Shogun
Free: Mudholes Stomped
- Jan 8, 2007
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I was not talking about San Francisco specifically. You are the one who brought up that name. My reference was to all the cities and towns in the southwest which bear Spanish names.
Since I am an American of German ancestry, with both mother and father being of German stock, you tell me how difficult it was for Germans to acclimate to American culture. They WANTED to do it and were proud to be Americans. My ancestry never once referred to themselves as German-Americans.
I attend Octoberfest celebrations every year, and I can assure you that these celebrations are in no way intended to weaken the American culture. Octoberfest is attended not only by people of German ancestry but by everyone in the community. It is just one of many festivals celebrating the diversity which has made American what it is. This diversity, incidentally, is of the melting pot kind, not the kind where immigrants retain their own culture and live in enclaves on American soil.
*sigh*
WHY do you people post shit that is easily proven wrong? For real, is it THAT HARD to consider the evidence before saying dumb shit?
Assimilation and World War I anti-German sentiment
After two or three generations, German Americans adopted mainstream American customssome of which they heavily influencedand switched their language to English. As one scholar concludes, "The overwhelming evidence ... indicates that the German-American school was a bilingual one much (perhaps a whole generation or more) earlier than 1917, and that the majority of the pupils may have been English-dominant bilinguals from the early 1880s on."[32] By 1914 the older members were attending German language church services while the younger members were attending English services (in Lutheran, Evangelical and Catholic churches). In German parochial schools the children spoke English among themselves, though some of their classes were in German. In 191718, nearly all German language instruction ended, as did most German language church services.
During World War I, German Americans, especially those born abroad, were sometimes accused of being too sympathetic to the German Empire. Theodore Roosevelt denounced "hyphenated Americanism" and insisted that dual loyalties were impossible in wartime. A small minority came out for Germany, including H. L. Mencken, who believed the German democratic system was superior to American democracy. Likewise Harvard psychology professor Hugo Münsterberg dropped his efforts to mediate between America and Germany and threw his efforts behind the German cause.[33]
Several thousand vocal opponents of the war were imprisoned.[34] Thousands were forced to buy war bonds to show their loyalty. The Red Cross barred individuals with German last names from joining in fear of sabotage. One man was hanged in Illinois, apparently for no other reason than that he appeared to be of German descent. The killers were found innocent of the crime and the hanging was called an act of patriotism by a jury. A Minnesota minister was tarred and feathered when he was overheard praying in German with a dying woman.[35] Some Germans during this time "Americanized" their names (e.g. Schmidt to Smith, Müller to Miller, Rickenbacher to Rickenbacker, Eisenhauer to Eisenhower) and limited their use of the German language in public places. Similarly, foods with German names such as sauerkraut and bratwurst were renamed "liberty cabbage" and "liberty sausage". In Chicago Frederick Stock temporarily stepped down as conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra until he finalized his naturalization papers. Berlioz replaced Wagner on programs. In Cincinnati, reaction to anti-German sentiment during World War I caused the Public Library of Cincinnati to withdraw all German books from its shelves.[36] German-named streets were renamed. For example, in Indianapolis, a street named Germania Avenue was renamed Pershing Ave.for a World War I general of German descent. Nebraska banned instruction in any language except English, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban illegal in 1923 (Meyer v. Nebraska), by which time the nativist mood had largely subsided. In Iowa, the Babel Proclamation made speaking foreign languages in public illegal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German-American
Nope.. NO similar patterns between the Germans then and the Mexicans now!
NOPE!
Thank god we've got all this German progeny running around fully aware of the history of their people in this Salad Bowl American culture!