Re: Some in Mexico See Border Wall as Opportunity

Diversity. Well, I spent half of my life in Hawaii, where whites were a
minority (on one of the neighbor islands). There are Portuguese,
Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiian, Filipinos and Anglos, all mixed up.
There's absolutely no segregation, the majority of marriages are
racially mixed. But the diversity is limited to those few racial
groups, and the predominate culture is the evolved Hawaiian/American
culture. IOW, the place has its own identity. It's a true melting pot
as opposed to a tossed salad.

Now I'm back in Idaho where I grew up. Actually, Boise. Which isn't
really Idaho. When I was a kid, it was 99% Anglo in the winter, and
about half Mexican in the summer. In the last couple decades, for some
reason the community has become a magnet for refugees from all over the
world. There are now prominent members of the community from all
backgrounds. There are large numbers of Indians who work for HP and
Micron, lots of Bosnians, etc. I worked for a year at the local
newspaper which has a diversity in hiring program, and in the area I
worked, very blue collar, there were 2 Vietnamese, a Sudanese, a
Ziarian, a Tibetan, a Bosnian or two, an Afghan, several Mexicans, and
others. About 1/3 of the workforce were "Americans".

Funny thing was, while everybody there spoke -some- English, those who
had other first languages also spoke some Spanish. The reason is
obviously because those low skilled jobs are filled by Mexicans, and
everybody else. So when somebody arrives as a refugee in America, they
have as much chance of learning Spanish as English.

The two African dudes were interesting. The one from Sudan was a
refugee, sharp as a tack. Extremely alert dude, who spoke a native
language, plus Arabic, French, Swahili, and English. The Ziarian dude
also spoke French and Swahili in addition to English, but he was a
goofball. Maybe because he wasn't a refugee. His family had money back
in Africa, while the Sudanese guy was a survivor. I learned a few words
of Swahili from each of them. I'd learn a word from one, then try it on
the other to get the reaction. The two guys didn't have much to do with
each other.

.

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