Thread: Mexican Ruben is at it again

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-e ... varre.html

Funny how he waited until the furor over the criminal street demonstrations died down.

Entire article...

As if Mexicans weren't having a tough enough time in America these days, now they're being told they don't speak good enough English by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

What's Spanish for “How humiliating”?

I'm not sure. As a third-generation Mexican-American, my Spanish is horrid. And there are millions of Mexican-Americans like me, whose parents – having endured discrimination in schools and in the workplace for speaking Spanish in the 1940s and '50s – raised their kids to speak English only. Even recent immigrants from Mexico can't escape the power of English. Grandma may be watching her favorite telenovela in the family room, but, in the bedroom down the hall, her grandkids are watching “Ugly Betty” on ABC.

You want ugly? Check out the comments Schwarzenegger made last week about Mexicans and assimilation.

You'd hope that someone who's been ribbed because of his accent – including when then-Gov. Gray Davis snidely remarked that Californians shouldn't vote for someone who couldn't properly pronounce the name of the state – might be extra sensitive to how language can be used as a weapon, or understand how some people like making others feel less American than they are.

So why would Schwarzenegger stumble so clumsily into the language wars when, during an appearance in Los Angeles' Chinatown, he gave Mexicans a tutorial on how to succeed in America, Austrian-style?

Welcome to Caly-for-nee-ya.

In response to a reporter's question, Schwarzenegger said people often ask him the secret of his success. He tells them it requires “that you learn the language, that you learn the history of America . . . and (that) you have to become part of America.”

So far, so good. But then he went for the whole enchilada.

“And that is very difficult for some people to do,” said the governor, “especially, I think, for Mexicans, because they are so close to their country here, so they try to stay Mexican but try to be in America.”

The Austrian immigrant offered this advice: “What I am saying to the Mexicans is, you've got to go and immerse yourself, and assimilate into the American culture, and become part of the American fabric. That is how Americans will embrace you.”

Et tu, Arnold?

Just a few weeks ago, Schwarzenegger raised eyebrows when a tape surfaced in which the governor was heard telling staffers that Cubans and Puerto Ricans “are all very hot.”

I'll try to keep my temperature down, but the governor's most recent comments were inaccurate, impolite, inconsistent, imprudent, insincere and incomplete:

Inaccurate because Mexicans do assimilate. A recent study found that, by the second generation, English is dominant for children of Mexican immigrants. By the third generation, only 17 percent still speak fluent Spanish. In the fourth generation, it's 5 percent.

Impolite because it's never a good idea to compare one group to another. Schwarzenegger contrasted Mexicans to Asians, whom he called a “hardworking people . . . making great contributions.” Imagine if the governor used an event for Jews to criticize African-Americans.

Inconsistent because the governor was, after all, in Chinatown to attend a celebration of something called the Moon Festival, a fall holiday in Asian culture, and promote a new law to study the effects of relaxing health standards for ethnic foods. And he touts assimilation?

Imprudent because issues of language and assimilation represent delicate territory where it's best not to charge in without reflection and restraint. Schwarzenegger's comments showed little of neither.

Insincere because Mr. Assimilation's own campaign Web site, www.joinarnold.com, has a feature where you can hit a button to read the site en espanol. Que pasa, Arnold? I thought you wanted folks to learn English. Why cater to them in Spanish?

And incomplete because this line about how Americans will “embrace” Mexicans if they do X, Y and Z only perpetuates the notion that – to the degree that Mexicans aren't embraced now – it's their own fault. Never mind racism, discrimination or fear.

It's not that Schwarzenegger doesn't have a point. He's right that immigrants – no matter where they come from – should assimilate and blend into American culture and learn English. To me, being proficient in English is more important than knowing more than one language, and knowing more than one language is pretty important.

Schwarzenegger's mistake was assuming that this was some revolutionary idea that Mexicans and Mexican-Americans need to be sold on. They don't. They've already bought in. And one would like to think the immigrant governor of the most diverse state in the country would know that.

Navarrette can be reached via e-mail at ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.


http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-e ... varre.html

Schwarzenegger's mistake was assuming that this was some revolutionary idea that Mexicans and Mexican-Americans need to be sold on. They don't. They've already bought in.

My thought on this is if they are "sold on it", why isn't there more assimilation and why are we seeing this division with more corporations pandering by putting spanish labeling? why is our government even printing documents in spanish, and even going so far as to have spanish voting ballots in some areas! and the studies he quoted, how can they be accurate with 12+ illegals, the majority of which are Mexican, who were probably not included in the research? [/quote]