Immigrants Make Vital Contributions

VICTOR NARRO, Project workers rights director, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles:

I work with day laborers and domestic and restaurant workers on a daily basis and hear them stress the importance of learning English. Many of these people work 15-hour days and despite the fact that they are tired, they go to their English class every night. At our day laborer sites, the class that always gets filled up first is English as a second language.

Even with children, there’s a misconception with regard to bilingual education. Kids want to learn English. The parents’ goal is that their kids learn English, but also master Spanish so that they are more marketable when they get out of school.

People shouldn’t penalize immigrants for speaking their own language; it’s expressive of their own culture. But immigrants understand that to survive in this country, to get ahead financially, they must learn English or they will become exploited, victims of wage violations and labor laws.

If you ask yourself what is the definition of American culture, you’ll find that there is no true American culture. What we have is a multicultural society with certain commonalities and basic freedoms. What makes this a great country is our tolerance of other cultures. That’s what this country was founded on. We should value that.

We not only have Spanish-language television and radio, but there are Korean and Japanese programs. It’s important for immigrants to retain their culture because it gives them a sense of pride and identity. It’s also important that they embrace the values of American society. That is a true American experience, a reflection of what makes this country a democracy. That is why we need bilingual services.

Immigrants, particularly Mexicans, come here for economic reasons resulting from the international market, globalization, the World Bank, NAFTA. These institutions have created a global economic situation where 80 million people in the world are displaced because of poverty and corrupt government. The only way that these people can improve their economic situation is to come to this country for independence. If you think about it, for someone to leave their family behind must mean that he or she has some serious financial issues. Most just want to send money back to their families. That is why they are here. Their goal is not to take over this country but to integrate into American society and make life better for their families.

Lately, California has been going through some changes for the better. People are starting to realize that the economic situation should not be blamed on immigrants. I think what we need is some national dialogue on immigration and the contributions immigrants have made to this country. That way we may be able to shed any misconceptions that are out there.