Friday, August 25, 2006

Jinnah and Gandhi, Living Side by Side. In Chicago.
Speaking of the NYT, they had a great piece on Pakistani immigrants in the U.S. versus Pakistani immigrants in Britain. Why do the former go to grad school and become lawyers and the latter blow themselves up? (I'm being simplistic, of course). Some interesting stuff here, not least of which is this tidbit:
The stretch of Devon Avenue in North Chicago also named for Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, seems as if it has been transplanted directly from that country. The shops are packed with traditional wedding finery, and the spice mix in the restaurants’ kebabs is just right...Indian Hindus have a significant presence along the roughly one-and-a-half-mile strip of boutiques, whose other half is named for Gandhi.
One thing I can safely say is that the U.S. is probably the best in the developed world in integrating immigrants into its society and economy. By the second generation, most immigrants consider themselves bona fide Americans. This is plainly not the case elsewhere, especially continental Europe. And now in Britain, the government is looking into reasons why.

1 comment:

ayla said...

The article sure shows that Pakistanis are doing well in Amrika and why however, I wouldn't use the Pakistani-immigrant example as an exposition of America's comparative success at "integrating immigrants" as a whole.