Should We All Speak English?

The other day I was thinking about the number of Latinos who live in my community who do not speak English. This got me to thinking about other immigrants who have settled in this country over the last 100 or so years. Within the span of a generation the children of these immigrants were speaking English. There were no accommodations made. It was fish or cut bait.  Latinos now make up over 14% of the population, but how many of them are succeeding without knowing English? None of my research turned up an answer to this question but if I were to guess I would say very few. I would also guess that a large number of Latinos don’t speak English since just about everything is now in English and Spanish. I think they are the first group of immigrants that have not been required to fish or cut bait. Is there a reason for this? Is it the same reason that slaves were not allowed to read and write?

It was against the law in slave owning states to teach blacks to read and write for fear they would get ideas dangerous to the status quo.  The fear was so great that even after the end of slavery, blacks, who lived in the south and some border states, were poorly educated and required to attend segregated schools. It took 101 years after the Emancipation Proclamation for the Supreme Court to rule that separate schools were not equal. It took another 10 years for the passage of the Civil Rights Act.  African Americans have always known of the connection between quality of education on the one hand and second class status on the other. My parents and their parents knew this.  No liberals were patting them on the head saying there was an easier, softer way.   Of course, learning to speak correctly was one of the prerequisite to getting ahead.  If you doubt this, just ask Barack Obama.   Today, in spite of these gains, children of color, including Latinos, are once again segregated in the poorest performing schools with the highest drop out rate. They don't have books, pencils, and in some cases toilet paper. If they are fortunate enough to have a good teacher, that teacher is usually new, poorly paid, and the first to be laid off due to budget cuts.  I believe these conditions are by design because schools are again separate and unequal.  Keeping the status quo intact has been achieved.

Only recently have many Latin Americans countries, including Puerto Rico, required their citizens be educated.  Since mostly the poorest individuals have migrated to the United States, many Latinos do not know how to read or write well in their own language.  In this respect they are no different from the poor Irish or Italians who settled here.  However, unlike these other groups, Latinos have been told there is an easier, softer way.  They are accommodated.

Latino immigrants usually started off in menial jobs.   Years later their children are still in menial jobs.   I am reminded of a conversation I had a couple of months ago with a bright young 22 year old woman from the Dominican Republic. She had come to this country when she was 15 years old. She graduated from the local high school and she learned English; however her grammar was so bad my ears were hurting. She was working as a home health aide and most of her life was spent in a Latino community where she spoke only Spanish.  I asked her what she intended to do in the future. She said she hoped to continue as a home health aide.   I felt sad for her because she had no higher ambition.   This is one of the unintended consequences of accommodation.  So why have Latinos been accommodated?   I firmly believe it is to keep them picking the fruit, working for minimum wages, mopping the floors, and cleaning the toilets.   As for the young home health aide, she needs only to know enough English to get by which is not enough to get ahead.

Last night I attended a meeting with a number of Latinos. The group discussed the fact that our city was trying to pass an ordinance requiring all taxi cab drivers be able to read, write, and speak English. People were up in arms since so many of the drivers don’t know the language. In all the years I rode in cabs, I don’t remember needing the driver to read or write but it certainly helped that we could talk to each other.  I was probably only one of two people in the room who thought such an ordinance might not be a bad idea.  Of course, I was too much of a coward to share this with the group. Somehow, I got the feeling that what I thought would not go over very well.  I think accommodation is now part of the politically correct lexicon. Today I did share my concern about cab drivers with a young African American who lives in a nearby city. He informed me that there is a section of his city where the police ticket illegally parked cars which are driven mainly by Latinos who cannot read the parking signs. Thinking about this made me realize that it would be helpful for cabbies to be able to read signs. I decided to find out if an individual can get a driver's license without being able to read English.  I was surprised when I learned that Massachusetts offers the written test in over 25 languages. Massachusetts also offers an audio test in Spanish.  I guess when it comes to fees and fines, accommodation does have its advantages.  I just hope that everyone at least understands "do not" and “stop” when they are behind the wheel.

I think it is somewhat ironic that now that Latinos have political power, they will vote for politicians who encourage them to use it against themselves.  Rather than bite that bullet and learn English they have used their power to help maintain the status quo that slave holders worked so hard to protect.  It has long been said that one of the reasons this vast country is so rich and strong has been its common language (this is not to downplay the fact that it was stolen from Native Americans). Do we want to weaken the country or have we come up with some new and ingenious way to engage in racial,  ethnic. and class discrimination?  I think it is the latter. But it is having a weakening effect as well.  Lack of communication has been one of the leading causes of friction throughout all of history starting with the aftermath of the building of the Tower of Babel. I think it is the leading cause of opposition to comprehensive immigration reform. Remember, it is human nature to reject those we don't understand.   In time rejection turns into loathing.