Thread: FOLLOWUP: 'Speak English' isn't so simple

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dl ... 7/-1/CINCI[url]

Sunday, October 16, 2005
'Speak English' isn't so simple
Civil rights panel gets rants; bar gets better business

By Janice Morse
Enquirer staff writer

The Enquirer/Brandi Stafford

E-MAILERS HAVE SAY ON DECISION
G. Michael Payton, executive director of the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, says reaction to the Pleasure Inn case caught him off-guard.

One e-mail the commission received bore the subject line: "May I politely disagree?" That e-mailer went on to say, "While I might agree that the sign doesn't give non-English speaking patrons a warm welcome, I don't feel this incident is significant enough for our government to become involved."

Many other e-mails were less polite, including: "To attempt to deny an American citizen the right to speak their mind in regards to a request to Speak English reveals your fascist tendencies. ... You are a good example as to why this country is turning in to a cesspool of third world scum."

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MASON - In the week since a state agency ruled that a small tavern's "For Service Speak English" sign violated Ohio civil rights law, the agency has experienced an unprecedented backlash - and the bar has enjoyed an influx of new customers.

While the Ohio Civil Rights Commission's executive director says people have misinterpreted the ruling, the owner of the Pleasure Inn says the commission reached an unfair conclusion about his sign.

"People are getting themselves whipsawed into a frenzy over what this case is not about," said G. Michael Payton, the commission's executive director.

"This is not a referendum over English being the predominant language," he said. "It's plainly about a sign in a place of business that has a chilling effect on people who don't speak English. The plain meaning of the sign would chill someone from coming in and using that establishment. It's just a step away from earlier days when signs said, 'No colored people.' "

While some people rationally debate the decision, others launched into hate-filled rants that Payton says reaffirm the reasons why the commission's work is necessary.

"Every citizen in the state of Ohio, no matter what their race, can benefit from a civil rights law sometime in their life," he said. "This case just happens to deal with national origin discrimination. We reasonably believe that (sign) violates the law as provided to us by the General Assembly of the state of Ohio."

But the bar's owner and some customers say they don't understand the fuss.

Pleasure Inn owner Tom Ullum, 63, of Lebanon, said he intends to fight the ruling, which could eventually force him to remove the sign, undergo diversity training or pay for anti-discrimination advertising.

As of Friday, the commission had not received a request to reconsider its Oct. 6 ruling; the deadline for appeal is Wednesday.

The Pleasure Inn, a small yellow brick building with a tattered maroon awning, isn't an attention-getter.

But its yellow sign, perched in a window facing U.S. 42 near Mason-Montgomery Road, stirred controversy that hit talk-show airwaves, newspaper opinion columns and e-mails to the Civil Rights Commission.

Ullum said he has received no complaints about the sign. In fact, he said, the controversy has been good for business.

He said one woman called to say, "We've been in Mason 18 years. We've never been in your bar, but we're coming in to show support."

Ullum said he enjoys verbal jousting with his customers, even if the exchanges might be considered politically incorrect.

One regular, a die-hard Democrat, pasted Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry stickers on the bar wall to get even with Ullum for posting a Republican Bush/Cheney poster.

"I think it's funny when they do that to me," Ullum said.

Ullum said he hasn't discriminated against anyone. He says several Mexicans - who speak broken English - have come into the bar in recent months without incident.

"I think the sign's great," said patron David Joslyn, 67, as he sat at the bar Thursday afternoon. "They ought to speak English. This is America, ain't it?"

Payton, the state commission's director, says such comments miss the point: that the commission considers the sign "a form of national origin discrimination."

Payton said he agrees immigrant groups need to learn English to prosper.

"We're not saying he has to speak Spanish," Payton said.

Given that most Americans trace their lineage to overseas nations, "How would they feel if upon arriving in this country, their ancestors were met with a sign that said, 'Unless you speak English, we won't serve you here'? That would be the question I would leave them with - and that is what this case is about."

Payton also said the case is not about Ullum's First Amendment right to post a sign.

"This is not political speech. It's commercial speech," Payton said, and commercial speech is subject to regulation.

Payton points out that it was President Bush who reauthorized an executive order first issued by President Clinton, stating that all government entities that receive federal money must provide language accessibility to the limited-English population.

Ohio law says all people, regardless of national origin, should be allowed to enjoy public accommodations such as a tavern, Payton said, adding, "It wouldn't take too many interpretive skills to figure out whether someone wants a cheeseburger or a Bud Light. ... It's wrong to say that, if you want to walk in this place, you must speak English."

Payton said he welcomes discussion on the issue, but is concerned about racist and hate-filled comments that appeared in some of the 60 or more e-mails his office received.

"Rational dialog in the marketplace of ideas is as American as anything," he said. "It's one thing to reasonably disagree with us. But it's another thing to be racist and say some of the vile things that have been said as a consequence of us rendering our opinion. It reminds us why we have an agency like this and reminds us why the work we do is needed very, very sorely."

Peter Bronson contributed.

I forgot his email address: paytonm@ocrc.state.oh.us

Payton has placed his hand on the 3rd rail. He is now being educated on the power of these issues. As usual, some people were stupid enough to send him some ammo in their e-mails and THAT IS WHAT HE HAS FOCUSED ON.

Notice how every good American's opinion about this gets thrown out the window and they always bring up racism and racist.

Same Song.

W

Payton is not correct. The sign does not say that non english speaking persons are not allowed...as the 'no colored' signs once said. It simply says that English is the only language the proprietor speaks and therefore it can be assumed that if you want service you'll have to tell him in english. I see no problem with that. Unfortunately Payton himself has turned this into a 'rascist' issue.

This is exactly why we need government, government and MORE government. We don't have the common sense to run our own establishments without the government breathing over our shoulders.

RR

added to the homepage

http://www.alipac.us/article-817-thread-1-0.html

We are about to notify our national list so they can spread the word and send Mr. Payton some e-mail feedback too!

W

But it's another thing to be racist and say some of the vile things that have been said as a consequence of us rendering our opinion.

What the commission isn't an opinion, it is a legal charge and there are monitary and forced training involved.

Why don't they make it fair? If the tavern owner and employees need to take "diversity trainging" then all the non-english speaking people should be forced to speak english.

The ads in the job sections for bilinguals only offend me. Will these "civil rights" groups stand behind me if I want to complain about that?

I think he was right and just for placing that sign. He probably was tired of trying to understand what the non-english speakers were saying.

Below is my email to Mr. Payton:

I really resent your describing English as the "predominate language". There is nothing PREDOMINATE about it. IT IS the language of our country. Enough is enough. The owner of that bar has every right to require that English be spoken. This is not a government property so he should not be forced to accomodate someone who is in our country and refuses to learn our language.

Have you ever stopped to think about just the COST of posting every sign in Spanish, having every telephone service provided in Spanish? Requiring TEACHERS learn SPANISH?? I cannot, for the life of me, understand where you come off thinking that AMERICANS should have ANY OTHER LANGUAGE crammed down our collective throats. In case you've forgotten, this IS a free country. If you want to speak Spanish, go to Mexico or to some other Spanish-speaking country and indulge yourself.