Rantings of a New Yorker

I’m going to be labeled a racist by most people before they ever finish this paragraph but I am sick and tired of feeling like a stranger in my own country. If you bear with me, I will make my point. Last night, I went to McDonald’s for the second time this year. While I was there, I was the only one speaking English. The cashier spoke English to me to take my order but, when she spoke to everyone else that was working there, it was in Spanish. The customer behind me ordered her food in Spanish. The dozen or so customers were speaking Spanish. What troubles me is the increasing amount of time that we spend bending over backwards for people whose native tongue is not English.

This got me to thinking about how all the low paying jobs (fast food, retail, landscaping, etc.) are staffed by minorities. I can only attest to New York, as I’m not out roaming the country, but I find it annoying that everything is labeled in English and Spanish. The Monopoly game at McDonald’s is in both. The signs in Sears is in both. My toilet paper is in both.

Now, I have no problem with people knowing another language. It’s a good idea to at least be bilingual. Unfortunately, I chose French in school. Had I known the road America was headed down, I would have picked Spanish. Knowing another language opens your mind to the world and allows you to experience different things in life. Having people come to a country that is predominantly English and forcing others to conform to you is not how it’s supposed to work.

When you move to France, you must learn French or be marginalized. Case in point, the massive riots from last year because many of the immigrants there live on the edge of Paris, refuse to learn the language and then riot because they cannot get jobs and the French want nothing to do with them. What do they expect? This morning, there was another news story about a bus being burned and I can only think the same thing is about to happen again.

In The United Kingdom and other parts of Europe, there are immigrants who want Sharia Law to be legal in their part of town. This is outrageous. These people are refusing to assimilate. They get angry when politicians in Australia give them ultimatums.  They want to make copies of their home countries in another country instead of trying to integrate themselves into their new society.  The United Kingdom is also embroiled in controversy now over the wearing of veils.

In The Netherlands, there are many who now despise the Turks and Moroccans who have emigrated because, again, they refuse to learn dutch and are attempting to create Turkey or Morocco in their part of town.

In Poughkeepsie, New York, where I live, many of the Hispanic immigrants live in and around the downtown area. I have been followed while downtown. I have been asked what I’m doing there by common people on the street. My family was threatened when we left the Army/Navy Surplus Store. Most of the storefronts in downtown have signs that are either English and Spanish or only Spanish. I now only go downtown if it’s an absolute necessity. I no longer feel safe.

The maintenance man at my apartment complex doesn’t speak English. It doesn’t matter what I ask him his answer is always “yes” or “thank you.” I’ve lived here for two years. Two years and a man who interacts with English speaking people every day doesn’t learn any more than three words of the language! I hate when he comes to repair stuff because I cannot communicate to him exactly what the problem is so he can fix it. It does explain why things need to be fixed 5-6 times before they are fixed right.

I don’t have a problem with foreigners. I have traveled many places in the world and have always tried to get along as the locals do. I have been all over Europe and attempted the language of each country I was in when asking for directions, ordering dinner, etc. I did better in France because I was actually taught it but, even then, my accent gives it away that I’m not a native. Still, I have had many people tell me how much they appreciate that I tried and respected their country enough learn a little bit of their language even if I was only there for ten days. I spent five weeks in Tanzania last year and learned a lot of Swahili. I’d like to learn more. Sure, Tanzanians speak English as well but why not learn a little bit? It only helps you because you can get around by yourself much easier.

I used to work for the University of Nebraska Police Department. These aren’t your normal rent-a-cops. They are certified State Deputy Sheriffs. One night, there was a call that a man was acting suspicious and fit the description, right down to the flannel shirt, of a wanted man who was considered armed and dangerous. An officer was dispatched to the scene. A few minutes later, she called for help. What happened next was a tragedy that could have been avoided. The officer that was sent was a woman. She pulled up next to the man, got out of her car, and asked the man to stop. He looked at her and kept walking. She ran up and past him, turned and put her hand out and yelled stop. He shoved past her and kept going. She called for backup. The officer to arrive was a man. They tried asking the man to stop again. He kept walking. They tackled him and put him in the back of the police car. He was kicking at the windows and the seats, forcing them to hogtie him. He then had a heart attack and died. The officers tried but couldn’t save him.

The saddest part of this story is that this man looked a lot like the person the police were looking for but this man wasn’t the wanted man. The man was from Mexico. He had lived in this country illegally for 13 years and never learned to speak English. The Hispanic community was incensed. They demanded the two officers lose their jobs. They said it was wrong to send a woman because in Mexico men don’t listen to women. They said that in Mexico you don’t put your hand out at someone and tell them to stop. They said that the police aren’t respected in Mexico. They said all the police officers should have spoken Spanish. They blamed everyone but this man. If he had bothered to learn any English in the 13 years he had been in the country, the matter would have been solved in a few minutes.

I grew up in a town with a very large concentrated Hispanic and Italian population with smaller ethnicities scattered throughout town. When I was a teenager in the early 1980′s, I delivered 250 newspapers per day. I delivered to the biggest drug dealer in town. That came in handy when I had to walk home late from school events as I had to pass through the bad part of town to get home. Mention his name and people left you alone. I delivered the white trash lady who was always late with her payments and begged me to keep delivering because “she’d have the money next week.” I delivered to lots of people and lots of ethnicities. Some were nice. Some were assholes. I delivered to the German lady, who after forty years, still had a thick accent. She was a pain, constantly changing where she wanted her paper. This week the porch, next week under the mat. But she also used to tell me stories about the difficulties and successes her family had when they came to America. They had to speak and learn English in order to get around.

I also delivered to a Spanish family. They were always watching Univision when I came to collect. That used to be the only Spanish language television station. I now have at least ten channels and several more I can get by using the SAP button on my TV. The daughter, who was about 12, always paid but, occasionally, the mother or father would ask how to say something in English. They were taking classes and didn’t want to speak English to me because they didn’t feel it was good enough. I told them I didn’t care. They were trying. I delivered to them for seven years and, by the time I quit, the mother often asked me how I was doing and made small talk with me.

I went to high school with a boy whose parents refused to speak anything but Italian at home. If you could not speak Italian you could not enter their home. Yes, they could speak English but they refused. Their son ended up being marginalized by many in school. He couldn’t bring friends home and his parents wouldn’t let him go to other people’s homes. He joined the marching band so that he could be away from the home more often. This was allowed by his parents because they considered it educational. But he missed out on so much because of his parent’s stubborn refusal to integrate into society.

Many schools in America also have bilingual education. While that’s fine for new immigrants, why is it allowed to continue for the entire time a person is in school? Surely, after five or six years, you should have learned enough English to participate normally in school. The problem lies in the fact that bilingual education doesn’t teach you English. It gives you translations of your work into your native language until the day that you magically learn English. My husband teaches high school freshman and sophomores. He has two students that have bilingual education classes. They are still taking their exams in Spanish despite the fact that they have been in bilingual education classes for seven and eight years, respectively.

Yes, by all means, bring your culture to your new country. It enhances your new country. But you must assimilate and accept your new country’s culture as well. You cannot come into a place and demand that things be done only your way. America has always been willing and able to accept new people and new cultures. However, America’s city, state and federal government works in English. Almost all TV channels are in English. Corporations make things bilingual because it’s good business for them. The problem is that this only facilitates the further marginalization and hatred of minorities, particularly Hispanics.

I’m angry over this. In the last ten years, I’ve found myself going from being happy that there were helpful options to immigrants to hating seeing Spanish everywhere I go. If I dare say any of this in public though, I’m labeled a racist. Why? Why have we let our country be subject to so much political correctness? Why have we let the politicians, who could do something about this, get away with taking money from lobbyists who want America to be even more bilingual. Why do we allow people to immigrate and then demand that things be their way? It wasn’t always like this, not even twenty years ago.

I’m rational enough to know not to resort to violence to solve this problem, but how many other people in America are at the tipping point?  I’m pissed off about it but not enough to hurt others.  How long before we really have violent riots over this?  How long before people start dying because they are seen as not integrating into America?  You’ve seen the precurser in France last year.  It’s only a matter of time before it starts here.  Then, you’re also going to see a lot of innocent people on both sides losing their lives over stubborn fools who don’t want to change.

You want to call me racist. That’s fine. Do it. Right now, I don’t care.  I try to help by voicing my opinion upon the brick walls that are my Congressmen and Senators.  I try to be understanding.  I don’t have all the answers on how to change things for the better but I do know that there is one fundamental way for people to communicate and get along better; learn English. It’s only going to help you.