Skip to main content

Multiculturalism: Lessons for Latinos from London

The misunderstanding of what is multiculturalism is becoming a growing problem, both economically and culturally. Allow me to explain.

I started thinking about this when I read the quote by Tony Blair on the problems they have faced with homeland terrorism in London. He says:
You can have your own religion and your own culture but still feel integrated into the mainstream of a community....when you've got people who may be here sometimes 20 years or more and who still don't speak English, that worries me because there's a separateness there that may be unhealthy.
Here is the important lesson for Latinos. We need to stay faithful to our value and faith, but it is imperative that all immigrants seek to integrate into the mainstream community. I do believe this must start with learning the language. Immigrant children should, first and foremost, learn English. Blair's quote is worth repeating again:
...when you've got people who may be here sometimes 20 years or more and who still don't speak English, that worries me because there's a separateness there that may be unhealthy.
I am not saying to abandon our native language, but to make sure to learn English. It's unhealthy to the culture at large, and it is economically impoverishing, both to the society at large and to immigrants specifically, to live for extended periods of time in America without learning English.

States should be concerned with helping immigrant children, and their parents, transition as quickly as possible into the new language, into our civic duties, and into our cultural mores. Immigrants who become naturalized should learn our political processes and learn to use them in petitioning their governing officers, addressing grievances and seeking economic prosperity.

So, while it is clear and evident that Latinos that do not adjust and integrate do not become terrorists (its a different story altogether), some of the basic problems of integration are still relevant and important. Perhaps, better integration would reduce gang involvement among Latino kids, or perhaps it would result in an improved overall economic condition for Latinos. I think better integration would make a huge difference in reducing racist attitudes towards Latinos among those that are simply ignorant.

Most importantly, I think better integration with Latinos would do wonders in allowing this country, Anglos, black, Asians and others, to learn more and better understand the Latino culture. If others in this nation do not understand the Latino immigration problem, and the Latino culture, it is only because Latino's in general have done a bad job connecting and communicating with the American culture.

Why should a nation accept immigrants, if these immigrants do not care enough to learn the language and mores? From what I have experienced, having learned the language and culture, integration makes life a lot easier.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Al Cardenas Comments on Univision Democrat Forum

Al Cardenas is Chairman of Romney for President's Hispanic Steering Committee. I got the following email from the campaign. Boston, MA – Al Cardenas, the Chairman of Romney for President's National Hispanic Steering Committee, issued the following statement regarding tonight's Democrat presidential forum on Univision: "Tonight's Univision forum demonstrated once again the consequences that a President Clinton, President Obama or President Edwards would have on the Hispanic community.  Whether it's tax increases for families and the two million Hispanic business owners, socialist-style health care, coddling dictators, opposing free trade with our allies or putting family values last, the Democrat presidential candidates made clear how out of sync their policies are with the best interests of the Hispanic community. Mitt Romney has put in the effort to reach out to this vital bloc, and, after watching tonight's debate

Harry Potter Mania -- Discussion

There is a great discussion going on at WorldMagBlog on the whole Harry Potter mania. Nothing to do with Latinos, I suppose, but I thought I would ad my two cents. A reader commented: I think its interesting how much people want to be in a group that is all connected by some common thread. It says a lot about our desire for homogeny, not always along racial, sexual or religious lines, but also simply based on what we do in our spare time. The interesting thing about Harry Potter fans vs. Star Trek fans is that a vast majority of them are kids who have grown up with the books, or the parents of said kids. I wonder if what sort of effects this will have on them as they get older (and whether or not they will remain HP fans). We live in an obsessive culture. Posted by David B. at July 22, 2005 07:54 AM This is an interesting phenomenon. I would think it is indicative of our society, more than anything else. I tend to agree with the idea that it shows a desire or need for communi

Communism: Good Money for the "El Viejo"

I guess Fidel Castro is doing ok . Forbes lists Castro as one of the richest in the world, right up there with the Queen of England. I bet he didn't like the attention. It was hard to figure it out, but it seems they managed to throw some numbers together. In the past, we have relied on a percentage of Cuba's gross domestic product to estimate Fidel Castro's fortune. This year we have used more traditional valuation methods, comparing state-owned assets Castro is assumed to control with comparable publicly traded companies. A reasonable discount was then applied to compensate for the obvious disclosure issues.