Is There a Hispanic Challenge to American Nationalism - Essay Example

However lately it has been seen that the influx of Hispanics has increased in the region and this has ignited a debate between the multiculturalists and American nationalists. It is at this point that the nationalists argue that their culture and identity is being changed from what it was before when the protestants formed it. On the other hand the multiculturalists believe that the Hispanics are a part of the American culture and they are not harming the integrity of the American nationalism.

In my view Hispanics are only giving a platform to the American identity through which they can flourish in a bilingual country. Their language and culture is being assimilated such into the nationalism that the original roots are still being revived. This essay would further revolve around the issue of Hispanic challenge to the American nationalism (Huntington 2004; Strum et al 2004). According to Huntington the culture of America was formed by the protestants and whites whereas with the large influx of Hispanics into the region this culture is seriously being challenged.

He believes that the Americans do not ponder much on the issue of Hispanic immigration in the region but rather focus on the economic benefits that the Hispanic immigrants are providing the nation with. Huntington further argues that this can bring a challenge to the identity of America by forming two different cultures with two different languages. He argues that if the immigration of Latin Americans is stopped the wages of the U.S citizens itself can improve along with the original identity of the American nationals.

Stopping them would not only allow to improve the policies of immigration but would also help the authorities to assimilate these immigrants into the American culture as it was previously. The Hispanic immigrants have increased so much in the south-western region that some schools in Los Angeles are slowly becoming Mexican as put by Huntington. Moreover with the rapid influx of these immigrants it is also seen that within no time the Hispanics would not have any incentive in learning the English Language.

This can create differences between the American citizens and the immigrants and thus all these factors are put forward when discussing the challenge that the Hispanics pose to the American nationalism (Huntington 2004; Lowenthal 2004). On the other hand the proponents of Hispanic immigration have totally different views about the challenge that it poses to American nationalism. According to the proponents no such challenge is posed by the Hispanic population on to the American nationalism. According to consensus it has been seen that the Hispanic population has been largely dispersing into the assimilated neighbourhoods where they can easily get used to the new language and culture (Skerry 2005).

The argument that the Hispanics don’t tend to learn English is denied by the proponents as they put forward the 2000 consensus in which it was found that the 50% of the Mexican born immigrants only talked in English or knew how to speak in English very well. Similarly immigrants from Mexico have lived in America for years and it has been found that the coming generations are talking frequently in English. This clearly shows that the Hispanics are not affecting the language culture formed in the United States (Citrin et al 2007).

The 2002 Pew National Hispanic Survey