Posted on 11/22/2002 3:20:37 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf
The Mexican Consulate in Indianapolis will be open for business Monday. It's an office that will serve a group of people that's growing rapidly in our city and state. Mayor Bart Peterson's office has worked for about two years with the Mexican government and the state of Indiana to get this consulate opened.
You don't have to look hard to see why the consulate is needed. Drive down Washington Street a few miles west of downtown, and you'll see the fruits of our Hispanic and Latino community's labor. Shop after shop, sign after sign in Spanish. There are now some 34,000 Latinos and Hispanics in Indianapolis, and 60% of them are Mexican.
"We have an education system that welcomes the immigrants and we like the way we are treated because we find that the American community is welcoming in general," said Roberto Curci, La Guia Magazine.
The city even has two publications geared toward this growing community. "The Voice of Indiana," a bilingual newspaper and "The Guide of Indianapolis," a magazine for Hispanics and Latinos. There's even a new Hispanic and Latino yellow pages.
Local businesses are forging ties with that community. Kroger just donated a van to the Hispanic Center of Indianapolis to thank them for translation help that the center has provided for the grocery chain.
"As we change and we are changing as a city, I think it was important for business to recognize that and we have recognized it," said Jeff Golc, Kroger.
The change will continue. Just ask the woman who helps run the grocery store on West Washington Street. New Hispanic and Latino customers come in for her authentic products all the time.
"Like once in a while there will be somebody new that comes. You know, like, "Oh, we just moved here and we came to see how it is." So yeah, we always get new people that come here," said Irasema Delgado, store manager.
The Mexican Consulate will serve three states: Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. It will serve as the Mexican government's primary link with those states on issues such as immigration, trade and economic development.
Oh, and let's not forget when those Italians started taking over whole sections of New York.
That's not efficient and I don't believe it's the best way to do things, but I think it would be within the rights granted citizens under the Constitution.
If they are illegal, they should be sent back no matter if they are British and learned to speak English on their mother's lap.
If they are legal, they can speak in tongues if they wish. It's a free country. (For those who are here legally and obey our laws.)
In Eddie Rickenbacker's (America's top scoring World War One ace) biography, he tells of how German was spoken in his home when he was a child and how he had problems speaking English well during his early school years. This resulted in daily fights on his way home from school.
Shortly after we were married I was transferred to the North Carolina coast. My bride from northern Minnesota had always thought the Mason-Dixon line was somewhere around Minneapolis/St.Paul. For our first year down there I frequently had to translate for her and the locals.
EVERYTHING about our nation is evolving. We don't have the same ecomonic factors today that we had fifty years ago...Detroit isn't King any more. Fifty years ago we didn't have the national economy we had 50 years before that. And guess what...our economy won't be the same in another 50 years.
And in 50 years Jose Gonzales might be sitting around complaining about how the (fill in the blank)s are coming into America and ruining it for decent hard working Americans.
But, when you're dead there will still be a society here and it won't bat an eye at your passing. What form that society will be is anyone's guess...but probably your worst nightmare.
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