My “Immigrant” T-Shirt

By Juan Tornoe

A couple years ago the folk from Klaus Industries came out with an “Immigrant” T-shirt and kindly sent me a sample.

I’ve been having some fun with it at my gym, which as one of my Latino friends who came to check out their installations said, “Is filled with Blanquitos”. There is certainly an overwhelming majority of White Anglo-Saxon-looking person there.

It cracks me up to see people’s expressions after they decipher the not-so-in- your-face word on my chest. They are a mixture of double takes, looking for something in the ceiling, and a few condescending looks.  The T-shirt is yet to start a conversation (or discussion).

It’s funny to see how, within one or two generations the most, people forget where they came from. Every single one of these persons who feel uncomfortable about the fact that I am an immigrant and am letting the “whole gym” know about it, have parents, grandparents or someone else up their family tree that came from elsewhere to settle in this great nation.

Are you reacting in a similar manner? Could it be affecting your business?

Comments

[Fiona Marissa]

I was about the leave a comment that went something like this, "Despite the script of the word being just on the slightly-tough-to-read side, I bet once someone figured out what it said, they probably wouldn't hesitate to strike up a conversation with me. But then I'm white and an immigrant ... from Australia. And we all know how Americans are fascinated with everything Australian." But then I started to think about the many times I'd worn my T-shirt to the gym (and the places I needed to go afterwards), and only one person in the past two years has said anything to me (she was going there the very next day)--it has "Australia" on it in big, bold letters. Maybe it's not the T-shirt itself, but merely that almost everyone doesn't extend him or herself based on the words on a T-shirt.

To be fair to your point, though, I was struck by the juxtaposition of the attitude of an acquaintance of mine recently between one day and the next. One day he was a bit perturbed about the growth of the Spanish-speaking population and specifically commented we needed to make English the national language (I happen to agree, but that's another issue), yet the next day he was thoroughly enjoying learning Salsa and Merengue with me at the same convention. I thought, "How can you have one, and not the other?!"

Me gustan mucho mis experiencias cuando apprendiendo la idioma y las varias culturas del mundo hispana. Like other Anglos, I must accept the fact that even perhaps before I die, Spanish-speakers will be the majority in the United States of America. I can embrace that and continue learning and growing and keep in mind we are all connected (mitakuye oyasin--all my relations, in Lakota Sioux), or I can freak out and start to hyperventilate and fight like blazes to maintain the status quo. Para mi, sigo apprender espanol y mando mi hija para apprender tambien.

You have so much rich content on your blog--I wish I had more time to browse through it and leave comments, but I'm busy working on my own website and blog, www.BetterEdit.com, that specializes in editing documents written in English by non-native English speakers. Thanks for taking the time to write it!

[Juan Tornoe]

Thanks Fiona for the great insight.

Best wishes,

Juan