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November 28, 2006
Slouching Toward Nativism
Rep Tom Tancredo says immigration is turning Miami into a "third world country."
In South Florida to attend Restoration Weekend, a gathering of conservative activists, the Colorado Republican, whose district includes suburbs of Denver, pointed to Miami as an example of how "the nature of America can be changed by uncontrolled immigration," the story says.Pardon my french, but what a friggin' jackass."Look at what has happened to Miami," the WorldNetDaily quotes Tancredo as saying in an interview. "It has become a Third World country. You just pick it up and take it and move it someplace. You would never know you're in the United States of America. You would certainly say you're in a Third World country..."
"Moreover, the sheer size and number of ethnic enclaves devoid of any English and dominated by foreign cultures is widespread," Tancredo said in the statement. "Frankly, many of these areas could have been located in another country. And until America gets serious about demanding assimilation, this problem will continue to spread."
What 'problem' is he talking about here? There have always been ethnic enclaves in the United States. Look at Chinatown or Little Italy in New York, Russian America in Seattle or Chinatown in Honolulu. There's Little Manila in Virginia Beach and heck, most of Lancaster County in Pennsylvania.
Ethnic enclaves are not a sign that people are refusing to assimilate. They are, for immigrants, a place where you can find a piece of home - a restaurant that serves a particular dish, a store that sells a hard to find item. Yes, some immigrants are not as eager to assimilate as others - but to use Miami, home of people who came to America to get away from Castro and communism as an example of those who fail to assimilate - is pure and simple ignorance on Tancredo's part.
It irritates me to see how many conservatives take this preening moron seriously as a presidential contender in 2008. I'll say this - I will vote for John McCain before I vote for Tom Tancredo. If Tancredo is on the ticket at all - president, vice president - I will sit the election out. It's better for the Republicans to lose than to allow themselves to become the Know Nothings of the 21st century.
We need to have a debate about immigration in this country, but it needs to be based in something other than cheap demagoguery. Sure, railing against ethnic enclaves may provide some nice carne rojo for the campaign trail, but it does nothing to actually solve the problem, or positively engage those who might agree on principle, but are turned off by such rhetoric.
My motto in 2008? Anybody But Tancredo.
UPDATE - Maybe Tom should let the adults talk for awhile before mouthing off again. Consider how differently the same points can be made.
Posted by slublog at November 28, 2006 12:52 PM
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Comments
I read an article within the last few months in Reason that claimed that assimilation in current immigrant groups is happening at about the same rate as among previous immigration groups. The first generation is usually too darn busy working at hard jobs to learn much more than rudimentary English and keeps to itself. By the third generation, everyone's pretty much assimilated with English as the first language. Plus ca change.....
Posted by: Tor at November 28, 2006 03:30 PM
Found it:
http://www.reasonmag.com/news/show/36906.html
As Fox News stalwart Tony Snow wrote just a couple of months before becoming Bush’s press secretary, “Immigration is not the pox neo-Know Nothings make it out to be” (see “Where’s the Mayhem?”). Far from it. Unemployment is low and crime is down everywhere, but especially in areas teeming with immigrants. Those who worry for whatever reason about languages other than English being spoken in America can rest easy knowing that some 80 percent of Latino households are Spanish-free by the third generation.
Posted by: Tor at November 28, 2006 03:37 PM
That last quote is especially true. My great-grandfather was an immigrant from Mexico. My grandparents, my mom and her siblings all speak spanish. The current generation? Not so much.
Posted by: Slublog at November 28, 2006 03:51 PM