Blaxit: Tired of Racism, Black Americans Try Life in Africa

The people you were talking about did learn English! Why does 'being an American' entail only speaking one language, ever or dressing a certain way? I couldnt tell you what "dressing American" looks like (without being insulting of our jorts and crocs wearers).

 

That’s interesting. The US is supposed to be about freedom but you think there should be a pretty strict dress code
Btw, Sikhs wear turbans. Why exactly should they not practice their religion?

 

This reminds me of an anecdote. My co-worker's spouse's relatives are from Puerto Rico / Dominican Rep. They moved to Chicago and none of them spoke english. They now have children (two generations later) that don't know how to read or write spanish and only speak it to their grandparents. My co-worker thought this was the greatest tragedy and I said this is exactly how America works. Why don't you go to Boston and hear people speaking Irish or Italian or go to Minnesota and hear people speaking Norwegian / German? At least to where you notice it.
It takes a certain amount of time before people acclimate to their surroundings. Certainly not going to happen quickly. Sometimes it could take 3 or 4 generations or more.

 

You are aware that the overwhelming majority of men wearing turbans aren't from the Middle East, they're Sikhs and are either originally from India or the decedents of Sikh immigrants from India. Brings to mind a hate crime that occurred shortly after the 9-11 attack on the WTC in which a Sikh was murdered because he was wearing a turban. One example of American exceptionalism is the absence of religious dress codes including the absence of a prohibition against wearing religious apparel.

 

For my German ancestors on my mom's side, it only took one generation. They emigrated right before WWI, with the last name of Kaiser. After their house was firebombed, they moved several states over, changed their last name, and threw away all their heritage.

 

Yeah, probably depends on the situation and everyone is different. If you move somewhere that is more insulated from typical American culture it could take longer. Like that movie Gangs of New York. Irish, Italian and others lived near each other so there was no need to change immediately. But over time, it happens.

Cubans seemed to take only one generation as well.

 

My mother’s parents and grandparents came from Sweden around 1900. One of her grandmothers never learned English. The other learned a little, she said.

 

Yeah, I think you're spot on there. That typically changes after a couple generations, but there are likely exceptions. For example, there are people who Miami who can't speak English or prefer not to - probably because there are so many other Spanish speakers there and they feel that their English isn't very good. It's not because they don't want to be in America by any means. My mom tells me her grandmother (in Mississippi) spoke French in the house. I think they'd been in the states for generations already, but I'm sure those folks were insulated as in a rural area back in those days.

 

I know, it's easy to see that people would be self conscious about their English, not because they don't want to fit in. I try to not make them feel bad about it or see if there is someone around that can translate. Happens a lot on my job sites during construction.

 

I want to add that this thread is the epitome of "touch call" for moderators. We detest the racial overtones of the subject at hand, but find the pushback refreshing and sort of a self policing by membership (on both sides of the political spectrum thankfully).

The allowance of the OP to remain is not some endorsement of the POV.

I am still waiting for the OP to answer my questions before we make the ultimate decision on if the thread will remain.

 

Yeah. Nearly every time I've gotten silence or grunts, I start speaking in my intermediate gringo Spanish. When they can see that I'm struggling with limited vocabulary and am not going to mock them or think they're dumb, their demeanor and face changes entirely. Some have suspected I have family from somewhere else. We usually wind up speaking Spanglish, and at least half the time if not more, their English winds up being better than my Spanish. There are exceptions, of course. Had a situation last year where a convenience store clerk and a Spanish-speaking customer (obviously a migrant worker) were not making any progress so I stepped into the conversation. They were absolutely not going to get anywhere.

 

My grandfather came from Hungary with his parents when he was a child. The rule once they got to the US was English only in the house. It's sad, because while my grandfather still spoke Hungarian a bit, his kids were English only. I think we lost a bit of our heritage and advantages of being bilingual.

I'm envious of those who grow up in bilingual households. Living in S. Florida as a kid and Arizona most of my adult life, and taking Spanish classes, I can speak a bit. I can tell you just how grateful people are when they are Spanish only, need help, and someone steps in. And often times, people can speak plenty English, but are scared too. And their English is better than my Spanish!

 

Similar story here. Both of my parents were first generation Americans, with my maternal grandparents immigrating from Germany and paternal grandparents from Ukraine and Poland. In my high school, German was offered as an option to fulfill the language requirement, instead of Spanish as I had always taken. I was so excited, I came home to tell my mom that I was going to learn German, and we could talk in German at the house. She replied, “Oh I don’t speak German.” I was like, what the H?? She not only grew up in a German home, she grew up in a German neighborhood in NYC. Anyway, long story short, Donde está la biblioteca, it was!

Like you, I think it is sad that I was allotted almost no cultural inheritance from my grandparents. I was always going to be American, but I could have also had a bit of something from my family too.

 

He said they should try to learn English…you attempt to assimilate and show respect to American culture.
I certainly wouldn’t dream of moving to another country and try to force my ignorance on others.

 

Maybe I'm confusing various posts and sorry if I am. But in the post to which I think you're referring the poster said, "I hate sitting in a waiting room with a bunch of people speaking Spanish only to learn they speak perfectly good English when their name is called to the reception desk."

So the complaint wasn't that they didn't try to learn English. He said they actually spoke English well. Rather, the poster hated over-hearing a second language during a private conversation. Maybe they didn't want everybody understanding what they were talking about.

 

You might want to read what he said about turbans

 

Well, looks like I missed it then. My bad.
Yeah, I’m all about people maintaining their heritage, culture while also trying to respect Americas too.
Thanks for the clarification.

 

The bolded sentence was my point in the original post. Everything else was said to back up that statement.

 

I get a kick out of when you guys strongly support a guy wearing a turban or speaking his native language rather than to try to fit in with the locals but you have a major problem with the sight of a confederate flag.

 

I agree that I happen to be lucky as hell to be born in the U.S.A. But I didn't ask to be either. In other words, it is what it is and borders have always existed. Even within our country, we have borders. State lines and county lines sometimes determine a very different outcome of things, different laws, criminal violations, taxes, rules and customs. I believe this probably makes the most sense, does it not? A national border is critical to maintain. Otherwise how do you keep out certain existential threats from crossing? Our border is largely what has allowed us to flourish into the superpower we are.