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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.
While race plays a card in assimilation, I believe that the point others were making about Cuban American assimilation being greater than Puerto Rican assimilation had more to do with economic and educational attainments. A person who graduates from college, buys a house, gets a car, becomes a professional and is upwardly mobile is considered more assimilated--whether he is conservative or not, whether he is white or not---than the example you make of a Puerto Rican who is a citizen and has the ability to move back and forth from the "states without restriction. " An enormous percentage of Puerto Ricans after all have dropped out of school, are caught in a cycle of poverty and are dependent of social services. In fact, if you stack up Puerto Ricans to other Hispanic groups, Puerto Ricans are either at the bottom or near the bottom.
By the way, what do you mean, has the ability to "move back and forth from states without restrictions?" You don't have to be a citizen to move back and forth from states, there are no restrictions placed on you.
Also, you can't have it both ways. On the one hand you attribute high rates of Cuban assimilation to this so-called free pass into the US, but you also acknowledge that Puerto Ricans are citizens [which means that they have an even freer pass than Cubans].
While race plays a card in assimilation, I believe that the point others were making about Cuban American assimilation being greater than Puerto Rican assimilation had more to do with economic and educational attainments. A person who graduates from college, buys a house, gets a car, becomes a professional and is upwardly mobile is considered more assimilated--whether he is conservative or not, whether he is white or not---than the example you make of a Puerto Rican who is a citizen and has the ability to move back and forth from the "states without restriction. " An enormous percentage of Puerto Ricans after all have dropped out of school, are caught in a cycle of poverty and are dependent of social services. In fact, if you stack up Puerto Ricans to other Hispanic groups, Puerto Ricans are either at the bottom or near the bottom.
By the way, what do you mean, has the ability to "move back and forth from states without restrictions?" You don't have to be a citizen to move back and forth from states, there are no restrictions placed on you.
Also, you can't have it both ways. On the one hand you attribute high rates of Cuban assimilation to this so-called free pass into the US, but you also acknowledge that Puerto Ricans are citizens [which means that they have an even freer pass than Cubans].
My point was that many have a perception of Cubans being more assimilated due to the ease of their entering the country (compared to other Caribbean immigrants outside PR), but in the end this is only because of our current political embargo on Cuba which could change at any time. They're still not born citizens, nor do they speak English either on the island or in the US at the same level as Puerto Ricans.
I do understand the point of upward mobility, and you could make the argument Cubans assimilate better economically, but culturally no group is as American culturally speaking as Ricans.
Most assimilated I've met are the Hispanos of the New Mexico Highlands. 150+ years of being part of the US will do that.
I don't think that anyone meant "Hispanos" that have been here for 150+ years. It goes without saying that they must be very assimilated. I think that they were talking about recent arrivals. I mean, there are Americans [and I'm not even going to call them Cubans at this point] who have Cuban ancestors that came to the USA in the 1800's during the Cuban Wars of Independence that lasted decades. Those people are out-and-out Americans. Be aware that not all Cubans came here in the 1960s. There were Cubans living in the US since the 1800's.
Case in point. See below, Consuelo Izgnaga later, Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Mancester. How much more assimilated can one get??? She was raised as a southern belle on a plantation in the antebellum South, she had slaves and she ended up marrying a British Duke. In fact, she was the woman who precipitated the so-called buccaneer movement of the 19th and early 20th century when rich American families made an effort to marry their daughters to titled European aristocrats.
María Consuelo Iznaga y Clemens was born in 1858 on the Ravenswood plantation in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, and was the third of four children of diplomatAntonio Iznaga y del Valle and Ellen Maria Clements. Her father hailed from an old and wealthy Cuban family who owned sugar mills, and they had also connections to several Spanish aristocratic houses. Her mother grew up at Ravenswood Plantation in Louisiana. Marriage
Lady Jacqueline Mary Alva Montagu († 1895 of consumption)
Lady Alice Eleanor Louise Montagu († 1900 of consumption)
Life
In her teenage years Consuelo became known on New York's social scene as one of the group called the Buccaneers.
During her marriage Lady Mandeville engaged herself in charitable organisations. Poverty was a case that concerned her, and she was also interested in school and health.
The Duchess of Manchester was a renowned beauty. The same were her sisters, Emily Iznaga y Clements and Natividad (Natica) Iznaga y Clements. The latter was the wife of Sir John Pepys Lister-Kaye, 3rd Baronet. The Duchess was a celebrated society figure, belonging to the intimate circle of Edward VII of the United Kingdom, formerly the Prince of Wales. Titles and styles
Styles of Consuelo Montagu,
Duchess of ManchesterReference style Her Grace Spoken style Your Grace Alternative style Maam
1859 – 1876:Doña María Consuelo Iznaga y Clemens
1876 – 1890:Lady María Consuelo Montagu, Viscountess Mandeville
1890 – 1892:Her Grace María Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Mancester
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".
Oh yes, Mexicans are more assimilated than Cubans. Here is a Mexican-American who won an Olympic Metal for the USA waving the Mexican flag:
updated 7:31 AM EDT, Fri August 10, 2012
Leo Manzano waved the flag of the U.S. and Mexico after winning second place in the 1500-meters final.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Leo Manzano waved both U.S. and Mexico flags after winning in the Olympics
Ruben Navarrette: It was not a good idea for Manzano to carry two flags
He says Manzano should have been clear about which country he represented
Navarrette: By putting on the jersey for Team USA, it's clear what his choice was
Here is Cuban American Olympian Manny Huerta waving the Cuban flag. Oh, wait, he's only waving the American flag!
Manny Huerta hopes to become the first American to medal in the Olympic triathlon.
Donald Miralle/Getty Im
Most assimilated I've met are the Hispanos of the New Mexico Highlands. 150+ years of being part of the US will do that.
They and many of the Tejanos who were part of Texas before it became independent and later part of the USA. There were Tejanos who fought against the Mexicans at the Alamo.
Some hispanics are so assimilated that people don't even think of them as hispanics -- Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, Charlie Sheen, Cameron Diaz, Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) are excamples.
That's a good example of it being individual -- Leo Manzano might have come when he was age 4 but his kind are still waving their Mexican flag when they're age 80, no amount of time here will change that chip on their shoulders they have against the USA.
They and many of the Tejanos who were part of Texas before it became independent and later part of the USA. There were Tejanos who fought against the Mexicans at the Alamo.
Some hispanics are so assimilated that people don't even think of them as hispanics -- Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, Charlie Sheen, Cameron Diaz, Lynda Carter (Wonder Woman) are excamples.
I know that you are not saying that Cameron Diaz is of Mexican ancestry, but within the context of your post, it might be a bit confusing, so I want to clarify that she is not of Mexican ancestry. She is Cuban and her ancestry to Cuba is not remote as in the case of the so-called "Hispanos" and Tejanos who have been here for over 100 years, or as remote as people like Linda Carter. Cameron is evidence that many Cubans become assimilated fairly rapidly.
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:
Where did I ever claim to be a perfect American?? I was born here, I am an American, and I'm still living in America - how is it possible for me to be deracinated??
Quote:
"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.
It's not because I say so, it's because it's a FACT.
Again, I have nothing to do with those flag waving folks.
I "fixate" on Cubans because I have lived in Miami for the entire Cuban diaspora and I am sick to death of certain Cubans (like yourself) claiming that Cubans have been successful in this country because they are innately superior to immigrants from other countries, all the while completely ignoring the great benefits that have been and still are being afforded only to Cuban immigrants.
Quote:
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?
Puhleeeze - where did I state that American born Cubans cannot claim Miami as their city??
Assimilation is kind of a complex thing to define. Anyway, language is one of the standards that social workers use to understand rates of assimilation among immigrants. I think it's more difficult for older people arriving in a new country to learn the language to the point where they don't have an accent and stand out just because of that. It's also more difficult to learn the new language well if these older people live in a community with like people and are always speaking in their native language.
For the children, it's usually different. They learn the new language in school, from friends, and from other sources. They also have the ability to speak the new language without an accent and to become indistinguishable from anyone else in their new country. The chances to speak a 2nd language without a trace of an accent is better if learned before puberty.
Full assimilation takes time. There are other criteria like spreading out geographically, intermarriage and raising one's economic status. The chances for full assimilation, under these criteria, are best reached when new arrivals are spread out geographically and are forced to interact with the country's native population, imo.
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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:
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? 
