Am I a racist??

[TheRogue]

I'm home today, waiting for the delivery of a new washer and dryer (another thread). Anyway, a group of us at work were talking during lunch yesterday, and I said they were delivering a new W&D to me today. I then commented that, "I hope they speak English, seems like all the minimum wage delivery people nowadays are Hispanic, and they don't speak enough English to communicate well enough. Personally, I'm getting sick of it!"

One of the women in our group, who can be a tad "scary" at times, glared at me, said, " You're just a RACIST!!" and stormed off. I was flabbergasted!! Does wanting people who are doing a job, that I am paying for, be able to communicate well with me make me a racist? I don't think so, but, hey???

signed,

Confused in Lafayette

TR

[love2fish]

I don't think that wanting to be able to communicate with someone that is coming into your house is being a racist. A while back I was at the DMV, and I was being helped by an Asian fellow. I had a hard time understanding him, and he was very confusing with his answers. I had to ask to speak to a different clerk to get answers to my questions.
My mom came to the U.S. back in 1925, and she wouldn't leave the house until she could speak english, and she would never speak in her native language outside of the house.

love2fish

[Silver Hilton]

No. Racist would be not wanting the delivery folks to be hispanic, because "those people never speak english".

[Leatherneck]

Far from it. If that lady wants to see what racism is all about then she needs to take a trip to the South. I didn't know what being racist was until I lived in a small town in North Carolina for 5 years while in the military. Its very alive and well. Have this lady listen to Michael Savage that will help her out.

[pdxkevin]

Originally posted by Silver Hilton:
No. Racist would be not wanting the delivery folks to be hispanic, because "those people never speak english".

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">I agree. You are requesting that you be able to communicate with the people who are coming into your home to work. It doesn't matter their color nor ethnic background so long as they can communicate with you. That's not racist, that's common sense. If the installation is going wrong you need to be able to communicate with them. If they have a question or 'up charge' you need to be able to understand them. Sounds pretty simple.

[OceanBlue]

I grew up in West Los Angeles. I had a friend named "Michael" from about 5th grade through high school. Although his name was Mike, I called him Miguel. He moved to the US from Mexico when he was 10 years old.

After High School, we lost touch. Through classmates.com, we reunited a few years ago. We got to chatting one day about this very issue. It was strange. He was the one that said, "I hate it when the ATM asks me if I want to perform my transaction in English or Espanol. We're in America, for God's sake! Anyone who lives here should take the time to learn English!"

Does that make him a racist?

On the other hand, I do think we need to be tolerant and supportive of those who are trying to learn the language and be productive citizens.

[dampainter]

[ 12-04-2003, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: dampainter ]

[lost_sailor]

You are at least a bit impatient or intolerant. How much communication do you require with a washer and dryer delivery? Our community is chock full of people who speak Spanish. "Here" is "aqui", "water" is "agua" (caliente y frio)

Gracias.

Listening and patience can facilitate communication.

Having said that, people who move to any country should be trying to learn and use the language. The residents of that country should be trying to help them.

And NO ONE shoud EVER move to OREGON!

[ 12-16-2003, 12:16 PM: Message edited by: lost_sailor ]

[id. painter]

Last week end at the T.A. meeting in Beaverton.
My family stopped at a Burger King,,, the guy taking the order at the drive thru couldnt speek well enough to tell me what it cost, he had to show me the reciept. He ask several questions that I couldnt even understsnd . Then we drove forward and the gal handing us the food couldnt speek well enough to discuss if we had all of our order ,,,, we drove away frustrated and angry .
If you are going to work at a drive in food place ,,, do learn to speak,english, please. Buy the way neither of the workers were speaking spanish.Hi ho. id. painter

[TheRogue]

Originally posted by lost_sailor:
You are at least a bit impatient or intolerant. How much communication do you require with a washer and dryer delivery? Our community is chock full of people who speak Spanish. "Here" is "aqui", "water" is "agua" (caliente y frio)

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">Hmmmm, well, they're removing the old set, which is going to take some work getting it through the hallways and doors, then bring in and installing the new set, again, going to take some work. Up, like to be able to communicate well enough.

TR

[Pete]

Certainly, wanting to be able to communicate isn't racist. Assuming that the delivery guys might be Hispanic, however, is a prejudgement. Your experiences may support the conclusion, but I'd reserve judgement until they arrive.

As for ATMs, they can put my entire life history in the magnetic strip on the back of the card, but they can't include my language preference. I, too, find it vexing to have to answer the question over and over. How come they don't give the option of "neither"?

[lost_sailor]

If the company sends individuals who do not know how to move and install washers and dryers, you have a customer service issue unrelated to ethnicity.

In my experience, the non-English-speaker is accompanied by an English-speaking tatooed ex-con, so you're in good hands.

That's a joke son ... [img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img]

[CATCH AND EAT]

I could see how someone could be upset by your remark Kyle but I would not consider it a racist comment or intent. Certainly we share the same frustrations at the drive thru, telemarketers and even our clients or co-workers. Unfortunatly we have catered to multilingual groups wanting this or that in their languages including a ballot. The main language is English and it would be nice if in a perfect world everyone would speak it. Guess what though, the world ain't perfect and many folks can't speak red-neck english so we just have to be as patient and tollerant as possible.

Little hard on i.d. painter don't ya think LS?

[Old MAn River]

I am with you on this, it get really tiring!
The feds should round up every illegal alien
and deport them. At least our kids could get
summer jobs, like we did when we grew up! :shocked:

[Freakwater]

With some people you can't correlate anything with race. It's as if there is no such thing as race. I suppose it would be equally racist to say, "most Hispanic people speak Spanish". Some people are just silly. Rogue, you are however a "communicist".

[BonkBonkBonk]

Originally posted by OceanBlue:

On the other hand, I do think we need to be tolerant and supportive of those who are trying to learn the language and be productive citizens.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">

[True]

I would have to agree with Snapset. We are all racist. In one form or another we discriminate, make off-colored remarks, lock our doors when a different skin color than we are used to comes near the car...unfortunately it will be here for a long time. I don't think that my little girl will live in a world without racism (she's almost two years old).

One thing about the high school kids getting a McJob: there aren't many out there that want one nowadays. It's far easier to complain to parents and get their way and an allowance for doing practically nothing than it is to work for a wage (minimum or not).

I agree with many out there that if a foriegn national is going to live and stay here for an extended time that they should have a working knowledge of the language. If I went to their country to stay or work it would only be proper that I speak their language as well.

Immersion is not the way to do it. California is a lawsuit away from going back to Content Classes and Newcomer Centers. There is a far higher dropout rate among second language learners when it comes to this method.

Evening classes help many adults but trust me when I say that there are many that don't want to learn English. That's why they get the minimum wage jobs; you don't have to understand Chaucer to flip a burger and package some fries.

You all should know by now that much of the backbone of the American economy (and the American way of life subsequently) is built on the backs of immigrants, illegal or not. If you're thinking to move them out of the country you'd better have someone to backup those jobs that they're currently holding. The Wal-Mart fiasco was a drop in the pool. The fruit economy here in Hood River would go to hell in a handbasket.

As I've posted before (here or on Westfly), the INS came in one year especially hard and hauled off many illegals from just a few camps and the rest of the Fall the fruit was rotting on the trees...it hasn't happened like that since then.

By the way, let's try to think of this objectively too, myself included. I would like for this thread to educate and inform and try to stay away from racist and close-minded statements.

Are you really looking for an answer or are you merely wanting to flame and vent?

True

[2LEYS]

Some people think that anytime you make any comment about a race of people, you are racist. They want us to ignore race. Then they institute quotas and affirmative action, they force the NFL to interview black headcoaches. They do not force them to interview mexican headcoaches. Is that next? Is that next. From now on for every single job you have to interview one person from every single race so we can all ignore race.

I am not racist. Some of my best friends are mexican and asian. We crack jokes to each other about race.

But in the real world outside of a circle of friends, I do not even know what is acceptable. Are we allowed to say "black?" What about "mexican?" Do we have to say hispanic? Why? Is there a country called Hispania that I am unaware of? Is it better to lump them all together as hispanics, asians, arabs ect.?

I don't have the time to deal with trying to be so PC. I personally would like to just call them humans but it is not the evil rich whiteman that wont let racism die, it is the "leaders" of the minority communities and do gooder white people that also think we are all evil.

Some football caoch a long time ago said in an interview.

Interviewer: How many black players do you have?
Coach: None
Interviewer: How many white players do you have?
Coach: None
Interviewer: I don't understand, What are your players if not black or white?

Coach: They are football players.

[AuntyM]

Racist? Hmmm...

I wonder how english speaking Canadians feel about having to deal with folks speaking french all the time. Would we call frustrated english speaking Canadians racist? Probably not.

[happybrew]

Wow. People still speak Spanish? I thought it was just something my grandparents spoke when they didn't want us to know what they were talking about!

happybrew

[Thumper]

Snapset is right on the money. All human beings are rascist.

I spend a lot of time in Coconut Grove, FL, a suburb of Miami. This is a Cuban community. I work with a couple of hospitals there to market their services in the community. The only time I hear English is when they are speaking to me.

I recently asked a couple of the Cubano sales folks about a particularly run-down area. A particularly stunning Cuban lady remarked that the area is decaying because of the Mexicans and Venezuelans moving into the neighborhoods. She hates them.

Everything is relative. :smile:

No you are not a racist, your co worker is a twit.

[lingslayer]

Once again,... I agree with Keta!

I had a hispanic gentleman come into the store today that doesn't speak much english apparently.
His daughter, (about 9 years old) was translating for him. It was interesting to hear a 9 year old girl describing auto parts, but she was good at it!

Lost Sailor, If I am spending the money and its MY house and washer and dryer, they have the obligation to communicate with me, not the other way around.

I wonder what the sales manager would have to say if she/he knew ahead of time that the sale hinged on the delivery/setup person's ability to communicate with an english speaking American customer?
Jamie

[Snapset]

About a hundred fifty years ago Lars Peter Larson stepped off a boat and embarked on a trek that ended near Burley Idaho. As the story was told to me, he did not speak a word of English when he arrived. I can imagine he was ridiculed as he tried to communicate in his lyric Swedish accent, and I would imagine at times his pride was wounded. I thank God for his courage and ambition which resulted in me being raised in the greatest country in the world. I cannot do anything to remove the pain he suffered, but in his memory I will be patient with those who were not born to the language I speak.

Next time you can't understand the guy in the drive-thru, remember that he will likely be somebody's ancestor, the first in the family to live in the USA. You have someone, probably several, in your lineage. How would you hope that they were treated?

It drives me nuts to see Conan O'Brien mock Arnold Schwarzenegger for his accent. There are lots bigger issues he could satire than his accent.

[Birdnest]

You ever get drunk, go to the ATM, and select espanol just to see how much you remember school... :tongue:

[Snapset]

We are all racists. How that affects how we treat other people determines whether that is a bad thing or not.

[pdxkevin]

Originally posted by Pete:
Certainly, wanting to be able to communicate isn't racist. Assuming that the delivery guys might be Hispanic, however, is a prejudgement...

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">True... true... The best thing that CA has done in a long while is drop multi-lingual ed. in k-12. They found out the hard (and expensive way) that immersion is creating the best results. This is one thing I can't wait for the rest of the country to catch up on.

It is far easier for becoming citizens of a country to learn that country's primary language, instead of the other way around. If there were only two languages we were dealing with... well, then sure everybody should learn both. There are literaly hundreds of languages being brought over by immigrants (legal and illegal). Some of the languages are more previlant than others. The percentage of imagrants coming to America who speak a version of Russian is climbing rapidly. It is in the top 3-4.

If it was to surpass Spanish as the second most common language in the States, should we drop Spanish from the recordings and ATMs - switching over to Russian? What about Manderin Chinese, if it were to become the leading secondary language?

In the long run: people learn fastest through 100% immersion. It is cheaper to print Gov docs in a single language and store all the multiple language versions of pampletes, forms, etc...

By focusing more in bringing people into the loop as opposed to stretching the loop, we will save more tax money, streamline our gov., and create a more united community. It is a melting pot not a mixing bowl.

[dampainter]

[ 12-04-2003, 03:11 PM: Message edited by: dampainter ]

[Fshklr]

TR,
Were you being racist?..NO.
Was it Stereo typing..probably..But also a true statement.
I work in the service industry and more and more the low end paying jobs are being filled by immigrants with little knowledge or unwillingness to use the American language(whatever that is today :grin: )
I get supplies from a warehouse that is predominently(?) russian speaking help and it is frustrating trying to communicate my needs to one of them.
It extends the time I am there upto an hr at times due to the scheduling of there employer during busy hrs of service and trying to find someone to communicate with for parts and can be frustrating. my .02

[ 11-16-2003, 07:39 AM: Message edited by: Fshklr ]

[Dave's not here]

Is Jessie Jackson a racist?

Snapset,
I work with Americans of Mexican decent as well as more recent Mexican emigrants and can assure you that they are not incapable of learning enough English to function in a monolingual society. In fact, I have found that many Mexican emigrants are quite intelligent and most want to become productive citizens of OUR country.

My daughter is currently renting a house from a Mexican emigrant couple that has lived in Klamath Falls for over 15 years and both of them work at a plywood mill in town. They function quite well, the husband still has major language issues but he usually can work around them, and are rapidly becoming a part of the lower middle class. Their kids will be productive citizens that will go much further, unless they get sucked into the "Welfare Plantation".

My mother's father emigrated from Denmark in the first decade of the last century. He too didn't speak English.

What he didn't do was:
Come into our country illegally
Live off the welfare system
Force everyone else in the country to accommodate for HIS language problems.

My grandfather also went from a penniless Danish farm boy to a successful businessman owner despite the lack of social services and bi-lingual BS. Both of his daughters went to college and got dual degrees, both in Business Administration/Education, and have become part of the upper middle of the middle class.


My wife’s father’s father emigrated from Italy about the same time as my grandfather did. He got work as a gardener for a wealthy Chicago area family and raised 3 kids.

What he didn't do was:
Come into our country illegally
Live off the welfare system
Force everyone else in the country to accommodate for HIS language problems

All three of his children, 2 girls and a boy, went to college (the wife’s father and one aunt after WWII with the GI Bill) and became a solid part of the mid upper middle class with my wife’s father becoming the Vice President of a major mid west energy supplier.
All of my wife's siblings (8) and cousins went to college, most of them are now in the teaching profession, two being Spanish teachers , or in school administration.

All of this with out bi-lingual help.

We are hurting our new emigrants by not teaching their children how to speak English.

Dave,
Yes he is. The same goes for many of the black "leadership".

Here is some links to a better choice.

The other Jesse

B.O.N.D.

#3 :depressed:

[ 11-15-2003, 09:23 AM: Message edited by: Keta ]

[Dave's not here]

I don't think there is anything wrong with being a racist or stereotypes. I've been told more Italian jokes by Italians then anyone else. When I was in High School the blacks called each other the "n" word all the time. And just last week one of my kids asked if I ever had ever knew the other name for Brazil nuts. A black lady once saw them in our nut bowl and said "oh you have some ****** toes". Well it's time to end this, Blazeing Saddles is coming on.

[roadsend]

Are you a racist? Ask a liberal, preferably a rich liberal, if you are a racist. They are the only ones "authorized" to make that determination.

[True]

Keta, we ARE teaching their children English. Did I read your post incorrectly?

Also, these kids usually have to come with their parents when they make the trip North, illegally or not. Some stay with relatives until the parents have enough money to send for the kids. It's either that or would you rather they stood at home alone until the parents went back? Don't answer that, I'm almost afraid of what the answer might be.

Many people here are living a double standard when it comes to immigrants (illegal or not) being here; on one hand they like the cheap labor that they provide to keep those prices low on goods but on the other hand they complain about seeing them all over the place and that the country is being "overrun" by them.

If some of you guys put in half of the effort to get legislation passed to stop illegal immigration you would see that there is a need for not just illegals but for low wage workers period. Wasn't Little Bush passing legislation to make many of them legal immigrants? You'd better talk to the guy you voted for or maybe even think about it when you pick a candidate in 2004.

True

[Miss B Haven]

Language, the desire to communicate and Racism are different things. Hoping you can communicate is not something to be ashamed of.
Usually I am embarrassed because I can not speak the other persons language. Yes- this is the USA, so what? Unless you are Native American then you came from a foreign country and you speak a foreign language, English or not.
My only regret is that I can not speak more than one language. That is my shortcoming not anyone elses. [img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img] I hope to live long enough to remedy that situation.

[Birdnest]

What he didn't do was:
Come into our country illegally
Live off the welfare system
Force everyone else in the country to accommodate for HIS language problems

Well said Mr. Keta.

[Snapset]

Keta, sorry to get back to this topic so late, I've been busy elk hunting. I agree with you on not teaching classes to non-native speakers in anything but English, except of course for ESL classes. I mean, everybody has to start somewhere.

The original topic began with The Rogue's question: Am I a racist?
My response to that, because the term is used so often without justification, is, sure you are a racist, so am I and so is everyone on the face of the earth. I mean we all discriminate, don't we? Discrimination is how we decide on whom we marry, what shirt we wear to work, and whether we drive a Ford or a Dodge. Extending the term further, we all have some pre-conceived notions about people based solely on our past experience. For example:
"The last time those delivery guys showed up, I couldn't communicate with them."
"I told the guy I wanted Zesty Sauce with my fries and he gave me ketchup instead."
So a person gets to thinking, "Now the last time I ordered Zesty Sauce and they messed up, I ordered from someone with an accent, brown eyes and darker skin than I have so the next (Hispanic) time I order from someone with those traits, I am gonna keep an even closer eye on them, and make darn sure they give me Zesty Sauce."

I could give endless examples, but my point is this: All that matters is how we treat our fellow man. If we assume each and every one deserves respect and treat them that way unless they prove otherwise, the world will be a much more pleasant place and we will feel much better about our place in it. Think back on your life. If you are like me you can remember times when you recieved an extra measure of patience when you were learning, and that generosity shaped your attitudes about a whole group of people.

As far as closing the borders and what to do with illegal aliens, that is a separate subject. I probably agree with you on that one too. BTW, I am the "Zesty Sauce" racist. For all I know, I am preaching to the choir, I just felt my earlier post might have been mis-construed.
One more idea (not mine) while I got the soapbox:
"As a man thinketh, so is he"

[tomtom]

A lot of you replying to this thread sound racist to me. I spent a month traveling through Europe this summer and found out 1st hand how difficult not being able to communicate is. Believe me it is much harder to travel through the states not speaking English than any where else. Europeans and mexican people are much more patient and willing to attempt to communicate than most people in our country. I am the son of an immigrant father who came to this country after WWII and did not speak a word of English. He was sucessful in that he raised a hard working family with tolerance and strong values. Sounds like some of you did not have this opportunuty.

[Snapset]

TomTom, thank you for illustrating my point so clearly. When a person can join a discussion and label "A lot of you " racists without really knowing the alleged racists, then the word no longer means anything significant. Therefore we should ignore the labels and name-calling. Just accept the label if someone wants to label you that, because the label no longer means anything. The focus should be on our own behaviour, which is the only thing we can do anything about.

[Straydog]

Snapset and Thumper are right, we all have prejudices. The key is recognizing them and adjusting your actions accordingly in order to not discriminate.

I heard a latino speaker talk about this just today. He was great. Came from a gang background and had been written off until a teacher gave him a sense of worth. He is now a Harvard Graduate.

He had a great sense of humor but made his message very well. He talked about people complaining about the immigration of Mexicans.

He said when whites complain about it he says "What you talking about Pilgrim! Where did your ancestors come from and could they speak the language when they got here??!! Heck, they found this place by getting lost!! At least we know where we're at and where we came from...........................California!"

:grin:

[ 11-16-2003, 08:09 PM: Message edited by: Straydog ]

[salmoncatcher]

if american citizens cant speak english in this country then they shouldn't be here.

[FrogPond]

My grandparents emigrated from Italy in the late 1920's (good timing huh?). My grandfather passed away when my dad was 12 (1964). They lived in a predominately Italian neighborhood. My older aunts & uncles all spoke Italian and English. They needed to be bilingual to converse with the people in their community. English was always what they spoke, except in the presence of an elder that spoke none. My grandmother insisted that Italian was not spoken around the younger kids, because she considered it ignorant to speak anything but English. My grandmother will be 91 this year and should be very proud of how she raised 9 kids mostly on her own.

My family has never used the welfare system and did not have the silver spoon life. Because of the work ethic passed on from my grandparents we have some very successful people in our family. My point here is that just about all of us came from somewhere else to make a new life here. At one time the immigrants coming to America acknowledged they needed to make some changes to be successful.

We need to get back to the days when everyone is welcome. But, if you come here, you need to make some changes to acknowledge the fact that you are no longer in your home country. In our society, our language is English. We pay for things with American dollars. We follow the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and laws created by Congress. We have a President we trust with running the country. I do not feel immigrants should give up their heritage. I have not. Remembering where you came from and why should drive people to try harder and reach for more. The foundation of this country is hard work and unyielding will.

It is too bad that these are qualities that are hard to find these days.

I am sorry for the long post...

[kamloops]

No---But Ted (Chap) Kennedy, that's another story. :blush:
Sure glad it was not a conservative who made that idiotic statement. Neanderthal used in the context that it was used in, now that's racist. [img]graemlins/berry.gif[/img]

[dampainter]

[ 12-04-2003, 03:12 PM: Message edited by: dampainter ]

[dampainter]

[ 12-04-2003, 03:13 PM: Message edited by: dampainter ]

[nerta]

As a child my great grandmother didn't speak english very well. When we teased her with the yust when I learnd to say yelly! They changed it to yam were we racist? I think not! The lady at work needs to take a good look at her self to see if she really believes what she said was from the heart or is she trying to be P.C. When you come to my house speak the laungage I speak or leave because I refuse to learn another language to do business at home.

[FISH EYED FOOL]

My family imigrated to the U.S.A. in 1970 from venezia italia, my parents made me learn english quick and proud, and be gratefull to be here which I am. I would fight for this counry to the death at the drop of a hat. I think it is disrespectfull for people to come to this country and try to bring there country with them. its disrespect in italy and other countrys two. GOD BLESS THE U.S.A.

[2LEYS]

Steelhead, you are saying that Rougue is racist?

[Steelhead Hound]

NO 2leys
[img]graemlins/stupid.gif[/img]

I'm not saying he is racist. But the comment was slightly out of place.

But if I did, which I didn't, so what. That's not something that needs to be sugar coated....2LEYS.....

[ 11-19-2003, 12:19 AM: Message edited by: Steelhead Hound ]

[Steelhead Hound]

yes...

[lost_sailor]

Originally posted by FrogPond:
We have a President we trust with running the country.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">:shocked:

"We", Kimosabe?

[GutZ]

I try not to discriminate.
I do my best to dislike all other races than my own equally, therefore I am not a bigot.

[Snapset]

Fish eye, welcome to the USA. I am proud to call people like you fellow citizens, I wish more natural born American citizens shared your attitude.

[Kentucky Hog Hunter]

Racist... I don't think so.

But I surely respect all those who are at least working and not living off the US Social welfare system.

If the person is here legally then I at least give them kudos for having a job...however, employers must choose employees that are going to be able to match the goals and objectives of their company. With that said, there should be some accountability when it comes to communication and you have a very valid point.

I work for a Japanese company and there are many ex-pats here representing the company and they all attempt to speak the native language...some much better than others I might add. However, we need these individuals here to communicate to the factories that build our equipment so in turn, I should learn how to speak Japanese as soon as possible...Now thats going to be easy...

I have to say this, those ex-pats speak allot more English then I do Japenese, hence, they have my utmost respect.

[dampainter]

[ 12-04-2003, 03:13 PM: Message edited by: dampainter ]

[dampainter]

[ 12-04-2003, 03:14 PM: Message edited by: dampainter ]

[2LEYS]

[img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

[STGRule]

If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world
as your new home, because God is part of our culture.

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">How very Christian. And I KNOW it isn't very Christian because I am. While I can agree in principle with most of the essay, I, as an American also, do not agree with all of it. The unmitigated arrogance of Americans will (and already has) bit us big time. We no longer live in a country bordered by a couple oceans and a couple imaginary lines where we can merrily pat ourselves on the back about our superiority. And if you don't like it? Go found your own country. We are not now, nor have we been for about 150 years, the people that landed on the Atlantic coast. Just like you can say that you never owned slaves so quitcherbitchen, I can say you aren't the ones who founded this country so.....

[pdxkevin]

These United States are supposed to be a melting pot - not a tossed salad.