Miami has become the most non-American city in the United States, and while many of us Latin people enjoy living in a hybrid society that reminds us of home; not everyone feels that is something welcoming or enjoyable. This was obvious in a very interesting conversation I had with a girl I met a couple of weeks back. She's an American woman who married a Venezuelan man and moved to Miami... the land of los Latinos. This is the only city in the United States where the unofficial language spoken is Spanish. In most businesses you are greeted in Spanish first and then maybe in English, if you really have a perplexed look on your face when the first words are... "Dime Mima, en que te ayudo." Her reaction to all of the overwhelming Latin takeover has been rather strong. She feels unwelcome.... completely disenfranchised, both in the city she lives in and within the family she has joined as well as with her husbands Latin friends.
This is not the first person I've heard say this. If you are a Latin person and you have managed to find a white american person and dated them, then you are very familiar with this issue. It's not easy at all. How do you blend these two opposing cultures. Latin people are loud, expressive, warm, completely incapable of being punctual (yes, it's a stereotype.... but one we embrace). Contrast this with the way we perceive Americans to be... reserved, more guarded, by the book.... I can only imagine how uncomfortable an American from the north must feel once they get down here and see this "salseo" we have going on.
In her case she feels rejection towards learning the language that surrounds her, because it's an aggression to her culture and country that Miami's Latin population won't culturally assimilate. In fact, the reverse has happened. American people are forced to assimilate to Latin Miami if they want to to participate in this society and community.In her, I see this serious dilemma. If she doesn't learn Spanish, then it gravely affects her family life as she cannot integrate into her husband's family. If she does learn the language, then she gives in to this social pressure and accepts that her country (in terms of this city) is no longer her own.
To me this is all very interesting. I grew up in Miami and I've lived both in California and Texas and the Latin situation in those states is amazingly different. This can be explained by the immigration patterns and history of each area.
The West was once Mexican territory... from Texas all the way to Wyoming... through war and conquest the Pacific coast was acquired in the western expansion, culminating in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Mexican Cession and later the annexation of Texas. Mexican blood was spilled on these lands, and while the names of the territory changed, many families stayed and decided to adopt a new country and eventually a new language a new national identity.
Miami is a cultural and historical phenomenon and the historical impact that Latin American immigration has had in its culture is unprecedented. The Latin culture here, which is primarily Caribbean and increasingly diversifying to include all Latin American countries, has a more unyielding attitude and more economic power than the predominantly Central American immigrants that have come back to repopulate their "lost" lands in the western states. The Latin American immigrants that have come to Miami in the last 90 years have been predominantly wealthy entrepreneurs, business owners and investors who over time have also come to occupy powerful political positions. Essentially, money talks and the young city of Miami greatly attributes it's growth to Latin American $$, starting with Cuban money from the 1920's - 1960's.While this is all true, we have to remember that Miami is located in Florida and Florida is a state in the United States of America. As a proud Venezuelan I cannot expect a country to fully adapt to my culture and to speak my language. Why do we expect, with a condescending attitude, for the official language of this country to change in roughly 6,000 sq miles of the city of Miami?
We are Latin and we are proud, there is nothing wrong with that.... but how angry would we be if an American person came to one of our countries and insisted that everyone speak English because they are establishing a new community. If we don't do it for the American people we love that come to visit our homes here... would we do it for them there? Probably not. So I say we declare a truce. We can respect the each other's cultures and boundaries and understand that... as I read on the wall of Salsa Fiesta in Midtown the other day ...
then the war is no longer a war, it's a collaboration and the whole would be greater than the sum of its parts.
