Do you consider Cubans the most assimilated of Hispanics into American culture? (independence, how much)

[ray1945]

Originally Posted by Rayarena

Good for you! But, so that Italians don't behave like Cubans, maybe you can come up to the Northeast and tell all of your 3rd and 4th generation paisanos in New York City and New Jersey to take down the Italian flags from their neighborhoods in New Jersey and Brooklyn, stop celebrating Columbus Day [with all of those Italian flags waving all around. Remember, you have to be proud of being an American, can't show any ethnic pride!!!], stop eating pasta, stop celebrating Christmas with traditional Italian food, instead of roast turkey like Americans do, limit your extended family ties, stop talking in that horrible Brooklynese with all of those words form the "Old Country" springled in. Oh, and please, stop reading "Il Progresso" and limit yourselves to reading the Daily News or the New York Post. That said, please tell your paisanos to stop those religious parades down the streets where they take out statues of Saint Anthony and the priest is talking in a loud speaker in Italian. Real Americans don't do that either! Stop playing bocce [ball]! Real Americans don't do that either! And finally and worst of all, please tell your paisanos to stop going crazy and honking their horns and making a nuisance of themselves as they drive down the streets with enormous Italian flags waving in the air whenever Italy wins the world Cup!

Nothing in the above paragraph applies to me.

I have lived in Miami for the past 62 years and I have watched Cubans flood my city with impunity for 60 of them. They were/are granted instant legal status and given all kinds of economic aid. In 1980, 100,000+ inundated S. Florida in a 3 month period - all were given legal status and financial aid. Sometime in the 90s their sheer numbers overwhelmed every aspect of life in Miami and the city became theirs. Not because they worked hard or they were so smart or so talented or so special, but because there were just so friggin many of them.

It is one thing to celebrate your ethnic heritage and quite another to present your particular ethnic group as being superior to all others - particularly when your group has been the most advantaged immigrant group in the history of the US.

[Rayarena]

Originally Posted by jasper12

You would be hard pressed to find to do all of your business in Italian only in NYC. However, many Cubans in Miami do not speak English, and have no problem with finding employment, receiving medical care, and doing all business in Spanish.

So, what's wrong with a Cuban in Miami who doesn't speak English finding employment and/or receiving medical care in Spanish? If I'm a Cuban businessman and I want to hire a Cuban employee who only speaks Spanish, I'm helping the US government by doing this. Would you prefer a person who doesn't speak English to live off of welfare or unemployment and become a burden on the local government? Would you have a Cuban American doctor tell an elderly patient who only speaks Spanish or a recently arrived exile, SORRY, even though I am fully bilingual, I can't not speak Spanish to you, so we are not going to communicate even though you're seriously ill and my refusal to communicate with you is going to endanger your recovery.

[jasper12]

This thread was discussing Cuban assimilation into American society. I did not say only speaking Spanish was a bad thing...but it is not "assimilating".

This was not an attack on Spanish speaking or Cubans.

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Originally Posted by smittyjohnny38

Seems to me that Cubans are more in tune with 'traditional' American virtues than other Hispanics. There seems to me more of a focus on education and achievement, as opposed to Mexcians or Puerto Ricans for example. I've found that Cubans will focus on long term achievement for their kids, where as Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in America see their kids more as a family contributor who can supplement household income as they reach teen years. Are the Cubans at the top of the Hispanic pecking order?

Do you consider Cubans the most assimilated of Hispanics into American culture?

After living in Miami for 6 years and seeing how many of them act, absolutely not!

[Rayarena]

Originally Posted by ray1945

Nothing in the above paragraph applies to me.

I have lived in Miami for the past 62 years and I have watched Cubans flood my city with impunity for 60 of them. They were/are granted instant legal status and given all kinds of economic aid. In 1980, 100,000+ inundated S. Florida in a 3 month period - all were given legal status and financial aid. Sometime in the 90s their sheer numbers overwhelmed every aspect of life in Miami and the city became theirs. Not because they worked hard or they were so smart or so talented or so special, but because there were just so friggin many of them.

It is one thing to celebrate your ethnic heritage and quite another to present your particular ethnic group as being superior to all others - particularly when your group has been the most advantaged immigrant group in the history of the US.

Oh, I see. Your arguments are so changeable. I guess, it's whatever is convenient at the moment. Originally, you were boasting about being so deracinated that you were the perfect American who had complete allegiance in all things to the USA. But when I point out how Italian Americans in the Northeast hardly fit that picture, your argument changes to:

"It's one thing to celebrate your ethnic heritage and quite another to present your particular ethnic group as being superior to all others."

IF YOU SAY SO. Little does it matter that the flag is the ultimate symbol of any country and. yet, you have all of these 3rd and 4th generation Italians waving the Italian flag in US cities. It's just strange, how you fixate on the Cubans and don't on other groups that exhibit similar traits. Like I said, sweep around your own back door, you got some sweeping to do.


By the way, it's interesting how Miami is your city, when you weren't even born there! So, it's your city, but a Cuban American who is 30 years old and was born in Miami and has lived there all of his life, it's not his city?

[JazzyTallGuy]

Originally Posted by lifelongMOgal

The Cubans who fled Casto came here to escape from the tyranny of Communism. They valued the freedom and opportunity that the USA offered. As such they sought to assimilate and succeed here. At that time there were no social handouts to speak of as the illegal aliens of today come to collect in the USA.

The only thing you've proven is that you are woefully ignorant of the facts.

On an historical basis Cubans were given an enormous amount of public and private assistance after Castro overthrew Batista in 1959.

Political upheaval in Cuba created new waves of Cuban immigrants to the U.S. In 1959, after the Cuban revolution led by Fidel Castro, a large Cuban exodus began as the new government allied itself with the Soviet Union and began to introduce communism. From 1960 to 1979, hundreds of thousands of Cubans left Cuba and began a new life in the United States. Most Cuban Americans that arrived in the United States initially came from Cuba's educated upper and middle classes. Between December 1960 and October 1962 more than 14,000 Cuban children arrived alone in the U.S. Their parents were afraid that their children were going to be sent to some Soviet bloc countries to be educated[citation needed] and they decided to send them to the States as soon as possible. This program was called Operation Peter Pan (Operacion Pedro Pan). When the children arrived in Miami they were met by representatives of Catholic Charities and they were sent to live with relatives if they had any or were sent to foster homes, orphanages or boarding schools until their parents could leave Cuba. In order to provide aid to recently arrived Cuban immigrants, the United States Congress passed the Cuban Adjustment Act in 1966. The Cuban Refugee Program provided more than $1.3 billion of direct financial assistance. They also were eligible for public assistance, Medicare, free English courses, scholarships, and low-interest college loans. Some banks even pioneered loans for exiles who did not have collateral or credit but received help in getting a business loan. These loans enabled many Cuban Americans to secure funds and start up their own businesses. With their Cuban-owned businesses and low cost of living, Miami, Florida and Union City, New Jersey (dubbed Havana on the Hudson,)[10] were the preferred destinations for many immigrants and soon became the main centers for Cuban American culture. Union City had the opportunities offered by the embroidery industry. According to author Lisandro Perez, Miami was not particularly attractive to Cubans prior to the 1960s.[11] It was not until the mass exodus of the Cuban exiles in 1959 that Miami started to become a preferred destination. Westchester, Florida within Miami-Dade County, was the area most densely populated by Cubans and Cuban Americans in the United States, followed by Hialeah, Florida in second.[12] In 2010, Hialeah, Florida was the area most densely populated by Cubans and Cuban Americans in the U.S., followed by Westchester, Florida in second.

So Cubans, were GIVEN:

Scholarships

Low-interest student loans

Public assistance (That's right Cubans were given welfare).

Low interest business loans

Business loans without ANY collatoral.

None of the included the $1.3 billion in direct financial assistance.

Oh and that 1.3 billion from the Cuban Readjustment Act in 1966 dollars is worth at least 5 to 19 times as much today depending on which way you figure out the valuation:

In 2011, the relative worth of $1.00 from 1966 is: $6.93 using the Consumer Price Index
$5.53 using the GDP deflator
$7.10 using the unskilled wage
$8.56 using the Production Worker Compensation
$12.10 using the nominal GDP per capita
$19.20 using the relative share of GDP

Once again there is difference between an opinion and an informed opinion.

[Three Wolves In Snow]

Originally Posted by Rayarena

Oh, I see. Your arguments are so changeable. I guess, it's whatever is convenient at the moment. Originally, you were boasting about being so deracinated that you were the perfect American who had complete allegiance in all things to the USA. But when I point out how Italian Americans in the Northeast hardly fit that picture, your argument changes to:

"It's one thing to celebrate your ethnic heritage and quite another to present your particular ethnic group as being superior to all others."

IF YOU SAY SO. Little does it matter that the flag is the ultimate symbol of any country and. yet, you have all of these 3rd and 4th generation Italians waving the Italian flag in US cities. It's just strange, how you fixate on the Cubans and don't on other groups that exhibit similar traits. Like I said, sweep around your own back door, you got some sweeping to do.


By the way, it's interesting how Miami is your city, when you weren't even born there! So, it's your city, but a Cuban American who is 30 years old and was born in Miami and has lived there all of his life, it's not his city?

But this is correct. Have you lived in Miami? They don't just "wave their flag" they most certainly DO have an arrogance and sense of superiority about them.

When they came here, the US handed them everything and now they act like they are entitled to everything including demanding that everyone speak Spanish.

Don't even get me started...

Come to this country, find a better life, that's fine. Speak your native language if you want, that's fine but you damn well better make a fricken effort to assimilate.

You could never go to Germany, say, and demand that they all start doing things you way. How stupid. Move to Germany, (as an example), and start demanding that all signs are in English, (don't even try to say they are because I lived there for three years), that everyone speak to you in English with NO attitude about it, refuse to learn any German, demand that the country recognize any holiday from my country, talk endlessly about how wonderful it is that I'm NOT German, on and on.

Spare me your b.s. You have no clue how they act.

The ones who came in before that damn boat lift, they assimilated, they were more professional and they have been wonderful to the city of Miami. The ones who came after that and who continue to come to this day? They can fricken go back home as far as I'm concerned.

[Lucario]

You can't make generalizations about all members of any group.

[Natural510]

It seems most people who take the pro- side of this argument are doing so due to the high numbers of Cubans who a) vote Republican and b) are white/appear white. Those criteria are only valid if you consider white and conservative to be main components of "American culture", which they are not.
Puerto Ricans are the most assimilated due to their citizenship status and ability to move back and forth from the states without restriction. Sure, Cubans have been basically given a free pass into the US unlike their neighbors due to the screwed-up embargo, but the Boricua have been coming over and living as Americans for much longer.

[jasper12]

Puerto Ricans learn English. Even Mexicans are more "assimilated" than Cubans. Why? Because they have moved around the United States, rather than conspicuously staying in one region. Cubans have turned South Florida into "Mainland Cuba".