I’d like the United States to institute a policy where for every immigrant we get from Mexico, we have to deport a lazy American.
Seriously. Mexican immigrants are, in my experience, some of the hardest workers I have ever met, and our country would do well to have more of them come to this country, become Americans, and stay here. The only reason they sneak across our border is because we don’t let them in. We should let them in. It should be as easy for Mexicans to come to the States as it is for Americans to visit Mexico. But it isn’t, and I can’t see any good reason why this should be the case.
The reason why the United States has immigration quotas is pure and simply racism. We wanted to stop the influx of Asians during the Gold Rush. Currently, we want to stop the influx of brown people from Mexico. And if they do come here, we want them to jump through some hoops that we nationals never had to jump through. They have to take an English exam and a history exam. If they pass, they’ll know more about the rules of English and our government and history than most Americans. Every American should be required to take those tests before they can get the benefits of citizenship. But if that were the case, a lot of Americans would quickly become non-voters. (I say big deal. They don’t vote anyway.)
Why this fear of other races? It isn’t the other races per se. Talk to your average fearful whites and they’ll tell you they have no problem with Asians or Mexicans or blacks or anyone else—but if they come to this country, they have to assimilate. They have to speak English. They have to “take on American customs.”
That’s what assimilation means in this country. It means to stop acting “ethnic” and start acting “like an American.” Give your kids American names. Wear American clothes. Speak an American language. …Okay, now replace “American” in those sentences with “American Indian.” Does it work? No? How about “white”? Ah, there we are.
Fearful whites don't mind a massive influx of Mexicans so long as the Mexicans come to this country and start acting white. If they came here and immediately began speaking accent-free English, ate at McDonalds, joined a Protestant church, and started shopping at the Gap, there would be no controversy. Instead, they come here and insist on retaining their culture… like every other immigrant in American history.
The result that I find the most interesting is that America has managed to develop a rather large and significant Spanish-speaking subculture. They’re American, same as the whites; they just don’t speak White. (I mean English.) And when the White-speakers talk about sealing our Mexican border, the Spanish-speakers rightly and vocally call it racism.
I can’t see this latest Senate vote—to make English the official (or “common and unifying”) language as anything but a backlash against them. It’s entirely unnecessary. It’s especially unnecessary considering the large number of Spanish-speakers in this country who will immediately find themselves shut out as a result of it. It’s as if the United States has decided to pass a national Jim Crow law. This is not a ban on Spanish, but it will in effect be a ban on the government speaking Spanish to its constituents.
My attitude has always been that Americans should be required to learn to speak a second language. Preferably Spanish. If everyone spoke Spanish, most of the nervousness about Mexican immigrants would disappear; racism is usually based on willful ignorance, and forcing much of that ignorance away would do a lot of good. Congress should pass a law, instead, requiring that schools teach Spanish. But will they? No; their campaign contributors are fearful whites, who are taking advantage of the white majority in Congress and getting them to slap down another race and make it look like patriotism.