From Farmingville to East Hampton: Difficulties in Communication Between Americans and the New Immigrants

Introduction: Why Examine this Topic?

In an article from Long Island Newsday's September 29th, 2003 edition, "Farmingville: Why Here, Why Now? Probing the tension, fear and violence.", author Bart Jones discusses the mayhem that has besieged the hamlet over the past few years. Indeed, Farmingville has been the site of two major bias crimes against Mexican immigrants in recent years.

Although Farmingville has attracted a lot of media attention for this situation, it is only one of about twenty Long Island communities with a sizable population of Latino immigrants, each with its own difficulties. East Hampton has lately become a new hotbed of tension between locals and Latino immigrants when Diana Weir, a Town Board member lost in her bid for reelection amidst tensions over the immigrant situation there.

"No simple explanation exists, but there are many contributing factors...a complex mix of legitimate community complaints, failed immigration policies...historical rejection of new immigrants... Although America is known as a melting pot of cultures...in reality when different races live together, they don't always coexist harmoniously. Language, lifestyle and miseducation are some factors that contribute to the discord."

Certainly, intolerance and prejudice have a lot to do with these tensions between locals and Latino immigrants, but a lack of cultural knowledge and understanding plays a big part as well. Among some of the complaints from locals, standing on street corners looking for work and overcrowding single family homes seem to be heard most often. As we will discover, these situations can be linked back to Latino cultural values.

The Four Ethno-Groups of Latin American Culture

Among the worlds regions, Latin America seems very homogeneous. Those of us in Euro-America tend to make generalizations that this region is just sort of a "greater Mexico". Indeed here on Long Island, many people tend to refer to all of these Latinos as "Mexicans", although several Latino countries are represented in this region.