[speaker001:] hello
[speaker002:] hello I was I was thinking about our topic for the night um immigration problems we have immigration problems and what do do you think about it
[speaker001:] well I think it's a very very complicated and I sort of I see perspectives on all sides uh and I've really have no hope for solutions but um I do keep myself somewhat abreast of the issue I have worked with uh uh a little bit with refugees from Southeast Asia uh who've come over um you know to escape the genocide programs that are over there and seen you know heard about some of the problems that they've had and I'm also fairly sensitive to the issues about how open should the borders be because I in general like a smaller rather than a larger population to the land area and um
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum where are you
[speaker001:] I'm in California which has a lot of immigration probably more than any where else in the country though I'm not sure if that's the case
[speaker002:] well we've got a lot too I'm in Texas in Garland right outside of Dallas
[speaker001:] uh-huh yeah um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] so we're getting a large oh gosh I don't know I think there's like twenty six different languages now that are spoken in I the DISD Dallas Inner City School District
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] Cambodians uh Asians Vietnamese we we're getting a lot of um Mexican Americans you know we've had those for a long time
[speaker001:] yeah sure well Texas used to be part of Mexico or most of it
[speaker002:] yes oh yes no I'm busy right now Steven Steven wants me to do popcorn right now okay and I don't know what the solution is
[speaker001:] I I don't either it's a really delicate uh moral issue because if if you have well I guess the one thing I do see that is is that needs to be a solution is that if you do let people into the country I do feel you have a certain obligation
[speaker002:] to get them on their
[speaker001:] to to get them on their feet because otherwise what you're doing is you're letting people in and you're you're dooming them to being underclass people
[speaker002:] yeah right
[speaker001:] you know you're dooming them to ghetto life or whatever and I know that that the Southeast Asians the Hmong people that I've done some work with uh feel really quite hurt and and unsure of themselves when here because they're coming from you know from the slash and burn intercultural society you know they're coming from the middle ages basically and they're being plunked down in plunked down into America many of them had been promised by the CIA during the war over there that because they cooperated with the CIA and they helped the CIA out that when they came here the CIA would help establish them in America and the CIA of course isn't doing that and uh
[speaker002:] hum
[speaker001:] so they come here and they don't know what what the heck they're doing and they're finding themselves adrift in the big cities and of course there are people in the big cities who would do like nothing better than to take advantage of them
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] and they're they're incredible victims of crime and part of it is this lack of lack of basic information being dissimilated and I'm not saying it's easy to do and I know there are a few people who are trying but but the funding isn't there for very much work to be going on
[speaker002:] and there's a lot of graft like people trying to tell them oh giving them information that was free to them anyway if they just knew how to get it
[speaker001:] uh yeah exactly yeah have I mean these are people who don't have the foggiest idea about what America's like um and it's very it's I
[speaker002:] yeah right
[speaker001:] I couldn't really conceptualize how hard it was to understand that until I until I met with them and I realized that they some of the information that I just you know don't even realize and know is information they don't have and I never thought well I guess that is something you need to know you know people getting into trouble because they come here and so they start farming on uh available land you know like the median strips on freeways because no one's using it but then someone comes along and says you can't do that you know why can't they they have no idea why not some some of them you know the ones that have been here longer and have been in you know understand now but when they initially come over
[speaker002:] you mean really trying to plant something that's what you're saying farming
[speaker001:] yeah because they're farmers these are all farmers coming over and they're being put in the middle of the city
[speaker002:] ah oh oh that's terrible
[speaker001:] I mean they're nomadic farmers you know they're people who farm on the hillside and then leave the hillside to another hillside and farm on that hillside
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] these are people who've never seen flat ground before and people who've never seen property rights before you know these people who've never seen any machines other than those used in war and uh they have you know so I I I do have a lot of sympathy for them and I feel that America could try a little bit harder to to help people adjusting to the American way because if they don't you're just going to produce you know you're going to produce an underclass you know you're going to get a situation that I think a lot like what happened to the blacks being sort of led out of slavery and then then many of them ended up just working the same jobs they were as slaves then and there was no real up upward movement and not being yeah um
[speaker002:] and not being cared for yeah that's true well what did you do when you helped these people how did you what did you do through
[speaker001:] well I I wasn't helping them I worked with them not to help them but actually for my own purposes I'm I'm a linguist and I was uh doing a language trying to learn their language a little bit and I actually um I mean helped them them in the sense that they received money for working with me but I didn't I didn't I wasn't a social worker or anything like that
[speaker002:] oh I uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] I do have friends who have tried to do more social work you know by explaining to people how the language and what the problems learning English might be and such because all the models of teaching English are based on teaching English to Spanish speakers or to other European language speakers and people don't realize how different some of the languages they speak are
[speaker002:] well I'm an ESL teacher yes I got my certification but actually they did not teach us very many things
[speaker001:] oh you are uh-huh well you
[speaker002:] about how really to go about helping people to learn another language I mean it's like people don't know what to say it's not step to step
[speaker001:] that's that's been my impression yeah it's it's not they're not withholding information they just don't have that information they they haven't the foggiest idea
[speaker002:] yeah but anyway I enjoy it they the kids I've worked with so far have been Spanish speaking
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] and but I'm applying for what yeah it is a lot of the words are the same or you know they just change the pronunciation a little bit but I love it I love the culture the that they way they respect education
[speaker001:] and Spanish is pretty close to English really and Spanish is a lot like English yeah yeah yeah
[speaker002:] and their teachers and
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] their parents so much more than than my children do you know and
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] I like it and what I've been thinking about doing is volunteering for this uh Asian center that a Doctor Falk has started that works with the school district and doing what
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] trying to get them set and inculturated
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] into the system I thought that would be good experience for me and I've applied at another district where many of the children are Asian
[speaker001:] oh I'm sure it would um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] and I think that would be wonderful too
[speaker001:] yeah it would be a good experience and you'd be helping people I'm sure very much and and I I mean not to put not to trivialize the problems of any immigrant group but I do know the Asian groups are having a lot of trouble I mean and part of the problem is that a lot of Chinese and Japanese immigration from you know decades ago has been very successful because they valued education and so forth they became a very successful immigrant group
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] but and but a lot of people coming over from Vietnam right now coming from war torn countries are are not not having the same success I think some people have just assumed well why why can't you be successful the Japanese were or the Chinese were or something And it's really much more complicated
[speaker002:] well and times were different too
[speaker001:] yeah the times are different yeah
[speaker002:] my neighbor let's see is Jewish and he's going through the I don't know Jewish League or something and helping a family that's come over from Russia
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] and he spends well right now he's down to like once a week but he was going over there several times a week to meet with the family and help them with the language and he thoroughly enjoyed it
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum oh yeah I I think it's a wonderful thing to do and there's a lot there's a lot more I guess another possible solution is since taxpayers aren't going to start paying more money for this and and other budgets aren't going to be cut to pay for it
[speaker002:] no
[speaker001:] uh more of the volunteer network service because everyone gains from it
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] would be would might be really useful um and if it's you know uh just people helping people I think makes makes the community so much happier
[speaker002:] uh-huh what's so sad about this is both of the the man and the woman had a degree having to do with computers but their training isn't what we need in this country and because they're so deficient in English they haven't been able to get jobs
[speaker001:] um-hum yes um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] so they'll have to go back and get a degree here you know almost start all over
[speaker001:] yes yes I've known people with effectively worthless degrees in this country I mean and they're highly educated people but of course if you're educated and you don't speak English no one thinks anything of you
[speaker002:] no no and this woman was um stocking the shelves in a drugstore
[speaker001:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker002:] feel sorry for her
[speaker001:] yeah I do too well it's been good talking with you
[speaker002:] well same here have a good night okay yes I do okay bye
[speaker001:] uh okay okay it does sound like you have some children to take care of uh okay bye-bye