re: #61 wrenchwench

Even the parts of the US that WERE Mexico are not in danger of turning into Mexico. New Mexico will not turn into old Mexico. Many Mexicans who come here do so because they’d like to be Americans. Second generation kids of Mexican immigrants don’t want to learn Spanish.

You may not be able to convince them of anything. Don’t worry about it if they insist on being wrong. You don’t have to correct them. If you want to, though, just take your time gathering info to make your case.

I don’t know your family’s background, but what I sometimes do with Jews (or Irish or Italians) who talk like this is remind them of what was said about our own people back when they were coming to the United States in large numbers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We were supposed to be unassimilable. We didn’t speak English and would NEVER learn. We couldn’t understand democracy. We would be the death of United States.

Now we’re considered as American as bagels and green beer on St. Patrick’s day, and the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those immigrants who they swore couldn’t become Americans hate on the Mexicans.

It’s all been said about every wave of immigrants, and it’s never been true. We all get settled in, and assimilate slowly over the generations.

Do you know why they’re focusing on this? Is it fear, or do they dislike seeing people speaking Spanish on the street, or do they follow a pundit who talks about this a lot? How you tackle it may depend on where this is coming from.