas long enough to know that. But to me, a hard working tax-paying Natural born citizen who's never been spoon fed and know's quite a bit about social and economic hard times, my stomach turns when I think of how so many people I know and love have been affected by the illegal activity that we've allowed to go on in this country.
You know who I really do feel you, those who became, or are becoming, US citizens the proper way (this may include you hindsight202--not sure if you're first generation or what) and are affected by the negative impact. I realize this is what you're getting at in your post, but I think there's a difference between what you've stated in a family concerned for their loved one and those who are blatant about their dislikes, even when they're realized an individual or family did assimilate and become a citizen. Living in Texas for seven years has jaded my "christian" attitude, and I'm no longer willing to give those who aren't assimilating and are breaking the law the benefit of the doubt.
Sorry, hope I didn't affend you or anyone else. I just saw this post and it spoke to me.
The reason is very simple, nowadays is very hard to get your immigration papers in order, especially for non-qualified immigrants.
Most of the immigrants that come to the U.S. illegally need money right away and if they want to come here legally they would need to wait years and years outside the country before they can enter the U.S if they ever get permission from the authorities.
The ones that are already here illegally are aware that if they go to an immigration office looking for a residence card or any document that can allow them to stay they will most likely be subject to deportation.
Is it harder than making it all the way from their Mexican hometown to a border they shouldn't cross, then infiltrate a state/county/city/job/community where you have to lay low and do just the right thing to keep from getting caught, for the rest of their life? I call BS on that. Do you have any idea how hard so many things in my life have been? No, because I don't find a group and go whine about it.
It's not so much the time than the money it takes to enter our country legally, and considering how many already send money back to Mexico, that shouldn't be a problem. But then they'd have to pay taxes, healthcare for their children and so forth. And it's also BS that they'd be deported if they try to obtain a residence card. I know that for a fact. Unless they've committed another crime, to which then they should be deported.
To keep this about Indiana, I'm a hoosier moving back from seven years in Texas. Indiana doesn't have near the problem Texas does right now, but if this continues, we will. Take a trip down below the Red River to see what I'm talking about. I could fill several pages of stories about what could happen in Indiana and elsewhere. Why would anyone who lives here, regardless of which side you're on, want to pay for others beyond what you're paying for yourself, have your communities turned upside down by the drugs, crimes, and other harshness that naturally matriculates from mass illegal immigration? I don't want to deny anyone a better life, but do it the right way. I'm not breaking the law by making a better life for myself and my family.
Hindsight, you are a US citizen by virtue of you're being from PR. If your fiance's family can't understand that, well ... don't know what to tell you and I'm sorry your fiance can't explain it either. But I will tell you this ... if you went to Purdue and haven't figured out that we folks from Indiana are called HOOSIERS, I'm skeptical that you even went to Purdue, or were educated in our fine state, indianans??? What the heck is that, sounds like a tropical fruit or something. Yes, Purdue students are Boilermakers, but if you haven't seen any reference to Hoosiers in your journey here ... hmmmmm.
Are you suggesting I'm a troll because I didn't refer to folks from Indiana as Hoosiers instead of using a generic " Indianan"? ...come on, I hope that was sarcasm on your part.
I lived in Indiana for 3 years and considered myself an Indianan for the time I spent there; I would have never introduced myself as a Hoosier however. Small distinction and my prerrogative, but not one I thought would have caused you to question my legitimacy.
If you care to re-read my reply you'd see I did use a Hoosier reference, I purposely chose not to refer to native Indiana folks as Hoosiers, I don't see how that could have generated the conclusion that I'm a poser.
I just wanted to give my perspective as a Hispanic that lived and contributed to the community for a substantial period of time (what would West Laf/ Lafayette be without Purdue?.... honestly...and how much of that technical institution is populated by folks NOT from Indiana, or even the US; you'd be amazed and I worked as well as studied there). If my anecdote strikes some HOOSIERS the wrong way (I really don't know why, I mostly agree with the natives about illegal mexican immigration within the state) that's fine, but don't attack the legitimacy of my experience becuase it doesn't suit you, particularly on the grounds that I didn't refer properly to HOOSIERS, and therefore anybody who's real would've have known that, like it's a code or something; that's just feeble.
I mean no unwarranted animosity or disrespect, I just don't quite understand why the legitimacy attack on such retarded grounds. I welcome you to search other posts of mine in both this ,the Louisiana, and U.S. Territories boards to squelch any questions you may have about the consistency of my 'story'.
But Indianan is even worse. I don't go around saying "I'm a Hoosier, I'm a Hoosier". But if someone asks me about the name, I nod and smile. Indianan??? At least there's good folklore about the term, Hoosier. Indianan? I don't think I could have made that one up and I've honestly never heard it until now.
I'm not suggesting you're a troll, but I obviously got your feathers ruffled, for which I am sorry. Truly.
I think that the worst thing that has happened to you, hindsight, is that some ignorant people have lopped you in with the lot of illegal immigrants by virtue of your Latino heritage. Unfortunately, that, is not exclusive to our Hoosier state.
Perhaps he meant "Indianian?" I have used that; but not Indianan. I don't know many Purdue alums who refer to themselves as Hoosiers. In fact, some of them would get pretty upset if you called them a Hoosier, even if you are just meaning it in the "from Indiana" sense.
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just one more thing
