English Spoken Here

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America’s population “is on target to hit 300 million this fall and it’s a good bet the milestone baby – or immigrant – will be Hispanic,” the Associated Press reports. Well, that’s just fine with me, as long as the babe learns to speak English.

I can always recognize fellow Hispanics who grew up in Spanish Harlem in the 1950s: They speak perfect, unaccented English. My entire eighth-grade class of 41 students was composed of 39 Puerto Ricans and two blacks. Only the recent arrivals from the island spoke fluent Spanish, although we all did in first grade. That, of course, was before New York City became bilingual and installed Spanish translation signs in the subways and other public areas. I also noticed a proliferation of small signs in storefront businesses notifying us, “Se hable Espanol.”

Frankly, I found all this language accommodation rather insulting. What made us different from other immigrants who were forced to conquer the language gap to succeed in New York? Was it our sheer numbers or some other factor that created such a patronizing capitulation to our motherland language and culture? Do all Italian-Americans speak Italian? Likewise, are other Americans of European, Asian, and African heritage proficient in their mother tongue? Of course not. Hispanic immigrants, though, no longer had to stray far from their cultural roots. Why not?

When politicians and community leaders decreed that the traditional incentives for our population to assimilate into the American way of life be removed, they did so purely out of self-interest rather than concern for our welfare. Now we have generation after generation of Hispanics ill-prepared for success in any industry demanding proficiency in English.

The AP article continues in a tone that may alarm those hollering for immigration reform: “But Latinos – immigrants and those born in this country – are driving the population growth, accounting for almost half the increase last year, more than any other ethnic or racial group.”

Government figures confirm that the number of Hispanic-owned businesses grew faster in New York City than in any other city between 1997 and 2002. To many white American xenophobes, this portends an ominous trend: that the city is turning into a foreign country. It’s not a melting pot anymore; it’s a salad with alien ingredients. Is it any wonder that the call for making English the national language is growing louder? Personally, I think it makes sense.

I find it infuriating when Hispanic civil rights organizations toss around the word discrimination so easily. Some of the most egregious examples of bigotry are committed by Hispanics against non-Spanish-speaking Hispanics.

My daughter-in-law, Renee, a native New Yorker of Puerto Rican heritage, was ostracized by her Hispanic coworkers at a well-known Times Square restaurant. The Mexican and El Salvadoran workers took umbrage because she dared to insist on speaking English in their company. When she told them she was an American and that one should speak English in America, they called her a racist.

Like many young Puerto Ricans, Renee doesn’t speak Spanish well and runs into this hostility quite frequently. While not particularly fluent, I can certainly understand and speak Spanish, but unless someone is a tourist I insist on speaking English because I live in America. If you work here, you should learn the language. This is such a simple concept that it is incomprehensible that so many immigrants from Central and South America make no effort to learn English. Why should they? The state and local governments are bending over backward to make sure they don’t have to. Not only that, but now we’re all supposed to adapt our lives to facilitate their non-assimilation.

While we have the hugely successful “Dora the Explorer” series, which teaches my grandchildren to say the words, gracias, agua, manana, and adios, where is the Spanish-language station counterpart to teach immigrants to say thank you, water, tomorrow, and goodbye?

One of the reasons our country works is because the vast majority of immigrants historically have come here to become American, not to take over the country. Our democratic form of government means that anyone can succeed, regardless of what class they belonged to in their native land. Our common language allows us to communicate these principles and traditions that have worked for centuries and bind us together. It is dangerous to splinter that solidarity by separating us into ethnic multiculturalists. Remember the Tower of Babel?

Yes, we are the fastest-growing ethnic group in America but that shouldn’t make any difference as long as we are all truly American.


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