Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens – Latino in America #3
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I know – I keep blogging after every chapter. I read really interesting books. Chapter 3 is set in Orlando, Florida, home of Disney World and home to a large and increasing number of Puerto Ricans. Evidently, Puerto Ricans have been recruited to Central Florida not only by Disney, but by the agricultural industry. Disney wants “a diversified workforce” and agricultural businesses want cheap labor, and neither want to deal with the headaches of verifying citizenship or documented permission to work in this country.
Though many in the U.S. fail to remember this, all Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, and many do not speak English (at the time of their arrival to the mainland). One of the interviewees is quoted as follows: “The Americans make so little effort it makes me angry and I don’t like being angry. I know it bothers them that I don’t speak great English, but I grew up in America [she grew up in Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory] speaking Spanish so I don’t understand what they’re so angry about. At least I’m making an effort. They could also try. When they come to San Juan on vacation, they speak English and expect you to speak it back. I don’t go to Orlando and expect them to speak Spanish back. I try to speak English. Then they get all indignant that I’m not fluent. They treat us like we’re from some other country, like foreigners. I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to be a real foreigner.”
I like to watch The Amazing Race, where U.S. citizens race around the world for prizes. One thing that makes me upset (and sometimes even ashamed) is when contestants behave like “Ugly Americans” in other countries. Some of them yell at non-English-speakers, criticize their taxi drivers, and generally act as though anyone who does not speak English is somehow stupid. Some of them have even said how they can’t stand “foreigners,” when here they are in someone else’s country – they are the “foreigners!”
This book reminds me that sometimes they act like that in their own country, too. This brings us back to those bumper stickers welcoming people to “America” and telling them, “Now Speak English!” It is extra despicable when these people are talking to their fellow citizens! English-speakers SHOULD make an effort. I am one who knows it can be humiliating to speak in a language you were not born speaking. When I speak Spanish, I am embarrassed that I am not conjugating the verbs correctly, or that I am saying something embarrassing instead of what I am trying to say. When fluent Spanish speakers are kind to me, it takes some of the pressure off and I am able to relax a little. English speakers should do the same thing – I see it as a responsibility of living in a “powerful” nation to treat “foreign” language speakers with respect. We should be tolerant of foreign accents, and we should never make people feel stupid when they are doing what so many of us would not dream of attempting- learning a new language.
The chapter talks about community college classes geared toward helping Spanish speakers improve their conversational English (many understand a lot more than they speak, much like I am with Spanish). These classes are always full, and some take the classes several times in order to make a significant improvement in their speech. Maybe we should have corresponding classes to help the rest of us improve our Spanish – I think it would go a long way toward helping us respect immigrants, as well as those who have been citizens all along.
Other posts about Latino in America:
Post 1: On Speaking Spanish
Post 2: No One is Illegal
Post 3: Puerto Ricans are U.S. Citizens
Post 4: Hate Crime Victims and Child Laborers
, by Cheryl Mendelson. She already read and enjoyed it, so I’ll put that one into the rotation. I guess I should also choose a biography since, as I mentioned, they are my favorite. How about one that has been on my list for awhile – 
, by Carrie Fisher.
