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June 8, 2006
This Post Is In English, Dammit!
The best bit:
Indeed, when I think of the need for English literacy tests for immigrants, I remember my maternal grandfather, Nicola Guida, who showed up at Ellis Island (what a polyglot slum that was!) in 1913 and then proceeded to waste most of his time working manual labor jobs like quarrying rock and digging basements by hand and raising four children, rather than taking the time to learn English, the ingrate. It’s one of the great pities of my life that, because I speak no Italian (other than what I picked up via the Godfather movies) and he spoke no English (other than what he picked up via Gunsmoke), I was never able to communicate effectively to him just how un-American he was.I take some solace in the fact that, even if Congress passes no law to force English on immigrants, plenty of third-generation Mexicans will find it equally tough to talk with their grandparents. As the Pew Hispanic Center documents, about 80 percent of third-generation Latinos in the United States speak English as their dominant language—and exactly 0 percent speak Spanish as their dominant language.
The rest are considered bilingual, which means they’ll be able to tell their elders in their native tongue to learn English or get the hell out of the Land of Opportunity.
Posted by Eric at June 8, 2006 9:53 AM
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Comments
¡Ay caramba! ¡Díganos lo que usted piensa realmente!
Posted by: K at June 8, 2006 6:58 PM
And that's just the half of it.
By really destroying opportunity, letting the children of the entrenched power elites have it all as their birthright, we reduce the impetus that these non-English-speaking furriners have to come in the first place!
I can't believe they'd punish someone who makes a billion dollars with taxes. Let taxes be paid by those whom the impartial market has declared worthless.
Posted by: JS Narins at June 10, 2006 10:19 PM