By MIKE JONES Associate Editor on Jan 26, 2012, at 2:36 PM Updated on 1/26 at 2:36 PM
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The English as the country’s official language issue has popped up again in this political season.
Republican presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney both have taken tough stands on making English the official language. And they so far have stuck to their guns, even in Florida with its large Hispanic community.
On the other hand, both candidates, who also have called for ballots to be printed in English only, have campaigned with the aid of the Spanish language. Gingrich has issued Florida press releases in Spanish and Romney has run some Spanish-language ads. Hypocrisy, anyone?
Gingrich, however, can justify anything, even his merry-go-round married life. “I think campaigning, historically, you've always been willing to go to people on their terms and in their culture, whether it is Greek Independence Day or something you did for the Irish on St. Patrick's Day,” he said.
Yeah, there’s no need to speak “Irish” when they ought to learn our language.
The fact is, English is important for immigrants to learn. If I moved to China, I certainly would find living there much easier if I learned to speak Mandarin. Historically, immigrants have learned the language and assimilated by at least the second generation.
But expecting every immigrant to somehow magically learn to speak English over night is silly. English-only advocates insist that Hispanics learn our language but then try to deny any classes on English as a second language in the schools. Are Hispanics supposed to lock themselves in their homes and somehow teach themselves English?
Here’s a challenge. Find a language you can’t speak, maybe Spanish, and teach yourself to speak it in your own home. Get back to me in a couple of weeks and let me know how that’s going.
The bottom line is, passing laws to disallow another language is dangerous. This country is still a metling pot and its minority community is growing. Go ahead, make English the “offilcial” (which it already is without any laws). Now, maybe in 30 years or so, when most of those pushing for the law will be gone, someone will decide it’s time to make Spanish the official language.
Do unto others remains a pretty good rule to live by. Too bad it’s ignored so often.
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