Conference Focuses on Problems of Immigrants : Racial Mosaic in Southern California Expected to Be All Minorities by 2000

Immigrants no longer assimilate; they “acculturate,” according to speakers at “Orange County 2000: A Conference on Acculturation” held last week at Cal State Fullerton.

“The implication of assimilation is surrender,” said Donald Sizemore, director of planning for the Orange County Community Development Council, which presented the conference along with the Orange County chapter of the American Jewish Committee and the Orange County Human Relations Commission. But “acculturation is a blending of cultures,” he said.

Goodby, melting pot. Hello, mosaic.

Immigrants have dramatically changed the face of Orange County during the past 15 years--as they have the rest of Southern California. From 1970 to 1980, the county’s Asian population grew 371% while Latinos increased 145% and blacks 140%, and the white population increased just 20%, according to the Southern California Assn. of Governments. Of Orange County’s 64,000 immigrants from 1970-80, roughly half were Latino, half Asian.

If trends continue, the Southern California mosaic may become 42% white, 41% Latino, 9% Asian and 8% black by the year 2000, according to SCAG. “It would be a ‘collection of minorities,’ ” with no majority racial group, said Dennis Macheski, program manager for SCAG.

The conference, which focused on the problems of immigrants, was the second such forum nationwide sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, said Michael Lapin, president of the organization’s Orange County chapter. “We feel our (Jewish immigrant) experience has relevance. Most of us are second- and third-generation (offspring of) immigrants.” More than giving solutions to immigrants’ problems, Lapin said he hoped the conference would offer an opportunity for dialogue.

As opposed to previous waves of immigration which were predominantly European, the new immigrants are 80% Latino and Asian, said Gary Rubin, deputy director of national affairs for the American Jewish Committee, who delivered the opening address. “The United States will be the first universal nation, literally from all over the world.”

‘Don’t Panic’

The basic lesson from previous immigrant experience, Rubin said, is: “Don’t panic.” The immigrants will “adjust anyhow.” He called the conference a pioneering effort in assessing the impact of immigrants after they arrive. Rather than waiting for immigrants to assimilate, Rubin suggested that the majority population take an active role in helping immigrants adjust and take advantage of what they have to offer.

The conference drew about 175 people, including educators, librarians, and officials from public and private social agencies as well as individuals such as Susano Ricardo Calderon, a truck driver. Calderon said he came to the conference because he is in the process of becoming a deacon in his church in Buena Park. “I want to be better informed to work with the community,” he said.

Alan Schwalbe, an owner of several apartment houses and member of the board of directors of the Orange County Fair Housing Council, said he also came out of personal interest. “Minorities are having the hardest time finding housing,” he said. Regarding Asians, he said: “We created their immigration; as patriotic citizens, we should welcome these people.”

The United States admits more immigrants than all other countries combined, said keynote speaker Thomas Muller, author of “The Fourth Wave: California’s Newest Immigrants” (The Urban Institute Press, 1985). Like other societies since the 17th Century, Americans tend to fear that immigrants will depress the economy, cause welfare to rise and reduce job opportunities, Muller said.

However, Muller said his research shows that Southern California has in fact benefited economically as a result of the immigrant surge. Illegal immigrants particularly, have and will continue to complement the labor force by taking undesirable jobs, he said.

Muller predicted, however, that--using an economic rationale to cover up social or emotional concerns--the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986 will probably approve sanctions against employers who hire undocumented workers.

And he predicted friction from the disadvantaged children of Mexican immigrants in Southern California. Unlike their parents, the children of immigrants will not realize that economic conditions in their communities are generally better than those their parents left. They will experience greater frustration living in the midst of rising affluence and materialism, Muller said.

Perhaps no city in Orange County has changed as much as Westminster. In five years, the city’s Asian population has mushroomed from 2.7% to 15-18%, according to Police Chief Donald Saviers, one member of a panel called “Successful Models for Resolution of Intergroup Conflict.” It is difficult to gauge the extent of a related increase in robbery, extortion and veiled threats as well as prostitution and murder, Saviers said.

Saviers said he is often asked how many Asian police officers are on the police force. The answer, he said, is one. He has tried to recruit qualified Southeast Asian officers who can translate and interact with the community. But they are hard to find, he said, because most Asian students in higher education are bound for professions in medicine and engineering.

Fear, prejudice and stereotyping need to be fought everywhere, said several speakers on the panel. Kamal Nafaa, board member of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said he feared that portrayals of Arabs on television as billionaires, terrorists, and belly dancers will begin to affect personal attitudes toward Arabs living and working in Orange County communities. Originally scheduled in Nafaa’s place was Alex M. Odeh, the regional director of the ADC who was killed Oct. 11 in a bomb blast at the group’s Santa Ana office. His death was to some extent the result of bigotry and stereotyping, Nafaa, a philosophy professor, said.

During the Iranian hostage crisis, he said, many Arabs suffered by association in the public mind with Iranians (who are Persians and not Arabs). One, he said, was hospitalized for weeks after a savage beating.

Contrary to general opinion that Arabs are “buying up America,” he said, less than 1% of foreign investors in America are from the OPEC nations. Addressing other misconceptions about Arabs, he pointed out that the majority of Arabs are not Muslims; less than one-half of 1% of Palestinians have resorted to armed struggle against the Israelis, and most Arabs are not wealthy.

The ADC is raising funds to distribute information packets to social studies teachers to counter Arab stereotypes, he said.

‘Enemy Is the Hoodlums’

Interminority fears are also a problem, indicated Rusty Kennedy, executive director of the Human Relations Commission. For example, black and Latino parents became alarmed three years ago that Asians were displacing their children at UC Irvine, Kennedy said. (This year, Asians make up 34% of UCI’s freshman class.) Kennedy said his office helped the parents redefine their complaint to one of declining admissions for all minorities.

Similarly, he said, his office worked with Cambodian families in Santa Ana who complained of gang violence by Latinos. “We helped them see the enemy is not those who are different. The enemy is the hoodlums whether they are Anglo or Hispanic,” he said.

Unfamiliar customs often cause problems between immigrant groups and the dominant American culture, according to Amin David, president of Los Amigos of Orange County, a business group focusing on Latino issues. David said the Human Relations Commission held cultural sensitivity classes for Anaheim police following a riot several years ago at Little People’s Park in Anaheim. Latino witnesses to a drive-by shooting did not make eye contact with police--a Latino sign of respect that the police misinterpreted as disrespect. That and other misinterpretations led to the riot, said David, a Latino with Arab roots, who participated in training the officers.

The commission now offers training to sheriff’s deputies and police officers in cultural awareness of Latino, black and Asian cultures, Kennedy said.

Customs often collide at work--particularly in the county’s manufacturing companies, said Sherri Stanton, account executive for Volt Temporary Services in a panel on “Workplace Acculturation.”

Those having the most problems are refugees from the “second wave” of Vietnamese immigrants, she said. Unlike the mostly affluent and English-speaking Vietnamese refugees who fled their country in 1975 and arrived in good economic times, the second wave of “boat people” are mostly poor, have less education and started looking for work when the economy had turned down, Stanton said.

“In Vietnamese culture, we are not used to a straightforward manner. It is considered impolite,” said Hao Duong, a Vietnamese immigrant and executive director of Orange County Refugee Community Resource Opportunity Project.

Since many refugees still do not speak English, she suggested that employers sponsor more English as a Second Language classes. In addition, she recommended programs to train established Southeast Asians to be “sponsors” to more recent immigrants--to show them how to support their own refugee relatives until they become established.

“This is a strange time in history,” said Sizemore.

During past immigrant waves in America, “the English had to deal with the Dutch. The Irish had to deal with the English. The Italians had to deal with the Irish then the Eastern Europeans.” Their struggles were accompanied by riots and the rise of organized crime, he said.

But Orange County is in a unique position, he said.

“We have two choices: traditional social Darwinism (time and survival of the fittest) to work it out, or we can figure out our problems and develop mechanisms so we don’t have to go through agonizing generations to make an American.”