Speak English Or Else?

Last week, my column was motivated by my seeing a sticker on a van that read, "Speak English or Die." I looked into the "English-only" movement, which is against having the government spend money on multilingual versions of things like voting and educational materials.

My own personal feelings are that people who plan on staying here should learn English. But the reality is that not everybody does, and not everybody does right away. Maybe some of these people just need a little help feeling comfortable here.

Prior to writing the column, I believed that many people hold sincere views that these multilingual publications represent an inappropriate use of public funds as well as an incorrect message for immigrants who haven't learned English. I also felt that — considering all the current immigrant bashing — that some, yes, just some, of the people who were for the "English-only" policies were people who felt some intolerance for immigrants and were just using this policy as a way to legitimize or mask their true feelings.

I received more e-mails in response to this column than to any of my previous columns. This even includes the column about "SpongeBob Square Pants," which elicited a great number of e-mails because of the apparent controversy regarding the cartoon character's supposed subversive homosexuality.

The number of responses and their contents only confirmed my original views about this topic. Many people combined the English-only topic with their criticism of immigrants as "illegals," and as "people who are destroying our culture." Some of them magically see immigrants as simultaneously "too lazy to get jobs" and "stealing jobs from Americans."

I share some of the responses with you:

Mary (Not her real name): Why don't we start printing everything in Islam, too? Maybe we can make it easier for the terrorists — they won't have to learn English.

Audrey: How dare you come into this country and insult the way we speak. Remember we belong here, you don't.

Laurie: yes we are in America speak English or go back to your own country. [sic]

JP: I think English as the only language serves a useful purpose, for instance, enabling the Mexican immigrant to order Chinese food.

Courtney: Have you ever considered that the immigrants themselves might do better in the long run if we stopped coddling them in their own languages?

Ann: I think they should learn English because when they want to get a better job than working in Wal-Mart they will have to speak English.

Bette: Some of us had ancestors that were already here when settlers/immigrants came to this country, and most of mine would not have learned to speak English at all if "non-native" people had not come to America. Without getting on a soapbox, I do think that many people that advocate English-only are forgetting that English is not the native language of this country, so perhaps a little tolerance wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Carmen: I am a Native American Apache/Cherokee. Who is to say that I am not American when I converse in my native culture language? I am truly impressed with your commentary.

Richard: Get with the program called AMERICAN PRIDE. The Mexicans are taking this country from us liberal by liberal.

Jim: I support having English as the official language of government for the sole purpose of maintaining our democracy.

Joe: There is a whole realm of sensitivity that has to go along with how we do this, bringing these kids into the public school system so they can be successful, without smashing the sense of self before they get there.

Michael: Most Americans are not racist, but it would thrill most of us if they did not totally undermine our system of laws and come into this country illegally and then completely undermine our culture by not even trying to assimilate and learn our, rather, my language.

James: Start advocating one language as the language above all the languages and you are opening the doors to a social meltdown.

Brian: I believe that if this trend continues, within 50 to 100 years we will have a secession movement in the Sun Belt states. After all, without assimilation, these Spanish-speakers could well identify themselves more closely with their counterparts in northern Mexico than with the old, cold rust belt. That being the case, I choose English-only.

Fillit: I know that there are reasons to respect the culture of the immigrant. However, I feel that doing so often leaves the immigrant on the outside (of the US economy) looking in. I feel that as a society, we are making a mistake to do this to these hard-working immigrants.

Robert: Friends of mine traveled all over Europe on vacation this summer. They went to France, Germany, Italy, Greece, and Spain over a three-week period and said they did not have any problems whatsoever with language because everyone spoke English. What they did find funny is that when they got home, they went down to Miami for dinner and had trouble because no one spoke English.

Julie: Where else in the world can you go and get all of your information in your native language? For my experience, only America! That is what makes our country so appealing. Easy, schmeezy.

OK: I'm not a fanatic on the balloting. Spanish and Korean, etc. and other major languages are fine. But when I hear that the L.A. ballot is printed in over 100 languages I do think there are better places to spend that money. If they can't speak English, how well-informed are they on the issues they are voting for?

Mark: I know how we can stop the flow of illegals from Mexico. We need to allow border patrols to shoot on sight when they see a vehicle trying to cross the border illegally.... speak English or don't speak at all.

Mary: I don't think that the inscription on the Statue of Liberty means, "Come on in, disregard and complain about everything you don't like here, expect everyone to change their ways to better suit you and if they don't you can file a discrimination lawsuit."

Nancy: The kids of those Koreans you can't understand at the convenience store are going to kick your professional butts in a couple of years, in perfect English while playing the Polonaise on the piano and solving complex equations in their heads. And having that caliber of people will make America a better country.

By Lloyd Garver