Next Up: Spanish Harlem Goes Burberry

Diverse, multicultural . . . Nantucket.

Comments

[Josh]

That's very cool. I think the "Hora del almeurzo" thing is brilliant - the best way to ease tension is to share food.

I really don't get anti-immigration attitudes. The food alone is reason to welcome different cultures with open arms.

[Pat Buchanan]

The food alone is reason to welcome different cultures with open arms.

Yes, I have several books here: To Serve Japanese, To Serve Italians, To Serve Chinese, and the tastiest of all, to Serve French in a White Wine Sauce.

We'll never go hungry in this country again!

[A la izquierda]

Agreed, Josh. And it's also nice to read an immigration story that doesn't focus so much on the trials of immigration -- both for the immigrants themselves and for the members of the established community who have to adjust to them. Alas, a victim-less story!

[click here for the Lonewacko B]

"I really don't get anti-immigration attitudes. The food alone is reason to welcome different cultures with open arms."

Yum, yum. I like Yemeni food myself. Ever had that? Hammous, tahini, falafel, lamb kebab. Sure, everyone from Armenians to Israelis to Uzbekis make something similar, but the Yemeni version is best!

I say we import about, oh, 10 million or so Yemenis to the U.S. just because we're brain-dead and greedy and all we can think about is this afternoon's meal and we let our stomachs interfere with our brains and we can't think about the long-term effects.

Meanwhile:
"Since we stole [the southwestern U.S.] from [Mexico], why do you say it's unfair to steal it back from us?" - CA State Senator John Vasconcellos

"We're going to take over all the political institutions of California. California is going to be a Hispanic state and anyone who doesn't like it should leave. If they [Anglos] don't like Mexicans, they ought to go back to Europe." - Mario Obledo, co-founder of MALDEF

"those rednecks that are out there making decisions for the betterment of their communities will think twice before they push forward anti- immigrant legislation against our community." - CA State Assemblyman and Jackie Goldberg co-braodcaster Fabian Nunez

"Guess what?" Soto said. "The [illegal] immigrants are already here. I welcome them. I hope they keep coming." - CA State Senator Nell Soto

And:
"I have proudly affirmed that the Mexican Nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its borders." - former MX President Zedillo

"There are those who are saying they're concerned because we are Latinizing Los Angeles, that there are too many Mexicans here, we're the biggest..., that we're the biggest national security threat to the United States. I love it! Estan cagando cabrones miedo (The bastards are shitting with fear). I love it!" - Jose Angel Gutierrez, Director of Mexican-American Studies Center at the University of Texas at Arlington

"[we should give driver's licenses to illegal aliens because] they were here first" - CA State Senator Gil Cedillo

"We are all Americans whether we are legalized or not." - CA State Senator Hilda Solis

"We are already giving instructions to our consulates that they begin propagating militant activities -- if you will -- in their communities [in the U.S., via unions, churches, and universities]" - former MX foreign minister Jorge Castaneda

"I want the third generation, the seventh generation, I want them all to think 'Mexico first'" - MX government official

[Julian Sanchez]

"We are already giving instructions to our consulates that they begin propagating militant activities -- if you will -- in their communities [in the U.S., via unions, churches, and universities]" - former MX foreign minister Jorge Castaneda

I was a student of Jorge Casta?eda's, and I'd be quite curious to see the context of that quotation... and the original Spanish, if it's a translation.

[dhex]

i'm curious to know exactly what militant activities people would expect from mexicans living in the united states in the first place.

[AJB]

Immigration - good
Multiculturism - bad

One of the things to be admired about the U.S. is the ( general ) acceptance by immigrants that, upon arrival, they are Americans first. The desire to assimilate and thereby gain a foothold towards success in their new homeland demands this. The country they have left behind is just that. Though they may strive to maintain some of "the old ways", by and large it seems ( to an outsider, anyway ) that you do not have vast the vast majority of immigrants to America trying to recreate their homeland on your soil.

[click here for the Lonewacko B]

"I was a student of Jorge Casta?eda's, and I'd be quite curious to see the context of that quotation... and the original Spanish, if it's a translation."

I'm pretty sure he said it in English. The original Houston Chronicle article, which was just in a "Business Briefs" section with two other blurbs appears to be gone. You're welcome to pay for a pass to their archives or use Lexis/Nexis. However, you can see the context in various
searches. Here's the part of the article I quoted:

[Mexico's foreign minister Jorge] Castaneda said Mexican officials will begin rallying unions, churches, universities and Mexican communities. "What's important is that American society sees a possible migratory agreement in a positive light," Castaneda said. "We are already giving instructions to our consulates that they begin propagating militant activities -- if you will -- in their communities."

As for possible militant activities, here's one past instance:

Nothing more vividly testifies against that romantic faith in America's ability to continuously assimilate new members than the events of October 16, 1994 in Los Angeles. On that day, 70,000 people marched beneath "a sea of Mexican flags" protesting Proposition 187, a referendum measure that would deny many state benefits to illegal immigrants and their children. Two weeks later, more protestors marched down the street, this time carrying an American flag upside down.

Perhaps the SEIU and friends could shut down L.A., as they threatened to do. That'd be fairly militant, no?

Then, there's those consulates. After Castaneda's remarks, they began working with local politicians to get pro-illegal-immigration laws passed. That's hardly an isolated incident, there are other examples here.

As for the universities, well, you're familiar with Mecha, right? And, you're familiar with some of those quoted above being former members of that organization, as well as CA Lt. Gov. Bustamante, former Democratic Party L.A. mayoral candidate Villaraigosa, as well as U.S. Rep. Grijalva (D-AZ).

I could go on, but perhaps you could tell me how a foreign government trying to agitate its citizens (and our citizens of their same ethnicity) on U.S. soil is in any way a positive or friendly move.

[Kevin Carson]

Thanks, Apis. Can you work "wiped off his chin" into it somehow?

[Anonymous]

"Next up" ?

You don't watch too much BET, do you? Burberry's already pretty hot uptown, if you know what I'm saying.

[dhex]

but it was precisely those attempts at recreating the sense of homeland which led to the culinary delights mentioned above, among dozens of other things, most of which have been positive. or at least no more negative than the activities of native-born folk.

personally, i always thought the anti-immigration stuff was largely driven by paranoia - not so much out of different "lifestyles" or "culture clash" (fuck off sammy! 🙂 but because people are always paranoid about other people talking about them. what better way for them to talk about you than using a foreign language?

[Kevin Carson]

Oh, COME ON, people! Nantucket?!! Isn't anybody going to make the obvious allusion?

[Apis]

An Ecuadorean in an old bucket,
Sailed north, up to Nantucket.
But when he got there,
Pat Buchanan did glare,
And said "love it or leave it, or Phuket."