Ryan Mecca | Brokaw suggested Latino immigrants' kids don't assimilate. That's a myth

         Tom Brokaw recently made a comment claiming that children descended from Latinx immigrants have a hard time assimilating, particularly with learning English. Many studies show the opposite; these children are actually increasingly learning English and at increasing proficiencies, many considering English to be their dominant language. Recently Brokaw made an apology Tweet saying he's sorry that they "offended some members of that proud culture"; immigration policy analyst says he should've just admitted he was wrong. 

         As immigration becomes an increasingly controversial issue with the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016, people find opportunities to be racist or nativist in efforts to make immigration seem worse than it is. This article is directed towards any people who are ignorant when it comes to the current assimilation of immigrants and their children; as we get further into these debates over whether or not immigration is a problem, people seem to think they can blame immigrants for things and use their possible lack of knowledge of American culture as an attack. Catherine E. Shoichet writes this article in order to provide these people with knowledge so that maybe we can be more accepting of the immigrants coming into our country and stop making assumptions based on the fact that they aren't from here. Shoichet provides a plethora of resources--including graphs and quotes--to back up her opinion that it is wrong to assume that Latinx immigrants are not teaching their children English, along with other cultural aspects that may help them assimilate.

         Of course, as the title includes the world assimilate, I have to relate this to the assimilation of the Native Americans during the Gilded Age. The Dawes Severalty Act, passed in 1887, allowed the federal government to assess and break up Native American land. The government then sold the land to Native American families who, if unwilling to split up their tribe to gain land, were forced to move to reservations where they would be stripped of their cultures, taught English, and converted to Christianity in order to assimilate. Many Americans at the time felt like these Native Americans caused problems and therefore made laws like the Dawes Act to give them an excuse to get rid of them, similar to the comments made by Tom Brokaw and other xenophobic individuals against Latinx immigrants and their children. 

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/28/us/latino-immigrant-assimilation-studies-tom-brokaw/index.html