Dan Minette wrote:
>
> Based on the cooperation I see directly in Texas and the conflict I see
> indirectly in California. In Texas, the conservative white community, of
> which the Daughter's of the Texas Revolution have found ways to forge ties
> with the Hispanic community. I remember hearing a conservative on the radio
> talk about how critical it was that we recognize all of the heroes of the
> Texas Revolution. Thus, the Texas mythology is being altered in a way that's
> true to what was essential in the original founding myths, but is now much
> more accepting of Hispanics. It was truly a revolution for freedom, not an
> Anglo/Hispanic fight because of all the brave Hispanics who fought for
> freedom. As far as I can tell, this viewpoint is agreed upon by both the
> Hispanic community and the conservative Anglo community.
>
> Second, we are seeing interesting developments in politics. The
> conservative who just ran for mayor of Houston is Hispanic. Thus, we had a
> situation where the black mayor and the Hispanic opponent split the Anglo
> vote. Its critical for mainstreaming that both parties go after an ethnic
> group.
>
> What I've heard from California shows more antagonism. Included in this was
> the vote to make English the official language, and the marching of Hispanic
> groups under a Mexican flag. Neither speak of rapprochement.
>
That's mighty scant data for such a sweeping conclusion. Pretty
much hearsay.
I'm not sure which ballot initiative you are referencing - there was
one in that passed in 1998 that ended bilingual (read spanish only)
education in favor of English emersion. I think this has been a
much of a success as bilingual education has been a failure. In any
case, as Texas does not allow statewide ballot initiatives it's
pretty tough to compare the two states in that regard.
Neither am I familiar with the Mexican flag incident, though I know
that May 5th celebrations do often turn violent here. I'm not sure
that that kind of thing doesn't happen in Texas because the
non-Hispanic and Hispanic communities have forged closer ties with
non-Hispanics or because Texas just isn't very tolerant of dissent.
I do know that in the three major cities in the Bay area, the mayor
in San Jose is Hispanic, the Mayor of San Francisco is African
American and the mayor of Oakland is White. None of them represent
the majority in their city. The Mercury News, the largest or second
largest paper in circulation prints both Spanish and Vietnamese
versions. San Jose is 36% White, non Hispanic, 30% Hispanic and 29%
Asian.
Finally, I don't believe that the appearance of conflict between
cultural enclaves is necessarily a bad thing. The conflict exists
at some level in every community that has cultural differences.
It's far more healthy to be having an open debate about those
differences than to be pretending that they don't exist.
--
Doug
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.zo.com/~brighto
Irreverence is the champion of liberty.
Mark Twain - Notebook, 1888
