Letter to the Editor from Local Paper

T

The Cooler King

Godfather
Here is a letter to the editor that appeared in my local paper today. I thought I'd share it with you guys. I couldn't have said it better myself.

Editor,

This letter is in response to our national anthem ("The Star-Spangled Banner") being written in Spanish. This is appalling. I can't believe this was allowed to be done. Our ancestors came to this country from many different countries and they did not rewrite our anthem in their languages. They were proud to be here and worked very hard to survive; there were no access cards for them. Illegal immigrants should not have any rights in the good old U.S.A. As for their protest on Monday, May 1:
  • Not going to work for an illegal excuse should have them terminated.
  • Why would they spend money? It's called an "Access Card!"
  • Marching in the streets is disturbing and disrupting the peace.
Well, at least this will be one day we will be able to leave our home and be safe. The Hispanics that are in our country are trying to turn it into the country they came from. If they love their country so much, then why are they here? My father died for his country in World War II. I love my country and I do not want my national anthem in any language but English. After all, this is the United States of America - but I'm sure the Hispanics will want to change that name too.
 
Samuel Huntington, anyone?

I recommend reading his "Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity". I haven't been able to find an unbiased review for you to read.
 
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Well if Huntington says so..... I have adjusted my opinion about his other book, so I am more weary to say he is incorrect.

But regarding the anthem. Hispanics must realize that the American love to speak english just as much as they do Spanish. Only they have moved to an English-speaking country, so it 's up to them to change!
 
Ted said:
But regarding the anthem. Hispanics must realize that the American love to speak english just as much as they do Spanish. Only they have moved to an English-speaking country, so it 's up to them to change!
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You'd be hard pressed to find a majority of Americans that "love to speak Spanish." Not that the language isn't as good as the rest of the romance languages, but when it is forced on you as it has been on us, it is kind of a turn off.

It used to be that you had to have some command of the English language before you were allowed citizenship, now even that is lax thanks in part to the Clinton administration. You can now take the citizenship test in Spanish. And all of those history questions that used to be on it? No more.

I believe everyone should have a second language, but I don't think it should have to be Spanish. Americans are being denied some jobs now because Spanish is a requirement and this shouldn't be the case when dealing with domestic customers.

It has become my principle not to address anyone within the borders of the United States who addresses me in a foreign language without first trying English. The arrogance in that is enough to turn me off. It is akin to some of the "Ugly Americans" visiting a foreign country and not bothering to take the time to learn at least basic greetings, phrases and questions. I have found that in ANY language, learning "Hello," "please," "thank you," etc is pretty easy to do.

These people are doing nothing but alienating themselves from the American people. They can call us racist, mean, et al, but the fact remains: this is OUR country, OUR rules. They have no right to come here and attempt to assimilate us, disrespect our way of life, our history and culture and then tell us we're wrong.

What we need to do is officially declare English the official language of the United States. It already is, so there is no reason not to have it on paper. We also need to bring back the old requirements for citizenship. If you don't have basic knowledge of the English language (enough to continue to build upon on your own or through instruction), you can't take the test. The test also needs to be revamped and it needs to include the questions of old.

I am afraid we are victims of our own complacency.
If anyone is interested, read: Americans No More: The Death of Citizenship by Georgie Anne Geyer.

 
The Italians came here, they learned English.
The Germans came here, they learned English.
The Polish came here, they learned English.
The Japanese came here, they learned English.
The Dutch came here, they learned English.
The Chinese came here, they learned English.
Why can't the Hispanics?
 
The Cooler King said:
The Italians came here, they learned English.
The Germans came here, they learned English.
The Polish came here, they learned English.
The Japanese came here, they learned English.
The Dutch came here, they learned English.
The Chinese came here, they learned English.
Why can't the Hispanics?
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i like that. i like that a lot.:cheers:
 
Italian Guy said:
Because they're maaaany more people than those were.
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Not true. Way back when, most of the United States immigrants were from Europe. If you could find statistics on it, for the past 100 years, I'll bet Europeans outnumber Mexicans in immigration to the US. Funny thing about that? Most of them did it legally.
 
PJ24 said:
Not true. Way back when, most of the United States immigrants were from Europe. If you could find statistics on it, for the past 100 years, I'll bet Europeans outnumber Mexicans in immigration to the US. Funny thing about that? Most of them did it legally.
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I unfortunately think my point is still valid: We're talking languagewise. Europeans as a whole may outnumber Hispanics but they never spoke the same language. If they had, they would have probably weakened the predominance of English. I believe you see what I mean.
 
The Cooler King said:
The numbers aren't even close IG.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0029/tab02.html
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I know. But Europeans have never spoken the same language hence they could have never exerted a pressure comparable to today's Hispanics'.
Can you guys be sure that the predominance of the English language in the United states would not have been threatened if there had been such a thing as a "European" language?
Europeans have always come from small countries (when compared to the continental areas), and each one of their countries of origin had its own language.
 
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They must have exerted some type of pressure since this sentence I am typing right now is in English. Now, let me throw a few numbers at you...

According to the most recent Census in 2000, 47 million people 5 years and older spoke a language other than English. That is up from the 31.8 million in 1990. Of those 47 million, 59.9 percent spoke Spanish (up from 54.5 percent in 1990). That is 28,153,000 people, about 10% of the United State's total population of 281,421,906. That is a whole lotta people. That's roughly 3.5 times the population of our most populated city, New York. And all of these numbers are from 2000. I am quite positive that the numbers have gone up in the past six years.
 
English was already THE ONLY language in America when Irish, Dutch, German, Swedish, Italian, French, Greek, Jewish, Polish immigrants started to flow in.
They could not change that as each of those groups spoke a language of its own.
Anywyas we do agree that this issue is going to grow and that the US will have to adopt a clear-cut policy to deal with it.
 
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