The Mexican-Muslim connection

The history of the world is linked to a never-ending story of migration and its far-reaching impact on demographics. Virtually all of this history has been lost to emerging generations.

There is no genetic memory, no intergenerational transmission of what were powerful historical experiences. Once the generations who witnessed history are gone, these memories can no longer be shared.

The story of migration as it has been unfolding in the U.S. with Mexicans, and Europe with Muslims, is quite similar and will be more of a lasting intergenerational cultural experience because these immigrants are either avoiding or resisting assimilation. So the issue will have a long shelf life.

Germany, which experienced a massive influx of Turkish Muslims in the 1960s, is an interesting example. In a 2008 speech in Cologne, Germany, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan told a cheering crowd of 16,000 Turkish Germans to resist assimilation. (This is compatible with the teachings of influential Islamic leaders who preach the establishment of a worldwide caliphate founded on Shariah law.)

On German soil, he said to Germany’s largest ethnic minority, “Assimilation is crime against humanity.” What chutzpah. But recall Mexican President Felipe Calderon, with encouragement from President Obama, blasting Arizona’s immigration law on American soil before a joint session of Congress. Calderon was gentler than Harper, one of the oldest continuously published U.S. magazines, which referred to the Arizona legislature as “dimwits, racists and cranks.”).

In Britain, The Times U.K. reported their “Muslim population has multiplied 10 times faster than the rest of society, the research by the Office for National Statistics reveals.” And this is a country whose largest ethnic minority is Indian.

France has the largest Muslim population in Europe which presents a challenge to France’s secular, multicultural ethos, since Islam believes their faith cannot be separated from the state – that secularism is against the law of Allah.

This is probably the same belief that is causing British Muslims to resist overtures from Prime Minister David Cameron, who wants to recognize Muslims as a part of Britain’s multicultural society and entice them into a coalition. Muslims present a unique problem.

Their influx into a post-Christian Europe in large numbers started in the post World War II era, yet their attitudes have been amazingly resistant to European culture as their numbers have grown.

So the emerging generations in Europe will continue to witness the same negative experiences as prior generations. It just won’t go away. Or to echo Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington’s thesis in his classic Clash of Civilizations, “The fundamental source of conflict in this new world will not be … ideological … or economic … The dominating source of conflict will be cultural.”

He argues Islam itself “is a different civilization who are convinced of the superiority of their culture,” and as a result, “have problems living peaceably with their neighbors.” He believed the lack of “core states” prevented the growth of both the world of Islam and Latin America.

Shift gears from Europe to the U.S. and our Latinos – or Hispanics, if you prefer. This is the largest and youngest minority group in the U.S., with one out of four newborns being Hispanic, partly because of “birthright” citizenship being granted to the newborns of illegal immigrants.

More than half of Mexican immigrants are illegal, and its share of the student population has doubled in slightly over a decade.

The Hispanic population in the U.S., excluding Puerto Rico, is 47 million, making Hispanics the largest ethnic minority. (This compares with 53 million Muslims in Europe, with a population of 830 million – more than two-and-a-half times the U.S. – according to the German Central Institute Archive.)

Civil rights activist Professor Francisco Rosales’ (Arizona State University) acclaimed book, “Chicano!,” the history of the Mexican American civil rights movement, is a good place to start.

Rosales wrote that by the 1950s “seeing the success of the Black Civil Rights movement encouraged Mexican Americans to abandon the claim of being white Americans of ethnic descent – like Italian Americans or Polish Americans – and to start identifying with the course favored by Blacks.”

To that end, Mexican Americans identified with John F. Kennedy and Catholicism, “and Lyndon Johnson, a Texas politician, who early on recognized the importance of the Mexican American vote in his home state.” Their inclination to not being described as Americans, even though they are, is consistent with the attitude of the many La Raza separatists who seek to separate those states that were once a part of Mexico and form a new nation – kind of a mini-Mexican caliphate.

It was a practical political consideration which made them loyal Democrats, but the historical similarities between Mexican “Americans” and African-Americans escape me. It is silly and somewhat insulting to compare the immoral slave heritage of African-Americans, followed by years of brutal discrimination, with the circumstance of “free” Mexicans, whose well-being is simply ignored by their own corrupt Mexican government – and yet do nothing about it. (We had a civil war.) Nevertheless, they were welcomed into the Democratic Party and joined the ranks of African-Americans who were struggling to be co-equals with all of us other hyphenated Americans.

Some of the divisiveness or anger we see worldwide stems from the lingering effects of diverse ethnicities with ideological constituencies who reject assimilation into their country. Dowell Myers, an urban demographer and adviser to the Census Bureau was reported in the NYTimes.com as saying, “When you get increased diversity, you weaken support for the common good.” But I would argue, only if assimilation is rejected. Then it’s every group for itself, and an entire culture can fall apart.

Populist politicians, labor leaders, and religious extremists stoke the flames of race, religion or diversity to a fare-thee-well to influence their followers for votes, personal aggrandizement or financial gain. Some Mexican American and Muslim leaders are no exception. Unfortunately, that’s been the story of America – and the globe – and we all put up with it.

Syndicated columnist Sydney J. Harris said it well, “The good person loves people and uses things, while the bad person loves things and uses people.”

John Reiniers, a regular columnist for Hernando Today, lives in Spring Hill.