Thread: Balkanization and Spanish can be fun

and if you don't agree then it's "racismo" (Bleeding Heart Liberal Rainbow Dream Land)


Posted on Thu, May. 10, 2007email thisprint this
Plenty of room for more than one language
By Bob Ray Sanders

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentin ... 205617.htm

McClatchy Newspapers

(MCT)

I'm almost sure that the first three Spanish words I learned were "uno, dos, tres."

That was one of the first lessons in the language that Fort Worth elementary school students were taught as early as fourth and fifth grade way back in the ancient days of public education.

Of course, I was taught three or four other Spanish words around that time - mostly by a young Latino friend who lived nearby - but I couldn't print them (in English or Spanish) in this newspaper.

Although I'm a very poor Spanish-speaker, I've always adored the language. I've long felt that it should be taught in our schools and that in Texas we should all be bilingual.

That is one reason we enrolled our then-3-year-old son in a school that was able to teach him what I didn't begin to learn until I was 10 or 11. And even then, although my son studied Spanish for his entire school career, he never mastered it because he rarely used it outside of class.

I regret that for him, and I regret having not concentrated more on my conversational skills in a language that is used more and more in this state. You really can go only so far with "Hola, Isabel! Como esta usted?"

Nowadays it seems that many people consider all Spanish words dirty, and the very thought of Texans being bilingual is a profane notion. There is a visceral reaction to the thought of Hispanic immigrants living next door, going to our public schools or even shopping at the local grocery.

It is all part of the growing anti-immigration movement in this country, and the issue is beginning to split communities nationwide.

In one North Central Texas town, where local politicians have staked their careers on being against illegal immigrants, the divisive debate will come to a head when voters go to the polls Saturday to decide whether landlords can rent to undocumented immigrants.

Farmers Branch, a Dallas suburb of about 28,000, increased its Hispanic population from 5 percent in 1970 to 37.2 percent in 2000. The presence of so many brown people in the city has some residents worried and some leaders claiming that illegal immigrants have lowered property values, hurt the education system and increased the crime rate.

I haven't seen evidence that any of those claims are true, but agitation by one City Council member got the town's people in such a frenzy that they not only wanted to make it a crime to rent to illegal immigrants but also adopted a city ordinance to make English the official language.

For the life of me, I can't figure out what makes Spanish so scary to some people. Or why bilingual education in our public schools is resisted so much.

Sure, people should learn to speak English for their own sakes, but that doesn't mean that they should never speak in their native tongues. They should not have to give up their culture or customs or language as they pursue the American dream.

The immigration debate will be with us for a long time, for we are nowhere close to solving the issue. And as it continues, I'm afraid there will be a further divide between those who would like to close our borders completely and those who continue to come to this country to seek opportunity for themselves and their children.

The wounds from the battle in Farmers Branch, which is even evident in the city's schools now, will not heal soon. And the adults of that community ought to be ashamed for allowing their prejudices to taint the hearts of their children.

You see, prejudice, bigotry and racism are not innate. They are learned.

We are a better nation than this.

Can't we at least begin to reason together and continue to build a nation that is big enough, strong enough and tolerant enough to hold all of us, regardless of our racial and ethnic backgrounds or national origin?

I believe the answer is: Si se puede - yes, we can.

And how,bob ray sanders, do we build a strong nation for all people if we don't enforce our laws?
Notice he doesn't have any solutions, just liberal use of the words bigot and racism.

I have a reply for him in spanish but don't think I could get away with it on here.

The presence of so many brown people in the city has some residents worried and some leaders claiming that illegal immigrants have lowered property values, hurt the education system and increased the crime rate.

What a short sighted way of thinking!
The presence of brown people is NOT the issue! The presence of brown people who may not be LEGAL is the issue!
The illegal population brings with it many social concerns such as crime, disease, diminished wages, driving without proper licence and insurance, exploitation of social services, school overcrowding and the threat of terrorism!
I don't care if they are brown or neon purple, if they have broken our laws and accessed our country without permission they are a danger and a drain on our economy. Don't expect sympathy for them from the citizens who have worked hard in that town and built homes. They have a right to look out for their community!

Bob Ray
In the month of May
Why don't you just go away.

How our we going to have a nation if ever one speaks a deference language, and we can not communicate to each other. If we do not have a common bond how can We strive for a better country. We all need the same goals and the same wants for are people any thing else will destroy us. If we are pitted against each other we all loose. Only a citizen of a country have the right to determine it fate speaking in one language

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American ... There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag ... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language ... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

-Theodore Roosevelt 1907