# Tuesday 23 May 2006

Dionne on English-amendment nonsense

Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne writes today about Sen. James Inhofe's (R-OK) asinine English Language amendment:

There is no point to this amendment except to say to members of our currently large Spanish-speaking population that they will be legally and formally disrespected in a way that earlier generations of immigrants from—this is just a partial list—Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, Norway, Sweden, France, Hungary, Greece, China, Japan, Finland, Lithuania, Lebanon, Syria, Bohemia, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia were not.
Immigrants from all these places honored their origins, built an ethnic press and usually worshiped in the languages of their ancestors. But they also learned English because they knew that advancement in our country required them to do so.

My great-grandmother[1] came from Russia, and about the English language amendment she would say: Ich hob in bodereim.[2] She actually never learned English, though she tried desperately. One of her grandsons went on to win a couple of awards for writing, including two from the Writers Guild and a couple of EMMY nominations. So at least in my family, immigration and speaking some other language didn't hurt. I think our story is pretty typical.

Dionne doesn't mention that foreign immigrants have always strengthened the U.S., and we're better for their contributions to language and to everything else. Imagine if you couldn't eat a burrito with salsa while sipping a margarita in a plaza; wouldn't your life be less enjoyable?

[1] One of them. The other three came from Wisconsin, from the English-language enclaves of Milwaukee and Janesville.

[2] "I have it in the bathtub." I'm not sure what this means exactly, but inexactly it's the equivalent of "je m'en fiche" or "I don't give a [darn]."

Politics
David Braverman, Tuesday 23 May 2006 12:25:34 UTC
#    Comments [2] |
Tuesday 23 May 2006 16:49:18 UTC
Not that I'm trying to be Clintonian or even facetious, but I don't quite grasp what "always" means in your posting. I understand that citizens haven't "always" actively strengthened the U.S. by their mere presence, but I wouldn't make a blanket statement about the benefits of "foreign" immigrants (what other kind is there?).

I hope that burritos in Wisconsin are improvements over the original (burritos with 'merican characteristics). Argentine pizza--irrespective of the true birthplace of the pizza--is awful compared to what is available in the U.S.

C Hays
Tuesday 23 May 2006 17:06:10 UTC
You got me. "Always" may have over-reached. I mean, I can think of 19 immigrants who manifestly didn't strengthen the U.S. one morning five years ago. Generally, though, immigrants help.

Re: "foreign" immigrants: I was thinking "non-English-speaking" but, to be perfectly precise, if you move from Illinois to Wisconsin, you're *technically* an immigrant to Wisconsin.

For my next trick, I'm going to define "is."
David
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