"Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
Talk about something that just had to be said!
The Texas legislature was considering a bill to crack down on illegal immigration. An activist named Antonin Aguirre was testifying on behalf of something called the "Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition."
As he started to speak through a Spanish interpreter, he mentioned that he has been in America "since 1988."
That prompted Senator Chris Harris to ask him, "Then why aren't you speaking in English?"
In my practice as a trial lawyer, I often have clients with English as their second language who are more comfortable giving depositions in their first language. Since it is their own business they are dealing with, I don't mind hiring them an interpreter, even when I can understand their broken English. It's their case.
This is entirely different. This is America's business. I think Senator Harris is right that it is insulting to have this guy preach American immigration policy to us in the tongue of the people who in greatest number violate our immigration laws.
While Aguirre was there to talk about the importance of family (I suppose he means his over mine), he might do better to understand that immigration policy is about preserving culture as much as anything else, and he isn't assimilating into it, he's resisting it.
- Comment (21)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (4)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments :
Jul '10
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
One reason Texans are doing so well politically and economically is they don't appear to suffer fools or political correctness quite like the rest of the country.
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
Not only did that guy's speaking Spanish make his case presumably against tighter immigration laws look really bad, but I agree w/Sen. Harris -- it was totally insulting that he'd speak Spanish when he claims to have known English.
Mar '11
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
At least for now. But once the children of all these illegal immigrants reach voting age...
Jan '11
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
Why must it be so difficult for people to come here and stay here legally? I, for one, would like to see this change along with some of the xenophobic attitudes which are held.
May '11
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
Good for Senator Harris. That this gentleman insisted on speaking Spanish in the Texas legislature makes me think he's a bit of a reconquistador.
May '10
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
Activist Aguirre is a cultural chauvinist - he demands accommodation for his nationalism while offering nothing to accommodate his host.
This is the unspoken truth of the immigration problem - immigrants willing to come here for the advantages but unwilling to become assimilated - no matter how long they are here or how well they learn the language - and an elite opinion that holds assimilation isn't important or is somehow oppressive - an illegitimate demand from an illegitimate nation.
I'm not big on passing laws as a solution to every problem but this guy piques my inner xenophobe. In this case I would favor an English only policy in public discourse.
I don't care if Aquirre is enamored of his heritage. I just want our public officials and institutions to defend ours.
Dec '10
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
Yes, annexing big portions of Mexico into one or more new US states will surely have no negative impacts on our population or economy. We so need a rolleyes smiley in this place.
I've said before that immigration should be easier and cheaper than it is now, but for the most part, these folks who walk north from Mexico never even attempt to do it the legal way.
They just show up and later on demand to be made citizens. They want the payoff without any effort on their part at all, and it's BS.
Immigration should not be as difficult as it is now, but rewarding that kind of lethargy of mind is not going to have any positive effect.
Mexico has a lot of problems, 99.7% of which were caused by . . . . wait for it . . . Mexicans.
Those folks aren't going to operate any differently just because they've crossed into Texas or Arizona, so they bring that disfunction along with them.
I'm all for immigration, for people who want to be Americans, but transplanting a large population of poor people with no intention of assimilation into any US state is going to have a negative effect.
Recognizing this fact does not make me a xenophobe. It makes me in touch with reality.
Edited on Jun 17, 2011 at 10:53amMar '11
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
My mother, an alumna of Camp Auschwitz, was a teenage orphan when she first set eyes on Lady Liberty. She attended night school to learn English and, though still self conscious about her (very slight) accent, proudly speaks the language of her goldene medinah.
Jul '10
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
Why is it so difficult for people who come Here to assimilate American culture?
If immigrants want to retain their culture there's a place for that: the country from which they fled.
May '10
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
CoolHand, your post is excellent. Very well said, and I could not agree more. As I see it, the facts that you state demolish the arguments coming from the other side. Is it naive of me to wonder why our politicians don't just talk straight like that?
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
Jimmy Carter: Why is it so difficult for people who come Here to assimilate American culture?
If immigrants want to retain their culture there's a place for that: the country from which they fled. · Jun 17 at 10:51am
My mother was a Mexican immigrant who overstayed her tourist visa, took a job as a nanny, went to community college to learn English, benefited from the Reagan amnesty, married an American, had three American children, became a citizen, and has voted Republican in every election since 1997. Her current pick for president is Sarah Palin.
All that to say, the stereotypes of the Mexican who refuses to assimilate really rub me the wrong way. Granted, there are plenty of palookas who do fit the stereotype (like the obnoxious guy in the video who refuses to speak English), but so long as we're talking about "My mother who came from [non-Mexico country X] and learned English...", I figure my anecdote is just as valid.
Jul '10
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Jimmy Carter: Why is it so difficult for people who come Here to assimilate American culture?
If immigrants want to retain their culture there's a place for that: the country from which they fled. · Jun 17 at 10:51am
My mother was a Mexican immigrant who overstayed her tourist visa, took a job as a nanny, went to community college to learn English, benefited from the Reagan amnesty, married an American,
Diane, might I suggest that the key here is "married an American"? She had her choice, then, to assimilate to your father's culture of American exceptionalism or to cocoon herself within her native "community".
Too many immigrants make the latter choice. And too many, like the guy in the video, absorb the culture of victimhood and entitlement.
Dec '10
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
Diane Ellis, Ed.
the stereotypes of the Mexican who refuses to assimilate really rub me the wrong way.
It's not a stereotype, it's a demonstrable fact. Go look at LA, or El Paso, or any number of other cities with large latino contingents.
Your mother assimilated. She embraced America and what it means to be American.
Why you would take offense (on your mother's behalf) when people complain about non-assimilating immigrants is beyond me.
Sure, she came illegally, but Reagan gave her amnesty, so the slate is clean.
I dunno, but it seems silly to take umbrage at pointing out the obvious, especially when the person you feel offended for took the path I'm advocating.
Put it another way. I'm not so much angry about the breaking the immigration law part (I mean, I can see why they want to get away from Mexico by any means available), but rather what they do to the new place they land in.
It'd be one thing if those folks would cast aside their old ways and become Americans, but for many, they instead bring the worse parts of Mexico here with them.
Mar '11
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
CoolHand
Why you would take offense (on your mother's behalf) when people complain about non-assimilating immigrants is beyond me.
I may be wrong here, but I think the reason is because people tend to use this stereotype for all Mexican/Hispanic immigrants. Believe me, that's not the kind of thing you want coloring people's first impression of you. Certainly not something you want people you care about to be mistaken for.
I think her offense is justified.
Edited on Jun 17, 2011 at 3:36pmDec '10
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
Abdiel
I may be wrong here, but I think the reason is because people tend to use this stereotype for all Mexican/Hispanic immigrants. Believe me, that's not the kind of thing you want coloring people's first impression of you. Certainly not something you want people you care about to be mistaken for.
I think her offense is justified. · Jun 17 at 3:34pm
Edited on Jun 17 at 03:36 pm
So your solution to this would be what? Say nothing about bad Mexican immigrants because the good ones might get lumped in with them?
How about she set people straight when/if someone actually insults her mother? That would have the two fold effect of defending her mother's honor while simultaneously educating the person about there being more than one kind of Mexican immigrant.
The solution to offensive speech is not to stifle speech, but MORE speech.
If we are ever going to succeed in reducing the size of government, we are all going to have to give up our reflexive tendencies toward trying to limit what other people do, and instead focus on the things we can control (IE our own actions and reactions).
May '10
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
See, this is why we are in the pickle we are in. We cannot have honest, in-depth conversations about immigration. Someone makes a valid argument about assimilation as CoolHand did when he said:
...and people around him cry, "anti-Hispanic!" Let's get real.
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
I'm not offended at anything anyone said. I was simply responding to Jimmy Carter's question ("Why is it so hard for immigrants to assimilate?"). The answer is that it really isn't difficult. People do it all the time. My mother is not the exceptional case.
Regarding assimilation, I'd add that it's more difficult to do the older the immigrant is. My grandparents recently moved to California from Mexico. They'll never learn English...it's just too difficult to acquire a new language when you're 80. They'll also never feel like this is their homeland, and they certainly won't pursue citizenship (though they do have legal status). Most of their children who live in the States are fluent in English, except for a couple of my uncles who came well into their 40s and are having a really hard time learning the language. But the children (my cousins) all speak English, without exception. I really can't imagine that this is a very different situation from most Mexican immigrants.
Mar '11
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
CoolHand
So your solution to this would be what?
Hmm. Perhaps bringing up certain people who are the exception to what you describe? Which does nothing to stop people from discussing illegal immigration, concerned citizen ;).
Btw, I never said anything about anyone being anti-hispanic. In fact, I think if you knew me better you'd think I was anti-hispanic.
Edited on Jun 17, 2011 at 6:01pmDec '10
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
This is right on the money. I did mistakenly think you were talking about my post though, otherwise I wouldn't have said anything about your mother at all. Sorry to take the post so close to home.
The deal with the very old never assimilating is spot on too, but in general, folks that immigrate at that age are following their younger relatives, so there is a support structure already in place for them when they land (IE the .gov doesn't need to be that support structure).
It just irks me that when I go to Mexico, France, Spain, etc, I am expected to adapt to their culture, but when some of those folks come here, they expect us to adapt our country to their culture.
Jan '11
Re: "Why Aren't You Speaking In English?"
CoolHand
Yes, annexing big portions of Mexico into one or more new US states will surely have no negative impacts on our population or economy.
People are a resource! Not only that negative impact, but it would be like the Louisiana Purchase without the purchase. That turned out disastrous, didn't it?
CoolHand
...but for the most part, these folks who walk north from Mexico never even attempt to do it the legal way...They just show up and later on demand to be made citizens. They want the payoff without any effort on their part at all, and it's BS.
Explain to me the steps involved in the legal way? They probably look a lot like this, for the most part, to the rare few who do attempt to do it the legal way. I am glad that you're willing to make exceptions for elderly relatives of people who contribute to Ricochet, though.