There's a bit of a flap over comments Tom Brokaw made on, I assume, Chuck Todd's show that are -- well, "stupid" comes to mind. Here's the one that stuck out to me:
Point One: Every immigrant group in the history of this country has tended to settle in their own communities, at least for a generation to two. You're in this new place where everything is not what you're used to, so of course you try to live near people who have the same background.
Point Two: Their kids do learn to speak English, eventually. Sometimes right away. Family history has it that my father, whose parents immigrated before World War I and settled in a Lithuanian community in Southern Illinois, didn't learn to speak English until he started school. And he spoke flawless American Standard English.
As well, I happen to live in a neighborhood with a lot of immigrants from all sorts of places -- East Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Indian, Pakistan, Russia, you name it. Not only do we all manage to get along with each other, but the kids are usually bilingual, even if the parents are not -- although I do notice that the parents all seem to have some command of English -- it's the only language we all have in common.
So now I'm wondering -- when did Brokaw lose his mind?
There's more, most of it worse. Read the whole thing -- it's short, and Digby has a couple of on the nose comments.
I also happen to believe that the Hispanics should work harder at assimilation. That's one of the things I've been saying for a long time. You know, they ought not to be just codified in their communities but make sure that all their kids are learning to speak English, and that they feel comfortable in the communities.
Point One: Every immigrant group in the history of this country has tended to settle in their own communities, at least for a generation to two. You're in this new place where everything is not what you're used to, so of course you try to live near people who have the same background.
Point Two: Their kids do learn to speak English, eventually. Sometimes right away. Family history has it that my father, whose parents immigrated before World War I and settled in a Lithuanian community in Southern Illinois, didn't learn to speak English until he started school. And he spoke flawless American Standard English.
As well, I happen to live in a neighborhood with a lot of immigrants from all sorts of places -- East Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Indian, Pakistan, Russia, you name it. Not only do we all manage to get along with each other, but the kids are usually bilingual, even if the parents are not -- although I do notice that the parents all seem to have some command of English -- it's the only language we all have in common.
So now I'm wondering -- when did Brokaw lose his mind?
There's more, most of it worse. Read the whole thing -- it's short, and Digby has a couple of on the nose comments.
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