1 of 1- Goose
- Cogito ergo sum
Offline 
- Registered: 1/29/2015
- Posts: 13,427
English isn't the official language of the United States
(CNN)
Aaron Schlossberg, a lawyer in New York, was the subject of a viral video last week after he was caught on camera berating staff members of a restaurant for speaking Spanish with customers.
It might be news to him that nothing in the Constitution or any federal law supports his comment that "they should
be speaking English" because "this is America."
A lot of multilingual countries promote an official language, but the United States has never done so with English. In fact, the US has no official language."The Founding Fathers didn't see a need to declare one," Dr. Wayne Wright, a professor of language and literacy at Purdue University, told CNN.
"English was pretty much the dominant language of the United States at the time so there really wasn't a need to protect it. And they didn't want to offend their fellow Americans who helped fight for independence."
People in this country have been speaking languages other than English since before the founding of the republic.In fact, common languages spoken throughout the 13 colonies included Dutch, French and German, not to mention the many languages spoken by Native Americans.Still, trying to force people in the US to speak English is not new.
Enslaved Africans were forbidden from using their native languages (and at the same time forbidden from learning how to read and write English) because slaveowners feared they would incite rebellions.
Native American children were forced to attend boarding schools where they were punished for speaking their own languages. And many Japanese schools started by immigrants in Hawaii were forced to shut down during World War II.
"The sad thing about debates about language is that they're rarely about language itself, but the people who happen to speak those languages," said Wright.
That's also evident in the case of the New York lawyer who threatened to call US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on the restaurant workers.
"My guess is they're not documented," Schlossberg said of the employees. "So my next call is to ICE to have each one of them kicked out of my country."
By threatening to call ICE, he equated speaking Spanish with illegal immigration, said Wright.
Last edited by Goose (5/21/2018 6:45 am)
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- Just Fred
- Duke of Cortona
Offline
- Registered: 1/29/2015
- Posts: 3,863
Re: English isn't the official language of the United States
I'm surprised Trump hasn't already contacted this yahoo about joining his 'legal team'.
- Just Fred
- Duke of Cortona
Offline
- Registered: 1/29/2015
- Posts: 3,863
Re: English isn't the official language of the United States
Ok, let's throw this one into the mix:
Two U.S. citizens at a northern Montana gas station were questioned by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer for speaking Spanish.
Ana Suda told multiple news outlets she and her friend Mimi Hernandez were about pay for eggs and milk at a convenience store gas station on Wednesday in Havre, Mont., about 35 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border, when a Border Patrol officer asked for her identification. Suda recorded the encounter, where the agent says the two were brought outside for questioning because they were "speaking Spanish in the store, in a state where it’s predominantly English-speaking.”
Last edited by Just Fred (5/21/2018 10:46 am)
- Goose
- Cogito ergo sum
Offline
- Registered: 1/29/2015
- Posts: 13,427
Re: English isn't the official language of the United States
When Suda asked the agent (In English) whether he was racially profiling her, he said he wasn't.
"It has nothing to do with that," the agent said. "It's the fact that it has to do with you guys speaking Spanish in the store in a state where it's predominently English-speaking."
So, if you are bilingual, you must be an illegal. After all, no real American is smart enough to speak more than one language?
Last edited by Goose (5/21/2018 11:23 am)
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.
- •
Thread Starter- Just Fred
- Duke of Cortona
Offline
- Registered: 1/29/2015
- Posts: 3,863
Re: English isn't the official language of the United States
....no real American is smart enough to speak more than one language?
Well, I guess that leaves Melania Trump on the outside looking in.
- Rongone
- Sentient Being
Offline
- From: Keeping Calm, Sailing On
- Registered: 1/31/2015
- Posts: 2,872
Re: English isn't the official language of the United States
Based on our experiences (myself, my wife, and my two daughters) living and working outside the U.S., just being able to speak and understand the basics of the language of the country you are in leads to more cooperation. Cooperation and understanding are essential for collaborative interaction of different cultures. If you expect everyone in the U.S. to speak English, then you must learn French before going to France . .
. And so on and so on. Anerican’s ignorance about other cultures and our expectations that other people speak English to us is nuts and displays nothing but arrogance. Schlossberg needs to be airdropped into the middle of Saudi Arabia and be forced to ask for directions. What a schlubb.