Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think all immigrant groups eventually assimilate and one can clearly find millions of Hispanics who have indeed assimilated.
It might help to remember that Hispanics are currently the biggest volume of new arrivals, so it is inevitable that you are going to find a good many that have not. At least not yet.
What Brokaw said is not racist, but rather critical. And it was hardly an angry diatribe. What he is criticizing them for can be remedied. Were he racist, that would not be true. Criticism, whether accurate or not, is something distinct from racism and people confuse the two with frightening ease.
He is partially correct, but he would have been correct in 1915 talking about Italians or other groups.
Exactly, people have to understand the time it takes to assimilate most Hispanics have been here less than 50 years of course they are going to be less assimilated, but many already have and majority Will. Just look at Germans today in NYC 25% of people speak Spanish, but 110 years ago 25% of NYC spoke German. Over time these cultures assimilate. You just have to be warm, and accepting and they'll Glady follow. If people are hostile the assimilation process will take even longer you can't blame them for not wanting to be around people that hate them.
My 2nd job is right next to a 75% hispanic town. Most hispanic adults speak passable English. Some not passable. A few almost none. I have yet in 11 years to not interact with these families where the kid speaks near perfect English. The only flaw in the kids speech is a tendency to start words starting with an S sound like special with an e sound ie especial. Often my translator IS the kid in the family.
Most people who claim all their German ancestors spoke great English 10 years after landing are full of bovine scatterings. The 1910 and 1920 census provide ample evidence. Their children did. Just like the Hispanic kids do.
Chinatown? Miami? Eating lasagna on Christmas Eve? Going to a temple? Going to a Catholic Church? Going to a nondenominational evangelical church? Stay at home mom? Working single mom? Living in a big city, living on a farm? Owning a house? Renting an apartment? Living in a trailer park? Living in a McMansion? Living in a log home on a mountain? A concrete block home near the beach? Owning their own business? Working as a nurse? Working as a laborer? Putting their fork down between bites of food? Enunciating words like northerners? Drawling words like southerners? Wearing a cowboy hat or a baseball cap? Jeans or dress slacks or sweatpants? A tie or a T-shirt? Calling athletic shoes sneakers or tennies? Drinking soda or pop? Celebrating Hanukkah or Easter or Ramadan or Chinese New Year or St Nicholas Day or Halloween or Cinco de Mayo or none of the above?
There is no “American culture.” The USA is filled with people from all countries, of every color, religion, and persuasion. We all live in “real America,” not only those who reside in one particular state. Yes, those living in NYC or Honolulu are every bit as American as those in rural Texas and Wyoming. I know it can be scary to realize that people not exactly like you have the same rights that you do. Have a cookie.
Which prompts the question, why do they apparently slip beneath peoples demands that immigrants assimilate?
Well... those Chinese immigrants stay in Chinatown to speak their language and create a mini slice of China that outsiders visit to immerse themselves in Asian culture.
But I do agree with Tom Brokaw and also the professors at Duke University who only want English spoken on campus. I've experienced many workplaces where if there is more than one Hispanic immigrant, they clump together and openly speak Spanish with each and ignore the other co-workers. I've worked in situations where I was the only non-Hispanic, and for an hour, all I heard was Spanish around me. Not one of them thought to include me in their conversations. And this is why, I prefer not to work with more than one Hispanic worker at a time. Meanwhile, the Chinese workers will speak English whenever they are in a room with even just one non-Chinese person.
Exactly, people have to understand the time it takes to assimilate most Hispanics have been here less than 50 years of course they are going to be less assimilated, but many already have and majority Will. Just look at Germans today in NYC 25% of people speak Spanish, but 110 years ago 25% of NYC spoke German. Over time these cultures assimilate. You just have to be warm, and accepting and they'll Glady follow. If people are hostile the assimilation process will take even longer you can't blame them for not wanting to be around people that hate them.
Just as long as we have a continued flow of illegal alien Hispanics from south of our border assimilation is not going to happen. I have also found that Spanish speakers are adamant about retaining their language out in public no matter how long they have been here. Sure many learn to speak English but will never assimilate fully out in public to it. You'll never convince me that with the continued growth of Spanish speakers in this country via favoring them in our legal immigration quotas and massive illegal immigration that your scenario will ever come true. To me the most important part of cultural assimilation is language usage.
Well... those Chinese immigrants stay in Chinatown to speak their language and create a mini slice of China that outsiders visit to immerse themselves in Asian culture.
But I do agree with Tom Brokaw and also the professors at Duke University who only want English spoken on campus. I've experienced many workplaces where if there is more than one Hispanic immigrant, they clump together and openly speak Spanish with each and ignore the other co-workers. I've worked in situations where I was the only non-Hispanic, and for an hour, all I heard was Spanish around me. Not one of them thought to include me in their conversations. And this is why, I prefer not to work with more than one Hispanic worker at a time. Meanwhile, the Chinese workers will speak English whenever they are in a room with even just one non-Chinese person.
You're absolutely correct! I know this first hand also. My wife worked at a place where there were many Hispanic workers. They were told to speak English on the job while breaks and lunches were the exception. They spoke Spanish anyway anywhere they were on the clock. A memo was put up on the bulletin board to remind them again and they just ripped it off the wall. Management was too weak to enforce it. My wife found that the Filapinos she worked with were more respectful and followed the rules.
I lean conservative and I believe that Hispanics do assimilate. Just like every other incoming immigrant group, it takes a generation to happen but it does.
Exactly, statistics show that Hispanics are on average assimilating as fast or faster than other immigrant groups before them.
Chinatowns.
“Korea”towns like Flushing, NY and Palisades Park, NJ.
Russia enclaves like Brighton Beach in Brooklyn...
None of these are ever mentioned with the same scorn as are Hispanic communities.
For whatever reasons (wink-wink) they just “different.”
Speaking ones native language in an ethnic business neighborhood is one thing speaking it exclusively in public when one knows English is quite another. Hispanics are the ones most guilty of the latter so there that answers your question.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
