Quote:
Originally Posted by jmecklenborg
Except everyone who immigrated here from Continental Europe came here with every intention of assimilating in their public lives..
Encouraging Mexicans or any other immigrant group to defiantly avoid the prevailing English dialect - indeed the gateway to professional employment - is self-sabotage.
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Very true, both points.
Some "outsiders" will be given or have a hard time, nor matter how hard they try or want to assimilate. It's just human nature that people are assholes. I can't imagine there is anyone in the world that hasn't been made fun of or given a hard time for one reason or another, from being foreign, to having big ears or for being short, whatever the reason. Some more harshly than others obviously. Basically saying it's better to avoid some slight ridicule or discrimination from a few people at the expense of overall self (and financial) progress via some measure of assimilation is just silly.
Plus, there is the other side of the coin that people may want to assimilate and want to leave their past behind. No need to champion personal idealistic thoughts onto and for others.
Take for example my great grandmother. Came from a very small village in far northern Italy (basically on the Austrian border). Around the time of WW1 times were extremely tough. Germans had killed my great grandfather and occupied the village. They grew various crops but during this time they had nearly zero to eat. They eventually were able to immigrate after the war to America when my grandmother was about 4 years old. When they got here my great grandmother went through such hardships in Italy she didn't want anything to do with her Italian heritage. She learned English and refused to let anyone in the household continue to speak Italian. She eventually worked in basically sweatshops in LA as a seamstress and she (along with others) was able to provide for her family. My grandmother (the 4 year old at the time of immigration) remembered little of Italy but through the years kept in some contact with relatives. Now a days I still keep in contact with distant cousins and have been to the village where my Grandmother is from. It's absolutely beautiful and it's nice to imagine I partially come from a place like that. However, to my great grandmother it was basically hell and assimilation definitely helped her and the family from just disappearing.