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Ever look at pictures of people from the 1950s and early 1960s? Notice that just about everyone was white. There had been very little immigration since the 1920s and the percentage of foreign born individuals was very low. Pretty much everyone spoke English (with exceptions of course), and the term ESL and all the talk about America's strength was in it's diversity was years away.
This all changed starting in the late 1960s with the passage of new immigration laws that allowed for huge increases of immigrants from Latin America, Africa and Asia. Then in the 1990s the number of immigrants let in each year just exploded. Now whites are a minority in many US States.
What would have happened if the Immigration Laws had not changed and we continued to let immigrants come into America at the low levels of the 1925-1965?
Of course immigration was at a low. Strict immigration laws, the Depression, and WW II kept most immigrants away for many years. However, there were still a lot of foreign born people, including many in my hometown who were born in Italy, Poland, and other countries in eastern/southern Europe. My husband's paternal grandparents were living here then and born in Sweden. Many people in my hometown did not speak English, especially the older women. (Men had more of an incentive to learn, so they could work.) DH's grandmother NEVER learned English, even though she emigrated here in her teens. There were plenty of people with whom to speak Swedish in Oakland, Nebraska, and there were restaurants there with menus in Swedish. The church I attend in Boulder, Colorado had services in Swedish into the late 60s. There were "Settelment Houses" in some midwestern cities that taught people English.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mhouse2001
Call me a racist, I don't care, but this 50 year old pines for the days when we all learned and spoke English and we considered ourselves Americans without hyphens and subcultures. The 30% foreign speaking neighborhood of my youth didn't assert its diversity, it assimilated into a UNITED States. Today when I see signs in other languages, or hear people immediately talk in another language to the clerk behind the counter, it makes me angry. I will say it here: I don't like diversity, I don't like the stress, I don't like the rainbow. And I don't care if that makes me old-fashioned our out of touch or unrealistic. I'm certain I'm not alone.
See above.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 11-02-2011 at 04:08 PM..
Call me a racist, I don't care, but this 50 year old pines for the days when we all learned and spoke English and we considered ourselves Americans without hyphens and subcultures. The 30% foreign speaking neighborhood of my youth didn't assert its diversity, it assimilated into a UNITED States. Today when I see signs in other languages, or hear people immediately talk in another language to the clerk behind the counter, it makes me angry. I will say it here: I don't like diversity, I don't like the stress, I don't like the rainbow. And I don't care if that makes me old-fashioned our out of touch or unrealistic. I'm certain I'm not alone.
You're not.
64 years old here and I view the past through very rose-colored glasses, too.
I think one of my anthro profs in college said it best: it may be hard-wired into the primal tribal brain to dislike and fear those who are different and who don't assimilate.
Oh, the horror -- I am being politically incorrect.
Ever look at pictures of people from the 1950s and early 1960s? Notice that just about everyone was white. There had been very little immigration since the 1920s and the percentage of foreign born individuals was very low. Pretty much everyone spoke English (with exceptions of course), and the term ESL and all the talk about America's strength was in it's diversity was years away.
This all changed starting in the late 1960s with the passage of new immigration laws that allowed for huge increases of immigrants from Latin America, Africa and Asia. Then in the 1990s the number of immigrants let in each year just exploded. Now whites are a minority in many US States.
What would have happened if the Immigration Laws had not changed and we continued to let immigrants come into America at the low levels of the 1925-1965?
Many supposedly "all white" people have African American blood, from the American slavery era when white men fathered children with black slaves. Peoples' heritage, when you go back a few generations, would surprise you.
64 years old here and I view the past through very rose-colored glasses, too.
I think one of my anthro profs in college said it best: it may be hard-wired into the primal tribal brain to dislike and fear those who are different and who don't assimilate.
Oh, the horror -- I am being politically incorrect.
Thank you. I want to be with people like me and when I'm surrounded by "others" I don't feel comfortable. Like you mention, I would say that's human nature, not prejudice. However, I'm much more comfortable with a diversity of ideas. That's the one kind of diversity I'm wired to handle.
My race as whole will be a minority by 2050...I hope somehow we can pull out of this and expand. By 2200 there won't be any white folks left more than likely at this rate.
Make more babies then.
The reason why our landscape is changing is not entirely because of immigrants. Families didn't used to be just 1 or 2 kids. They used to be 3 to 6 kids. In some cultures like Irish and Italian, 5 to 10 kids.
If market share, lol, is your concern.............. get busy.
Because the folks you all hate so much have much larger families.
Stop being cheap about child support, stop getting vasectomies, and start spreadin the love, lol. Otherwise? There's no point in complaining about it.
I grew up in the 50's and 60's in the Pacific NW and our affluent neighborhood was diversified, we had middle eastern jews and arabs, pacific rim folk, blacks, latino, Native Americans and I was one of the brown folk (NDN) and a whole host of other cultures/races including "white" what ever culture/race that is. My grade school and HS ran the whole rainbow of colors and yah know what so did my father's who grew up in SoCal. in the '20's and 30's I looked at his HS year book and again - every color of the rainbow including someone you might have heard of - Jackie Robinson, so for those of you who think this is something new - in many areas of the country it's not.
Come on, I know you guys are reaching for straws and grasping for anything to whip people up in a lather, but seriously...do you not think the blatantly false "facts" can't be looked up and get you called out on them?
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. My grade school and HS ran the whole rainbow of colors and yah know what so did my father's who grew up in SoCal. in the '20's and 30's I looked at his HS year book and again - every color of the rainbow including someone you might have heard of - Jackie Robinson, so for those of you who think this is something new - in many areas of the country it's not. 
