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4) Latinos are reluctant to learn English. Huntington lists statistics on the retention of Spanish by first- and second-generation immigrants, few of which seem to support his thesis that Mexican immigrants fail to assimilate and are "contemptuous of American culture." According to one study he cites, more than 90 percent of second-generation Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles speak English "fluently." Huntington says it's too early to tell whether third-generation immigrants will embrace English in the same way, but he provides nothing to suggest they won't. In a rebuttal in the New York Times , David Brooks says that 60 percent of third-generation Mexican-Americans speak English exclusively at home. Huntington does say that Mexican immigrants and their descendants are more likely to be bilingual, and that eventually this will put pressure on Americans to be bilingual. But he doesn't add that if this happens, it will only make the U.S. more like the rest of the world.

Related:
First Things on the fate of 'Mexifornia'
Timeon 'Amexica'
From For A Change magazine: Why Americans should learn Spanish
Excerpt and discussion of Clash of Civilizations (more)
Earlier:'Hispanic' or 'Latino'? (fifth item)

From the Melbourne Age:

• Jimmy Pham has all the sunny friendliness of his hometown, Sydney, and the mountainous determination of his birthplace, Saigon. He has needed both in great measure since establishing KOTO, Hanoi's internationally acclaimed restaurant staffed by former street kids. … Since its establishment in September 2000, KOTO—the initials stand for Know One Teach One—has trained 100 kids as skilled hospitality professionals, hosted international dignitaries including U.S. president Bill Clinton (who dropped in for lunch with 80 reporters in 2001) and won the backing of the Australian Embassy among others. Pham and two KOTO graduates, Hoang Thy Hue and Nguyen Thuy Ha, are in Australia to demonstrate their skills at the Melbourne International Food and Wine Festival at Federation Square and to raise funds for a second KOTO restaurant next year.
• In many ways, Inti-Illimani's own history—one that now spans three decades—is a mirror of the recent history of Chile and many other Latin American nations. Formed in the mid-'60s, the group was one of the first to revive the use of traditional music and instruments, which had been all but forgotten in contemporary culture. Inspired by artists such as Victor Jara and Violeta Parra, Inti-Illimani became part of a revolutionary movement known as Nueva Cancion (New Song), which championed the lives of ordinary people and signalled its opposition to social inequality and political injustice. … The coup of 1973 resulted in repression of the New Song movement and exile for Inti-Illimani. Its members were not allowed to return to Chile for 14 years. By the time they were welcomed home in the late 1980s, they had not only become musical ambassadors for the people of Latin America, but respected artists with a popular profile around the world.

• As the Supreme Court ponders the phrase "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, consider the book A Stone of Hope by David Chappell. The book is about the civil rights movement, not the Pledge of Allegiance, but it puts in perspective the paranoia about religion "tainting" politics, says David Brooks in the New York Times . "If you believe that the separation of church and state means that people should not bring their religious values into politics, then, if Chappell is right, you have to say goodbye to the civil rights movement," Brooks says. "It would not have succeeded as a secular force." Secular members of the civil rights movement held too optimistic a view of human nature, Chappell argues; religious members of the movement, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., had a more sober view of human depravity and realized what they were up against. "Whether you believe in God or not, the Bible and commentaries on the Bible can be read as instructions about what human beings are like and how they are likely to behave," Brooks writes, adding that this is an improvement over "the secular social sciences, which often treat human beings as soulless utility-maximizers, or as members of this or that demographic group or class." Brooks' focus on the pragmatic benefits of religious teaching is less than inspiring, but his column (and his earlier essay on secularism) does provide relief from the mainstream media's presumption that religious political involvement necessarily means fanaticism. Full story

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