Assimilation crucial for Fort Wayne's Burmese

Lessons to be learned from recent sign incident.

A column by Kevin Leininger

of The News-Sentinel

The “No Burmese allowed” sign recently removed from a south-side business drew an immediate,

heartfelt and appropriate rebuke, even from the store's owner, precisely because it was reminiscent

of an unfortunate era most people would rather forget.

But what happened at Ricker's laundry on South Calhoun Street was, in one very important sense, vast-

ly different than the segregation to which African Americans were subjected: Where Jim Crow sought

to exclude certain people because of hatred and perceived racial superiority, the employee who posted

the sign sought to exclude an entire group on the basis of improper behavior by certain individuals.

If righteous indignation over the sign is allowed to obscure that point, Fort Wayne's Burmese population

will have been minimized yet again.

Nyein Chan knows that as well as anyone. As a Burmese refugee who came to Fort Wayne in 1994, he

is living proof that people from diverse cultures can and do assimilate into Fort Wayne's mainstream

and find success. But as Catholic Charities' resettlement director, he also knows the speedy “American-

ization” of new immigrants is crucial to assuring their ultimate acceptance and prosperity.

Catholic Charities Executive Director Debbie Schmidt, meanwhile, knows that process can be slowed –

to the detriment of immigrants and community alike – when the influx becomes too big to manage.

Do numbers alone explain the behavior that prompted the employee's blatantly illegal sign? Probably

not. As Schmidt noted, the number of Burmese settled directly in Fort Wayne with her organization's

help last year was 235 – about 600 fewer than in 2008 and about 400 fewer than in 2007. The previous

years' high refugee counts, she said, did overload Fort Wayne's ability to accommodate them. That's

one reason she and others asked the federal government to slow the influx.

Chan expects fewer than 300 Burmese refugees to be settled here this year, although others may move

to Fort Wayne after being settled somewhere else.

Despite the smaller numbers, however, Schmidt said more-recent refugees have tended to be less edu-

cated than earlier arrivals – which might help explain behavior such as spitting the juice from betel nuts

on the floor, which can leave a red residue. That was included on signs that replaced the “For sanitary

reasons, there are no Burmese people allowed” one. Some behavior attributed to Burmese refugees has

been even more unsanitary.

In one respect, it may be unfair to begrudge Burmese some activities popular in their culture. After all,

it wasn't very long ago that spittoons and “no spitting signs” were a common sight around Fort Wayne.

It took decades for tobacco-spitting to fall out of favor; newly arriving refugees do not have that luxury

of time.

For that reason, the U.S. State Department generally makes sure they receive a three-day orientation

session about life in America even before leaving the refugee camps, which are mostly in Thailand.

Those directed to Fort Wayne through Catholic Charities receive additional instruction on health, citizen-

ship, public services, education, employment, laws and other aspects of life that are common to

Americans but can be completely foreign to people who have never seen electricity or indoor plumbing.

The assimilation problems implied by the sign, and which Schmidt and others acknowledge, indicate

the orientation process is at best incomplete. Schmidt said she'd like to see the federal program beefed

up with such things as more emphasis on learning English – something complicated by the fact that

many new arrivals “are not even literate in their own language.”

With as many as 6,000 Burmese now calling Fort Wayne home – believed to be the largest concentrat-

ion in the U.S. – Schmidt said Fort Wayne has been both generous and welcoming. But, as Chan and

Schmidt noted, each new immigrant group has had to struggle for acceptance. That struggle, as we

have just seen, can be exacerbated by cultural clashes. If unresolved, it can also threaten the financial

support that Catholic Charities and other groups need to help people of all ethnic groups.

The best thing for old and new residents alike, then, is for the federal government to continue to limit

new arrivals to a manageable number – and for Washington and its local partners to beef up assimilat-

ion efforts.

“When in Rome …” has always been good advice for Americans traveling overseas. The reverse holds

true as well.


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Posted by Christopher Coen on 03/14/10 02:06:00 PM (Suggest removal)

Assimilation, cultural orientation provided by resettlement agencies
I guess I don't understand why Catholic Charities Executive Director Debbie Schmidt thinks the "federal

program" needs to be beefed up. Charity organizations like her's that participate in the program are in

the perfect position to raise private funds needed to help refugees learn English.

The problem with the cultural and community orientation provided by refugee resettlement organizations

like Catholic Charities is that there are no competency standards for these services with periodic tests of

refugees’ knowledge. When refugees come out of these orientations and don't seem to have learned

much, the resettlement organizations just say, "Well, we told them." The goal should be to make sure

refugees understand what they are told, which often requires repetition, not just giving refugees infor-

mation one time.

Most of the time the resettlement agencies don't even provide written handouts with bullet points on

what they taught refugees, so the refugees have nothing to review at home, and friends, relatives

and neighbors are not able to help the refugees review and understand what they learned.

Christopher Coen
Friends of Refugees
FORefugees at hotmail.com
http://forefugeeswatchdog [dot] wordpress [dot] com/



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Posted by Francis Keller on 03/14/10 10:14:00 AM (Suggest removal)

Oh for more political correctness

Here we go again rampant Political Correctness. Something that only happens in the USA.

Assimilation is crucial for any immigrant to another country, but then we try to temper it with phrases

like “it may be unfair to begrudge Burmese some activities popular in their culture.” Oh and we

will provide government forms in your own language, even if you can’t read your own language, let

alone your new one.

Well I can guarantee you if they are spitting on the floor in a dry cleaners, they are also spitting on the

floor in the hospitals, and clinics they are using. This ingrained habit will not be broken easily. I have

lived in so called 3rd world countries, and have see the hygiene practiced.

The business went too far by barring all Burmese, but should be able to bar any customer from ever

returning, Burmese or otherwise.

A 3 day orientation in a refugee camp prior to transfer to a foreign country is a joke, We require more

training for our State Department. This would be a joke for highly educated immigrants, but as the article

states, the current immigrants are less educated than the prior years.

This is normal. Look at the first Cuban immigrants in the 60’s versus the current boat people. The

higher educated and moneyed always leave first followed by the less advantaged.

The current Burmese immigrants would not be part of their own countries higher society, as has been

stated in the article they are less educated.

” The assimilation problems implied by the sign, and which Schmidt and others acknowledge,

indicate the orientation process is at best incomplete. Schmidt said she'd like to see the federal
program beefed up with such things as more emphasis on learning English – something complicated

by the fact that many new arrivals “are not even literate in their own language.”

Not even literate in their own language, meaning that in most cases they cannot read and write.

Then we have advocates that believe that even though they cannot read or write English, they be

granted a license to operate a motor vehicle?

I would guess they have a minder at all times in order to translate to the police, or other driver in

case of an accident or traffic violation. And they are fully aware of state of Indiana insurance regulations.