I just want to know when Mexico will unveil the statue of Washington, Lincoln, & Reagan in the town square of Tijuana?
Heroes and other historical figures from Mexico could soon have a public space in Dallas where Mexicans and their descendants can pay tribute to them.
Under a plan coordinated by city officials, community leaders and the Mexican consul-general in Dallas, the statues of at least eight Mexican heroes would be on permanent display at Winnetka Park in West Dallas, the recreational center where the statue of former Mexican President Benito Juarez is displayed.
“It will be a rotunda dedicated to the heroes of Mexican history,” said Carlos Garcia De Alba, the Mexican consul-general.
He said the display, to be named “La Rotonda de los Mexicanos Ilustres,” could be the first of its kind in the U.S.
[…]”We’re just waiting to get the word on when we’ll be able to have this space available for our heroes,” said Isidro Gomez, president of Club Lazaro Cardenas del Rio.Mr. Gomez has kept the bust of former President Lazaro Cardenas del Rio in his home for several months.
Mr. De Alba said other important Mexicans are under consideration for the display, including poet Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, independence figures Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon, Vicente Guerrero and Ignacio Zaragoza, and revolutionary Emiliano Zapata.
Why do they feel it’s necessary to put statues of Mexican heroes on US soil? What the hell does it have to do with America? Nothing.
I guess “Remember the Alamo” is no more.
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I wish these damn Mexicans would realize that part of becoming a US citizen means leaving your flag behind, your attachment to your homeland behind, and living as Americans dictate! Otherwise, they should just leave, right? Man! I mean, what’s next?
Word! What a great comment and you couldn’t have come any closer to my thoughts. I love the fact that immigrants want to come to this great country but for god sakes, you come here to become American. Being a cop in a ghetto area I go to calls all the time where people call for service but cannot speak english. No big deal for those who have just come over right? But the kicker is that most of them have lived here for 5+ years and do not know a lick of english!
I just find it incredible that they believe it’s ok to come to this country and make NO attempt to assimilate. Would we do the same if we moved to Mexico? No way we could since we would HAVE to speak spanish to get by down there….just like it used to be here.
Greg, I have heard the same thing, never experienced it firsthand but can imagine. Sounds quite a bit like Los Angeles come to think of it….
Having been able to see how the city of Dallas is run firsthand, I can tell you it is about as whacked out liberal as they come. And it is a mess. Corrupt, high crime and deep in debt with no way to even begin to get enough money to fix things because they’ve killed the incentive for businesses to stay within the city limits, so the tax base is eroding. So I am not surprised to read this about teh statues. It’s just the kind of feel good multi-cultural BS that the city and county leadership would go for. Glad I don’t live there anymore…
Maybe they should just rename the state, Texico?
I’m in the beginning pages of Victor Davis Hanson’s Mexifornia.
I understand and appreciate celebrating ones ancestral culture. I like visiting Little Tokyo, and getting a taste of Japanese culture; or Chinatown, etc.
But what I am mortified with, is when immigrants do not assimilate themselves into “American” culture and heritage, which includes “white” history and the traditions that have been established here for several generations. Nothing stays the same, and I know times change and we adapt new cultural traditions into what we already have in place.
Yet there is something unnerving about people who basically are taking over your country by living here, without bothering to learn the language and culture of the country. Instead, it’s like a small little country is being built inside the one we already have here.
I’m sick of those Muslims who feel the need to defend the radical aspects of Islam; the ones who are apologists for the Middle Eastern countries who have expressed anti-American hatred for us. I am disgusted with Chicanos here who wave the Mexican flag in such a manner as to place their loyalties to Mexico over their loyalties to being American. The legal Mexican-Americans who are just as frustrated with illegals in this country get it.
I remember reading a book in high school or college called “Yankee Samurai”, which was about Japanese-Americans who fought against the Japanese, even as their families lived in internment camps. One chapter began with a Japanese-American soldier who’s father wrote him a letter saying “America has disappointed and rejected me, so I am going back to Japan. But for his son, he had other ideas:
“When a tiger dies, he leaves his skin….but when a man dies, he leaves only his name. America has rejected me, and I am going back to my native country, Japan. You, however, are to stay in America. It is your country. Defend it. I charge you not to do anything that will dishonor my name.”
They “get it“. Why can’t people today? Too many have been brain-convoluted with this multiculturalism/diversity kay-rap. Like I said, I enjoy different cultures. but it only strengthens America, so long as we are a melting pot, and not segregated into a big salad. Assimiliation is something we don’t do as well anymore, thanks to the PC-crowd who celebrate all cultures on an equal footing, forgetting that the collective American culture is the most important one we hold loyalty to.
I think the people replying are seriously out of touch with what it means to be an American. Being American does not mean abandoning your roots to your home country where you were originated. Instead, especially if you are an American immigrant, being an American means that you still love your home country as always, but now you have new ideals such as Freedom of Religion and Speech, etc that you are subscribing to and that you now have in common with other Americans. The United States is great because we are the symbol of people of all nations of the world getting along and working together in ONE united nation for our American ideals that ADD TO our individual cultural and ethnic identities in a MOSAIC, not melt them away in a melting pot.
American Ideals serve what it is that we as Americans think makes people most HUMAN and protect what we believe every HUMAN deserves. To be a proud American, you don’t need to wave the American flag and obligate everyone wanting to live in the U.S. to assimilate into “white” culture and heritage as the most important and superior over all others. The Melting Pot concept is out-dated– American Culture is a culture of DIVERSITY– a MOSAIC.
Being an American has to do with protecting and serving what it is to be HUMAN. Therefore, if Mexicans or Japanese or whichever culture seeks to put statues of heroes from their particular ethnicity on American soil, then it has EVERYTHING to do with America! It represents that particular culture’s of Mexican-Americans’ or Japanese-Americans’ PRIDE of having a hero from their ethnic that protected and served what it is to be HUMAN– protected and served those very same ideals that, as Americans, we all hold as sacred.
Being American is about equality, diversity, and respect for others DIFFERENT from yourself, but holding the same American values that unify Americans as a whole, not toot one “white” culture as superior over all others. Let’s stop confusing being a PROUD American with being a racial supremacist UGLY American.
Karen,
I agree with the sentiments expressed in your post. I wonder whether anyone knows that there has been a huge equestrian statue to Simon Bolivar, the South American nationalist a the entrance to Central Park Bolivar was considered the George Washington of the southern hemisphere, liberating not only Venezuela, but also Columbia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia from Spanish rule, instilling democracy as the governing power in the region.
The statue has been there since 1921.
The Statue of Liberty herself was a gift from France.
I don’t know where the rest of you grew up. I grew up in the a blue collar town in the suburban Northeast in the 50’s and 60’s. The largest hall in my town was the Polish-American home. We even had a separate Polish Roman Catholic church. The largest hall in the next town over was the Italian-American home. Both halls were larger than the American Legion or VFW halls in their respective communities. I can recall July 4th and Labor Day parades where my Polish schoolmates and their parents would march dressed in traditional Polish costumes. I don’t think it occurred to anyone to suggest they were somehow less patriotic for honoring their heritages. And if you did dare to suggest that to one of those blue-collar, hard working second-generation Americans, you’d probably get a punch in the nose.
Multi-culturalism is not some liberal program to dilute America’s strength. Rather, it is as American as apple pie.
Cultural diversity is the social equivalent of dissolving the mortar that binds our country together. Throughout American history people have come here to be American, not little enclaves of foreign speaking enclaves that eventually grow and become a Quebec. No, our ancestors came from another country to BE Americans, not just live as immigrants in a land they wished to make their own.
That meant they adopted the language and spoke it at home. They took on the customs and mannerisms of the people around them. They spoke the one language that unites the country and made sure their kids spoke that language and learned it in school and at home. They adopted the cultural values that made this country great, and cast aside things like blood honor and honor killings. If they didn’t, the common laws of the land made sure they were punished for their crimes.
Today we see many many countries represented in our schools, the students do not speak English at home so they have trouble in school. They fall behind, they form small groups that don’t fit in and they eventually go back to a community that lets them be in a foreign land in America. That guarantees they will never move past the first stage of immigration, just landing here. For many years there were “Chinatowns” in many western cities, where the old country still lived, but the people never moved past that social organization and moved into the American mainstream. Maybe their families did not assimilate for several generations. Is that what cultural diversity means now? To retreat into a subculture that speaks a different language, lives with different values and even to some extent different laws?
Often we read of honor killings by members of groups from areas where family honor is now being used to supersede our laws, and young lives are lost because of it. Is it not true that if you support diversity to the extent that Karen advocates that in some way you are aiding and abetting that cultural failing? The truth is that whatever cultural background you had in your native country has contributed directly to making that country the place you had to leave to find a better place to live. Therefore it would seem nonsensical to import those same value sets to this country.
We should sharpen our focus and realize that one language, one culture, one set of laws is what makes a country. Especially here in America, equality and justice under the law must remain paramount. Not one law for recently arrived Muslims, another for recent immigrants from Southeast Asia, and yet another set of laws and behavior patterns for people from somewhere else. One set of laws and one language and one culture to celebrate, under one flag.
We have freedom of religion in this country now. It is guaranteed under our Constitution. Would we one day give that up in the name of diversity? Would some group come along and try to force their religion on the entire country? We would fight that tooth and nail. How slim a difference then is it to imagine that in some some groups build their own enclaves and insist that while in that enclave you must abide by the neighborhood rules, dress like the neighborhood populace. They have that now in Europe and England, thanks to diversity efforts. We can no doubt look forward to some efforts to introduce the same situations in this country. After that our fundamental freedoms will erode, first customs, then laws, then religion, one acre at a time.
We can thank people like Karen for encouraging such things. I wonder how Karen will like her new found cultural heritage when it comes form overseas and not from her historical nation? Just a little primer Karen, learn the difference between Niqua and Burqa, one has slits for eyes, the other has only a mesh across the eyes. I’m sure you like being in one. Oh, and you will love second class citizenship, just ask Amina and Sarah Yaser Said. They came here and tried to adopt our culture. Their father killed them for it. Diversity really worked out well for them.
Oh, we’re being eight years old now?
Moody,
Thoughtful post. Substantial parts of which I agree with, much of which I do not. I do agree with DW’s call on your sarcasm in your last paragrah. You don’t seriously believe Karen would like to be a repressed Muslim woman or a victim of an honor killing. The rest of your post could have stood on its own without the hyperbole and parade of horrors in the last paragraph.
Let’s assume for the sake of argument that Barrack Obama was a Muslim. That would make it no more likely that we would become a Muslim nation than that JFK would make this a Roman Catholic nation or that Willard Mitt Romney would have made it a Muslim nation. Even less so should we fear that the growing Muslim population in this country will hijack our system of laws and culture and declare Sharia law. Do you really think our great nation is that weak?
“We have freedom of religion in this country now. It is guaranteed under our Constitution. Would we one day give that up in the name of diversity? Would some group come along and try to force their religion on the entire country?” That doesn’t make sense. How do would we give up diversity in the name of diversity?
I do agree with you on the subject of language. I see as well a growing tendency toward at least two officially recognized languages in this country – English and Spanish. I also agree with you that we can only have one system of laws.
But I disagree with you on the need for one “culture” in America. What would that be? Can you describe it? What is the American religion? What are American foods? What are American pastimes? What are American dances? What is American music? Is it a violation of American culture to watch a play by Bertoldt Brecht or Moliere? Is it a violation of American culture to listen to the music of Nusrat Ali Fateh Khan or Ravi Shankar? Is it a violation of American culture to enjoy Chinese, Spanish, or Indian food? Are masjids and Hindu temples in the United States a violation of American culture? I don’t expect you to answer each of those questions, but I hope you get my point.
I’m interested in your response.
Webster’s defines culture as “the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life} shared by people in a place or time”. From that I do not see how “culture” can be achieved when a group of people comes to a new country and never learns the language or adapts to the ethics and morals of the new country. As I alluded in my earlier post, not learning the language becomes a serious detriment if not complete roadblock to understanding the culture into which the new citizen has moved. To consider living in the United States while only conversing in a language that is spoken only in a closed circle does not expose that person at all to living in America, nor does it allow them to understand what is going on around them. They live in a microcosm influenced more by their previous culture than by the new culture in which they chose to live. This is only discussing the initial stage of joining the culture.
The second level of joining the new culture is accommodating what the new culture has to offer rather than limiting personal activities to the previous culture. The next level then is accepting that there are legal aspects of the new culture that one must not only learn but accept and obey.
It is bad enough that diversity allows the soft sell on accepting American laws and values, like allowing a woman to go out alone, that other people consume foods considered haram, and so on. With Mexican immigrants it is not dangerous in the long term to allow them to maintain their language. Outside of maybe not knowing what “Do Not Pass” means, when they are driving, most of their ways will not result in any danger. Besides, most folks can get along with a little Spanish. Trouble comes when the Spanish speaking employees start speaking Spanish to exclude the English speaking Nortenos employees. That kind of soft ostracism is a product of diversity that causes problems. As does raising the Mexican flag over a school with the American flag hung under it upside down. Diversity, where does it stop when allowed to wander freely in our country? And finally, speaking a foreign language exclusively, or near exclusively puts an invisible divide between the non-native speaker and the English speaking majority. I don’t feel that people truly identify with other people when they do not have a common language, just a feeling I get from watching it happen for over fifty years.
And now where I went off on burqas. Previous waves of immigration did not include people who have the intent to introduce their cultural values, language, religion, and seek to make them the norm in the new country. Islam has that intent. Previously when people came to the United States the old culture was allowed to remain as is had few serious problems with the new ways of America. That has changed since the influx of Muslim immigrants. Islam is a political system with its own set of law that describes a religion. It is an all encompassing lifestyle. It is antithetical to many of the laws, customs and values of the American way. Previous attempts at cultural diversity were not prepared or did not anticipate that a culture would arrive at our shores with such a strong rejection of such things as freedom of religion and expression. Promoting diversity by accepting Islam lock stock and barrel is simply not going to work. In short, promoting diversity without considering the influx of Islam that is exploiting that very attitude is inviting disaster.
The enclaves of Muslims across Europe who do not assimilate should serve as a warning sign that maybe diversity has a dark side. In fact, to be more direct, the Muslims are being directed not to assimilate. A recent speech by the president of Turkey, presented in Germany and described by Der Spiegel, in fact directs that assimilation is wrong. All over Europe and now England, there are no go zones for police and fire and medical teams because the neighborhood considers them outsiders. Study the problems in France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and now Canada. Diversity set the table and Islamic domination came for the feast.
Perhaps a quick study of the Islamic Academy near Washington D.C. is a good idea. They have been operating without proper certificate for years now. Their text books contain passages that claim Jews are descended from apes and that Christians and Jews are not to be trusted or befriended, in fact they are to be exterminated. Similarly for an academy of Islamic Study in Minnesota. If that is the logical end result of diversity in America, we have big big problems. Don’t take my word for it, I am just some guy posting in a blog, go read about it. Go read the Muslim reporting section in Der Spiegel. Read MEMRI, read, read, read.
My entire point is that under the guise of diversity we are slipping slowly away from what was America, and up to now, maybe that was not so bad. But with a new form of immigration spreading across the land, one that uses diversity to spread a foreign influence that does not agree with our Constitution or our Bill of Rights, maybe we ought to rein in that idea and reconsider what we are doing. If diversity is letting this all in, then I am against diversity.
By the way, did you want that Bertoldt Brecht or Moliere presented in English, or were you quite satisfied with subtitles? American music is blues, jazz and Rock ‘n Roll. American dance is the line dance, square dance and the twist. American religion is free and open to everyone, to the exclusion of no one, and limiting no else’s choices. I enjoy Middle Eastern music on occasion. Something the Taliban and the Wahhabis have outlawed in their own countries, fancy that. I like south Asian food too, but so far they haven’t tried to make that my exclusive fare.
The Texas state demographic report, put out in 2000, with projections to 2040, stated that Hispanics will make up 85% of the population, whites – about 2.5%, Blacks – < 1%. Tejas will cease to be a U.S. state in your lifetime. We own you man! Viva Zapata!!