On Demand
The Mexican Model
Gregory Rodriguez, director of the California Fellows Program and op-ed columnist at the Los Angeles Times, talks about his new book, Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America, and how Mexican immigrants have already dramatically changed the American 'melting pot.'
Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds is available for purchase at Amazon.com
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Comments
How can this theory help a country that continues to deny a presidential candidate his partial heritage, (he IS half african american, but is continued to mostly be identified as BLACK)..
Mestisaje only works when everyone has the same skin color shade and when ALL people act a certain way. - Though Mexicans subscribe to the National Ideal of a Mixed nation of a 'new raza', in their everyday lives they are extremelly prejudiced against those that are darker skinned or those whose cultural traits are not 'civilized' - I.e., a Mestizo in Mexico City looks at traditional peasants from Oaxaca as uneducated and subhumans. White and European mexicans - even those who migrated in the 20th Century have gotten the upper hand in wealth and power because whites are given preferential treatment.
Discrimination is rampant on a daily basis in Mexico - as it is in the rest of Latin AMerica - It's just that it is a bit more 'benign' that racism as has historical existed in the US
Mestizaje is not an exclusive cultural trait of Mexicans. It is a shared trait of all LATINOS whether they are mestizos, mulatos, etc. So it is the cultural influence of American Latinos (not only Mexican-Americans) that could have a DIRECT and sweeping IMPACT in America´s racist Anglo culture.
People SHOULD hold onto their own languages as well as their cultures but they SHOULD also learn English if they want to remain here.
do not forget that the first group to bring to the forefront the inequality in education was a mexican-american family and 4 other cases got conflated into the Brown v. Board of Education case before the supreme court. i think mexicans are coming to u.s.a.
because of the gross systematic corruption of the mexican government, as well as a dream of freedom to succeed and be rid of class, and poverty
I taught Japanese for many years in Kearny, New Jersey. Many of my kids were of Latin descent--and many of them fell in love with the Japanese language and culture. So much so that at home, when their parents spoke to them in Spanish (and Portuguese for my Brazilian and Portuguese kids), guess which language they replied in!!
About keeping the "home language" as well as the challenges that being a bilingual household can present--
As an ESL teacher who works primarily with Latino adults (most of whom are Mexican immigrants), I'm frequently asked questions about usage of Spanish and English. I always tell my students that they should try to keep up their Spanish with their children, yet seize opportunities to practice English whenever they can. It's frustrating for the parents because, they tell me, their kids often refuse to speak Spanish, or simply answer them in English--and/or criticize their parents usage of English. I think that ESL classes and other centers of education are the places where we teachers/community members can help to offer parents reassurance and advice regarding the simultaneous maintenance of their home languages, while facilitating their learning of English and culture here in the United States. I don't believe that they are mutually exclusive.
A APROPOS JOKE
WHAT DO YOU CALL A PERSON WHO SPEAK 3 LANGUAGES? TRILINGUAL
WHAT DO YOU CALL A PERSON WHO SPEAKS 2 LANGUAGES? BILINGUAL
WHAT DO YOU CALL A PERSON WHO SPEAKS ONLY ONE LANGUAGE? AN AMERICAN.
MIKE FROM JERSEY CITY, A GRINGO WHO THINKS MULTILINGUALISM IS CRITICAL
It's interesting that the guest and caller mentioned the "shame" influence of not speaking the language of the old country and the pride of a grandchild speaking it fluently. I'm Korean. Koreans, and I'm sure that MANY other immigrants, use the same bizarre mind game with their 1.5 and second generation offspring. Having been raised with this, it was just not practical. One can encourage a child and give a child time to learn a language, but parents do not own their children. Forcing a summer-long journey to the old country does not ensure a happy foreign language-speaking child. At worst, it will cause a greater rift and animosity between generations.
I was born in Korea and moved to America when I was 2. English is my first language.
How about the other immigrant communities whose language is not Spanish?
This thread is closed.
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