Thread: E Pluribus Unum, Comprende?

E Pluribus Unum, Comprende?
November 21, 2007: 08:05 PM EST


Nov. 23, 2007 (Investor's Business Daily delivered by Newstex) --

The Culture: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants employers who require English in the workplace to be sued for discrimination. Workplaces like the House of Representatives? To continue this editorial in English, press one.

Supporters of open borders like to point 15ut we are a nation of immigrants, which is true. But until recently, the newest immigrants were largely legal ones who didn't just come to America, but also wanted to be part of America -- to be Americans.

America was called a melting pot of different cultures and ethnicities. The process of becoming an American was called assimilation. That included learning English. Lately we've seen the balkanization of America, a kind of cultural apartheid run amok.

Efforts in this regard have included bilingual education, multilingual ballots and now the insistence that a common language is racist and discriminatory. The American melting pot has become a smorgasbord.

Earlier this year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit against a Salvation Army Thrift Store in Massachusetts that fired two Hispanic employees for speaking Spanish while sorting clothes. The two women, one from the Dominican Republic and one from El Salvador, were given a year to learn rudimentary English. They refused.

The EEOC line is that language skills are not relevant to the job of sorting donated clothing, so therefore the store was in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that bars discrimination on the basis of national origin.

But is such a requirement any more discriminatory than, say, a dress code that bars an employee from wearing a native costume?

When it comes to requiring English on the job, the courts have already ruled in Massachusetts. In 2003, a federal judge in Boston upheld the Salvation Army policy requiring workers to "speak English to the best of their ability." Unnerved by such lawsuits, Sen. Lamar Alexander sponsored legislation protecting employers from lawsuits for having English-only job policies.

The measure passed the Senate 75-19 in October, and the House passed it 218-186 earlier this month. Some 30 states have passed bills making English their official language. Speaker Pelosi this week vowed to keep the measure from being implemented after members of the Hispanic Caucus objected.

Those who insist that driver's licenses for illegals are necessary to let them move freely on our roads do not insist that learning English is necessary for immigrants, legal or illegal, to move freely in our society.

Speaking at last year's Cinco de Mayo celebration at the White House, President Bush said, "America has thrived as a nation because we've always welcomed newcomers, who in turn embrace our values and our way of life."

Then he added an important caveat: "Those who come here to start new lives in our country have a responsibility to understand what America is about and the responsibility to learn the English language so they can better understand our national character and participate fully in American life."

In 1906, Congress passed and President Theodore Roosevelt signed legislation requiring people seeking to become naturalized citizens to demonstrate oral English proficiency. In 1950, that requirement was strengthened to include reading and writing English.

So why do we have multilingual ballots and bilingual education?

"The one absolute certain way of bringing this nation to ruin," Roosevelt observed, "or preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities. We have but one flag. We must also learn one language, and that language is English."

As we have said, the official-English movement and requirements for speaking English on the job are not anti-immigrant. They are pro-assimilation.

To want people to be able to reap the full benefits of American society is not discrimination. If assimilation is an immigrant's goal, then learning English is not an option.


http://money.cnn.com

WTF.Who does Pelosi thinK she is? The last time I checked majority ruled and the majority of the AMERICAN people said ENGLISH ENGLISH ENGLISH. Someone should tell Nan that she works for us and we want
ENGLISH.

Yep... the Tea Party is LONG over due

Can a majority of senators and rep's veto this move just like they can veto the president?!

How long does Pelosi's appointment stand?

Oh well, like Spitzer, this is another nail in her political coffin. Voters won't forget that she is turning against the English language.