The Spanish language is in the spotlight. Last month The U.S. Senate passed the immigration-reform bill (S.2611), including a provision declaring English the official national language of the United States. As I write this, there is a similar bill working its way through the House of Representatives (HR 5456). A lot of Americans, including me, are concerned that we are headed for a language duopoly, hence the flurry of activity on Capitol Hill.
Others pooh-pooh that notion and point to past generations of non-English speaking immigrants, primarily Europeans, whose offspring mastered the new language within a generation. But we did not genuflect before the Italian language; or the German language, or the Polish language. One could argue that learning the language of the land allowed the children of those immigrants to quickly move into the mainstream of society; and commerce.
But those immigrants arrived here legally. They were above board, and they jumped through hoops to become naturalized citizens. Now we have a flood in the Rio Grande; a flood of bodies. Never before have so many come so fast, and never have so many illegal immigrants crossed our border, doomed by their unauthorized entry to remain in the shadows. Remember when Jimmy Carter opened the door to Cuban's wanting to flee Fidel's iron hand? And Fidel opened the jailhouse doors and loaded the boats with criminals; remember that? I'm not suggesting that President Fox is pulling a Fidel, but you know there are a fair number of criminals among the hordes of people coming across our southern border. From the shadows to the shadows.
Spanish language newspapers, TV and Radio networks proliferate in the U.S. and they serve to isolate non-English speaking Mexicans even more. Why should they learn English? But why should we be concerned? I don't have to talk to the guy who mows my grass; if I have a complaint I go to his supervisor. And the guy who mows my grass does not have to communicate with me, because that same supervisor insulates him.
It's not hard to understand the motivation behind this flood. Jobs. Apparently there are no jobs in Mexico for these people; or if there are jobs, they do not pay a living wage. And so they come here, take jobs American's do not want (so they say) and send a large part of their earnings back across the border (over $20 billion in 2005). And so, let's assume for a moment that we could find all of them, and load them onto buses and airplanes, and send them home. All 10 million of them; or 15 million; or 20 million, depending on which estimate you believe. What would happen to Mexico's economy? Would that loss in income usher in another left-wing dictator as in Cuba and Venezuela? And then what? Nationalization of GM and Ford plants? Coca-Cola? More oil spikes?
We've allowed a cancer to metastasize before our eyes, afraid to go to the doctor, because we fear the cure more than the disease. Who would harvest our crops? Who would mow our grass? Who would clean our offices? Who would baby-sit our children?
Government--at all levels--contributed to this. Our schools permit Spanish-speaking students to use their English language deficiency as a crutch. We do not force them to learn English as a primary language, and in some school districts, not even as a second language. So much for the second generation learns English theory. In those communities, Spanish rules.
Election ballots are printed in Spanish (and dozens of other languages). What is that about? Doesn't a naturalized citizen have to learn English before they take the oath? Who are these people who vote in another language? Why do we allow that?
I could go on and on about the government's enabling policies and procedures, but government is not the problem. The government is a follower, not a leader. Governments typically react after the fact. They are ponderous, and for good reason.
Commerce is to blame. Without jobs there would be no immigration problem. Forged documents and no documents are the norm. Who checks papers? Who cares? OK, I can empathize with that. You have a business to run and a job you can't fill with legal applicants. You learn about a pool of immigrant workers--day laborers--and you do what you have to do. Meanwhile, the government looks the other way. This is how we got here; it happens hundreds of thousands of times every day and the result is that we have an underground pool of millions of illegal workers. The government ignores their presence, but their needs are not ignored; they are blessed with security blankets for medical care, education, driver's licenses, etc.
But here is my real gripe. The Captains of Commerce have endorsed the Spanish language. What is the first thing you hear when you call your cellular company, your rental car company, or your airline? "Press 1 for English, or 2 for Spanish." The business world has capitulated; greed rules. I suppose we should be grateful that English is the first option. How long will that last?
It's one thing to hire them. It's another thing to put their language on par with ours. We need to hang-up on Spanish.
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