The year was 1984 when we moved from Washington, DC to Montgomery County, Maryland, horizon expanded about other cultures. I had only seen foreigners on T.V. but never up close. When I first moved to my new building, I made a friendship that I still have now with a person from Jamaica. I then went outside, to explore my neighborhood and found some other children from other countries like Panama, El Salvador, and other Caribbean countries. I was amazed, by the differences and similarities. On my first day of school walking with the other children from the neighborhood, I noticed that they were speaking another language, which I did not understand. I then found out that they were speaking Spanish, became interested in learning it.
At that time the language was being offered after school for free, so I took the permission slip home and my mother signed it. There was another person that stuck out with me that I met at the same time, his father was a painter and he was from El Salvador. Little did I know at the time that I was witnessing a trend to come? The first was Latino families that had brought over with them a variety of skills and trades that were beneficial to the construction industry. The next was a level of survival through a means of self employment, and passing on skill to the male children in the home for generation to come.
The other was the need to know Spanish, in the coming job market. I really appreciated the fact that I learned about other cultures at an early age, and I have passed that lesson on to my son at an even earlier age as well. Every time I hear people speak about illegal immigrants, I think of all of the ways that other cultures have shaped the lives of this country.
I understand that there are bad actions that are done by people in any culture, but there is also for the most part more good that is present as well. I feel that our country has benefited greatly by immigrants from many countries since the beginning of time. So why now it is a problem. I also have noticed that in recent years, ESOL(teaches students English) has been cut out of school budgets, but it was a means that many of my friends taught there parents English so that they could get better jobs. Yes, there is a gang violence issue that has caused positions to take drastic actions in law enforcement procedures. My Solution:
1. Teaching children to learn from others and not imposing adult fears on them. Our children will have to take care of our future
2. Put ESOL back into schools that have high populations of immigrant children, they should not be used as a chess playing piece in something that they had no say in.
3. When having changing procedures in law enforcement to address concerns, teach humanity and racial tolerance when dealing with this matter.
4. Keep international day in schools, have parents come in and talk about different cultures, so that other children are exposed to a world that they might not know.
In closing: When I was pregnant with my son, I taught a Spanish class at the Washington Saturday College held out of Howard University. I taught the class first how the history of Africa and Spain came together in the Caribbean, and other South American countries. I then gave them an assignment to go to a Latino restaurant and bring back a menu for homework.
Each one of them presented their menus, I asked them to see if them food looked like what is cooked in their house. The class was shocked at the similarities in cooking, and eating between African Americans and Latinos. I also conducted this experiment, with my family members as well (funny). I showed them that we all are connected, but that you can tell a lot about a culture through the food that they eat. Oh I later found out that my father is from the Dominican Republic, Hmmm might be the reason that I retained Spanish all this time.
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