latin american princesa {LAP}

Recently I was reading an article in the Washington Post on immigrant assimilation and whether the government should offer encouragement. While there is certainly a lot to be said about the topic what really caught my eye was how the article ended:

“If you live in America,” Orellana said, “you have to be American.”

Continue reading What do you mean “be an American”?…

Less than two weeks ago, while waiting for our (my “alien” husband and i) turn at the U.S. Consulate in Amsterdam. A young, African (sorry I didn’t ask which country, but probably Somalia) Muslim woman approached the window, “I want to go to America. Can you help me?” The consulate employee asked on what grounds she wanted to immigrate. She showed him her Dutch residence card and said she wanted to trade it for an American one. He proceeded to explain that it did not work that way and there are three ways to get into the U.S.:

1. employment
2. through a family member
3. via a lottery

Continue reading Wanted: passport swap…

Albert Einstein said:

“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”

I hope we find the cure soon and grow up.

I recently watched a program on Aljazeera International about Marseilles, France (available on youtube). This southern French port has a large immigrant population. In fact, the minorities outnumber the ethnic French. Marseilles is France’s New York: an immigrant port city that has undergone the majority minority transition.

Marseilles’s largest immigrant group is Muslim. The program explains that “Muslim” is used as a cultural category rather than a religious category and many French Muslims in Marseilles don’t practice. Muslim, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern: such pan-ethnic categories are growing in multicultural societies. Does this support what many see as the end of the reign of nationalism and nation-states?

Continue reading Latino and muslim pride in their adopted cities…