Our kinda ciudad - Why are so many Mexicans heading for the mid-west?

The Economist | January 9, 2003

[Joe Hadenuf]

Here in Chicago,it seems like you get a hell of a lot more attitude from immigrants now than just 10 years ago.

You guys in the Midwest haven't seen anything yet. Wait a few more years....You wont recognize the place.....

[Joe Hadenuf]

Bingo!

[new cruelty]

spade.

[new cruelty]

She is brown.

[Chi-townChief]

I had some work in Long Beach a few years back and I know what you mean. I went into a Mexican-American grocery store to get some cigars and you could really sense the hostility; in Chicago, there aren't many problems in that regard yet but they may be coming.

[A. Pole]

"I don't know about Mexico, but Poles tend to be proud and resent to be treated as inferiors. Imagine how the American white collar or upper class men would react if they were required to "punch in" or pee at random when ordered to test for drugs. It looks that those newcomers are not eager to take their "proper" place as lower class peons."

Actually, the problem with the new Polish immigrants is their tendency to treat all others as inferiors. Most of us in manufacturing have punched the time clock and been subject to drug testing and , as Americans, we know that it goes with the territory. These guys come here and can't believe that their expected to work to get paid. Too much socialism, I guess.

Not really. East Germans and Czechs had more socialism than Poles (Commies in Poland failed to eradicate small business and force peasants to give up their farms while Germans or Czechs tended to be more obedient and docile).

The proud or haughty Polish attitude made them bad candidates for German or Soviet occupation. Even during the Stalin's time Commies had to adress the low ranking workers "Sir" (Pan) instead of "comrade" ("towarzysz"). In this aspect many Americans who "know that it goes with the territory" are more similar to Germans. What BTW is good for productivity and organisation - Poles are clearly behind their Western neighbours :).

[Joe Hadenuf]

No suprise here. Living a bit north of Cincinnati, we have had an excellent Mexican restaurant open very close to us. Run by a Mexican family(ies), much better than the chain restaurants. That and my sisters tend to enjoy ogling the "cute waiters"

And that's what this invasion of millions is all about, so you can gawk at the "cute waiter" while millions are defacating on our sovereignty, crashing our borders, ignoring our laws, filling our jails, choking off our social services, hospitals, etc etc.

But hey, that food sure is tasty!

In a few more years, you wont need to go to a restaurent to gawk at these cuties, you will only have to open your front door, and every line you stand in, you will be standing behind them......

[Chi-townChief]

Perhaps but if you go strictly by skin tone, she is lighter than most of the white folk there. There seems to be a real tendency among Latin-Americans to confuse ethnic background with race which, I guess, has become a problem for most of us these days.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Brace yourselves.......

[Mears]

I'm in Mass and the invasion has already started here.

The City of Waltham,population about 60,000,has more Mexicans and Guatemalans than you can imagine. There is no industry but all the fast food restaurants employ them,and all the landscaping is done by them. I can walk down the street and not hear a word of English spoken.

Every time you turn around there is another Guatemalan restaurant opening.

[Mears]

I'm in Mass and the invasion has already started here.

The City of Waltham,population about 60,000,has more Mexicans and Guatemalans than you can imagine. There is no industry but all the fast food restaurants employ them,and all the landscaping is done by them. I can walk down the street and not hear a word of English spoken.

Every time you turn around there is another Guatemalan restaurant opening.

[MissAmericanPie]

I don't consider anyone worthy of a tin foil hat, not anymore. The evidence is in, I'm not so dumb or blind to refuse to acknowledge the obvious. So why is anyone in the United States buying Tyson's chicken? I sure don't.

[FITZ]

I can walk down the street and not hear a word of English spoken.

You won't hear English spoken in the low-income housing projects or welfare offices here because not all immigrants even come to work. Even if they don't want to deport every illegal, I wish they'd stop giving immigrants so many handouts, there is no way we can continue to provide free health care and the rest to an ever growing population of lazy types.

[new cruelty]

So even though she is brown, she is White.

[Chi-townChief]

The question is, why is it only the more recent immigrants who come with these problems? I believe that a lot of it lies in the simple refusal to assimilate which I know is a bad word but it's what most people used to do when they came here. I know my family did.

[new cruelty]

Guatemalan, yummy.

[Chi-townChief]

"So even though she is brown, she is White."

I always get the feeling that a lot of people don't appreciate the absurdity of it.

[new cruelty]

Sounds absurd to me.

[A. Pole]

So even though she is brown, she is White.

There are is no such race as brown. The three major human races are white (Indo-Europeans like Indians, Iranians, Armenians, Kurds, Georgians, Greeks, Slavs, Germanic, Latins and Celts ..., Semites like Jews, Arabs and some others), then black - "brown" and "black" subgroups, yellow - mongoloids (Chines, Korean, Japanese, Siberian, American Indians, etc). Some minor groups I did not mention.

Most of Mexicans are of American Indian blood and mixed. Their upper classes tend to be white Spanish.

BTW, the only real "Caucasians" are Christian Georgians and brave "freedom" fighting Chechens. :(

[x]

One of the things said in favor of immigration is that it makes for "diversity." That doesn't seem to be the case. Certainly current immigration doesn't promote regional diversity. It looks like it's putting American regional diversity to an end, replacing regional cultures and their various ethnic groups, with a uniform caste system across the country. What was sigificant about earlier waves of immigration was that they left large areas of the country, like the South untouched. Or they produced local ethnic colonies -- Irish, Italians, Germans, Jews, Poles, Greeks, Chinese -- that contributed to the unique character of various cities and regions. That was true of Mexican immigration up till now, but no longer seems to be so.

Jorge Santibáñez, president of El Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana, Mexico, argues that geography also forces the mid-west's Mexicans to be more organised. Over time, he predicts, a split will open up in America's Mexican communities: those in Los Angeles and Texas will become ever more like Mexico, but the more isolated northern Mexicans around Chicago will integrate better.

Cause for concern for those in the Southwest, certainly.