Is it fair, no, not fair but ethical, to demand of
immigrants to America that which we, as Americans, would not demand of
ourselves when and if we were to immigrate to another country? Are we
being "Double Minded Gringos" to demand certain things, if you
will—requirements, of Mexicans for example, when they attempt to move
to our country that we wouldn't dare demand of ourselves?
Just
what does it mean for an immigrant to the United States to become
"Americanized?" Just what do we mean as a people when we say that
anyone, Latinos or whomever, who comes to live among us should adopt
and adapt our language and culture? What are we saying exactly and why
don't we apply the same standards to ourselves when we go to live in
Mexico, proclaiming proudly that we are American Expatriates and that we have Mastered the Culture?
One Supreme Court Justice said that Americanization should look like this:
Immigrants
should wear "our" clothes, take on "our" manners and customs as their
own, and speak "our" language as their normal manner with which to
communicate in the American culture.
This Supreme Court Justice went on to say,
"
(W)e properly demand of the immigrant even more than this — he must be
brought into complete harmony with our ideals and aspirations and
cooperate with us for their attainment. Only when this has been done
will he possess the national consciousness of an American."
I
know a great deal of Americans, on both sides of the political
spectrum, who would shout a very hearty Amen at what I've just written.
And, I find myself in agreement with this description of what to become
Americanized means. I actually have no problem with it at all. I also
know a great deal of Mexicans, some who have been Border Jumpers,
who aspire to the exact premises of that argument of what it means to
become an Americanized immigrant. In fact, I could go out on a limb and
say that I know of no Mexican who would disagree with that.
But,
(and there's always a but, isn't there?) the Americans, those on both
sides of the American political landscape, who would shout their
agreement with what Justice Brandeis wrote, do not make the same
demands of themselves when they move to Mexico. I am, of course, and I
shouldn't have to make this disclaimer, not talking about each and
every American who has ever (or ever will) expatriated to Mexico. I am
not talking about every gringo without exception. But (there's that
"but" again), I am talking about the vast majority of American gringos
who move here and do not do what America says immigrants should do when
expatriating to her shores.
If what the good Justice said could
be taken as the essential definition of what it means to expatriate;
then are those Americans who are attracted to these Gringo Enclaves
like iron to a magnet, expatriates at all?
Where is the evidence of their Mexicanization?
Where are these American Gringo's Mexican clothes, Mexican manners,
Mexican customs, and most importantly of all where is the primary
mechanism through which Mexican Culture is transmitted and absorbed,
the language—SPANISH?
Where is it? Where's the evidence of it in their daily existence? Where is the communion and fellowship within the monolingual Mexican barrios, festivals, concerts, and churches???
Where is the evidence that the American Gringos do not have to hunt
down, like a rare and invaluable treasure, all the bilingual Mexicans
that they use to interface with the rest of the Mexican community in
which the Gringos dwell?
That's why I regard the term, Gringo Expat Community, as a complete oxymoron. Why does this term, Gringo Expat Community,
have to even exist in anyone's vocabulary if American Gringos applied
to themselves the demand our American culture demands of Mexicans when
they move to America? If what Justice Brandeis said was true, then why
do Americans refer to themselves as part of a Gringo Expat Community,
American Sector, Gringo Enclave, Gringo Landia, or whatever? If the
Justice's point is that immigrants to America are to become, without
exception, Americanized Immigrants by taking on the characteristics he
outlined, then should not Americans who move to Mexico, claiming to be
"American Expats in Mexico," become so Mexicanized that a designation
of "American" would be not just unnecessary but, well, dare I say it,
an Oxymoron!
So, what then do we call these Americans?
You tell me!
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
Doug
Bower is a freelance writer and book author. His most recent writing
credits include The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston
Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Associated Content, Transitions
Abroad, International Living, Escape Artist, and The Front Porch
Syndicate.
