I will admit that my command of Spanish was not very good, but you have no idea the abuse that I took for being a non-Hispanic American with a lousy command of Spanish! I was told to "go back to college, chica, you don't belong here!" I was insulted and harassed. (There were some Hispanic business owners in the neighborhood who had been in the US for 20 years and who refused --or couldn't -- speak a word of English!) Finally one day, I had enough of the insults and abuse and, when this guy insulted me, I said, "As far as I know, this neighborhood is still in the United States of America and the language of the US is English. If you don't speak that language, I am sorry, but it is You who need to learn English, not me who needs to learn better Spanish!" The guy gave me the dirtiest look I have every seen, walked out the front door of the bank, unzipped his fly and peed on the front in broad daylight! He then stuck his head inside, and said, "This is what I think of English, America and you!"
My father was an immigrant to this country, so this was not some xenophobia on my part -- my dad was the biggest American flag waiver I ever met. I was just stunned by how brazen the anti-American feeling was in this Los Angeles neighborhood full of immigrants! And that was 30 years ago!