Thanks for the comments.
I knew there would be strong reactions to this piece. And I knew a lot of them wouldn’t be positive. But I think this is an issue that needs to be discussed.
I think Eric makes an excellent point when he writes, “Having pride in ones heritage and being a proud American are not mutually exclusive.” Of course this is true. America is a much richer nation because of its diversity, and that’s one of the things I love most about it.
Am I a nativist or racist? Far from it. I love Spanish cultures(so much so that I married into one). For several years as an elementary school teacher, I taught mostly Hispanic students — many of whom couldn’t speak a word of English when they arrived here. Watching them pick up the language so quickly and adapt to a new country was inspiring. (As I mention in my piece, it was less inspiring when they didn’t know the name of the country they now live in.) If I had to pick a stranger off the street to trust, I’d probably choose one of the many immigrants who stand on the street all day waiting for a few hours of work so they can earn enough money to feed their families.
If my Spanish wife stopped cooking paella or gazpacho just because she now lives in America, I’d be furious. We plan on speaking to our children in Spanish and English. But — and this is what intrigued me about the Lanaro story — I’d be very upset if my children grew up to think of themselves as Spaniards first because their mother is from Spain (If we lived in Spain, the situation would be different.) Or if they were to say “We live in America but this is a Spanish culture, so we want to represent Spain.”
How confident can one be about the future of America if its citizens identify with another country first?
