Racism wins one on Senate floor
Declaring English the official language means nothing substantially, but is a symbolic slap in the face of all Latinos.
Originally posted on May 27, 2006
SAN DIEGO — In declaring English the national language of the United States, the Senate finally did something useful.
Oh, I don’t mean the result. It was dreadful. What I mean is that the Senate did the country a service by lifting the veil and revealing what (much of) the immigration debate is really about. Here’s a hint: It ain’t immigration policy. And it ain’t pretty.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid wasn’t far off the mark when he called the English language amendment “racist” and said it was “directed basically to people who speak Spanish.”
People don’t like to hear it, but now that much of the country has come down with a touch of “Latinophobia,” racism, nativism, ethnocentrism and other unpleasant “isms” are back in style.
I don’t have a problem with declaring English — as in a related amendment also approved by the Senate — merely a “common and unifying language.” But calling English “the national language” is more absolute, as if no other languages should be spoken. It is also unnecessary, divisive and insulting to any U.S. citizen or legal immigrant who, in addition to English, also speaks Spanish, Russian, Chinese or any other foreign language and doesn’t feel any less American because of it.
Of course, as I’ve said before, anyone who lives in the United States should learn English. But here’s the key: They should do so for their own good and for the good of their children, and not to stay in the good graces of fellow Americans desperate to remain culturally relevant amid changing demographics.
POLICY NONSENSE
Don’t confuse this with requiring that illegal immigrants learn English if they want a path to legal status. These people shouldn’t even be here in the first place, and so the United States has every right to set the conditions under which they can stay. [more]