WASHINGTON ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ American civilization eventually will collapse if government doesn’t do a better job assimilating immigrants into society, possible GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Wednesday as he urged Congress to enshrine English as the nation’s official language. The former House speaker said political correctness and multiculturalism are clouding the debate about language….”If you are pro-immigration to America, you should be pro-assimilation into English as the common language because in fact your children and grandchildren will have a dramatically better future if they are part of the common commercial civilization,” Gingrich said.
I don’t completely disagree with former DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener extraordinaire and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. I believe that assimilation, when done willingly, is a good thing. For anyone to have any chance at all of being successful in America, assimilation is almost a prerequisite. The problem I have with Gingrich and what he’s proposing is that when you legislate English-only for government agencies, you are putting up a barrier to those immigrants who have not yet learned English. I would agree that we should be doing everything within our power to assist immigrants with learning English. We all benefit when newcomers can converse and conduct business in our native tongue. Assimilation is, generally speaking, a good thing…but is legislating that a good thing, or does it serve to appease those bigots and xenophobes who miss the days of “Whites Only” bathrooms and water fountains?
If Gingrich and those who think like him are so concerned about assimilation then why not take the money that would go into enforcing “English-only” laws and use it to create opportunities for immigrants to learn English? Why not assist them in learning how to communicate in their new homeland, instead of putting up barriers that send a message of exclusion and separation? Shouldn’t we be making it as easy as possible for newcomers to succeed? Doesn’t their success ultimately benefit all Americans?
If we are to be a nation that values its immigrant heritage, why would we want to be erecting barriers against those who come looking for opportunity and freedom, much as our own forefathers did?
Congress should shift funding for bilingual education to English immersion programs for students, Gingrich recommended, saying bilingual education has trapped people in what he termed linguistic ghettos.
Bilingual education may not be the most effective solution available. If it’s bilingualism that aims to transition students into English-only education, I can’t see how that’s a bad idea. No educator wants to turn a child loose on this country who speaks no English. Gingrich’s simplistic summation assumes that absolutely no effort is made to assist students in assimilating by learning English. It’s an overly simplistic point of view that plays well to Right-wing xenophobes, whose support he’s going to need if he does indeed run for President in 2008.
John Trasviña, president of the , said official-English laws foster unofficial discrimination against immigrants.
Such laws “don’t provide one more book or one more teacher to learn English,” he said.
But they certainly do make those who hate Brown People feel as if they’re protecting Our Way of Life © . This is America, damnit! We speak English here…and if you can’t, you can just damn well go back to Mexico or Guatemala, or whatever Third World hellhole you came here from!
Official-English legislation has fallen short in Congress through the years amid complaints they are racist, discriminatory and would deprive people of access to health care and other basic government programs.
Uh…maybe that’s because they would?? Or perhaps that’s the point of legislating English-only? It’s a simplistic idea that sounds good in a speech or a sound bite, but the reality of it is too often racist, exclusionary, and directed at Brown People, who by now should understand that once we pay them to mow our lawns, they should just shut up and go away.
Now, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, are poised to introduce official-English bills, said ProEnglish executive director K.C. McAlpin, who grew up in Houston.
And doesn’t it just figure that two of the biggest Right-wing xenophobes in the Senate are behind this effort?
“We hope that the new Congress and the president will listen to the American people,” McAlpin said.
A recent Zogby International poll commissioned by ProEnglish found that 92 percent of Americans agree that preserving English as the common language is important to national unity, McAlpin said. Just a quarter of respondents said the federal government is doing enough to protect English as the “common, unifying” language of the United States.
Of course English is important. It’s the language the vast majority of us communicate and do business in. The poll question is as meaningless as it is inflammatory. No reasonable person is going to disagree with the assertion that being able to speak and communicate in English is a good thing. The problem, though, is that when you sponsor legislation that limits government to English-only transactions you are creating a de facto underclass. All that will accomplish is creating second-class citizens, shut off from the government services they need to assimilate and become a productive member of society.
Then again, I suppose someone is going to have to mow our lawns and pick up our garbage, eh??
