Molly Ivins is brilliant at getting at the root of things.
Republicans in the Senate have constructively declared English the national language. That’ll fix everything. Every foreigner at our borders will stop and say: “Gosh, ma foi! English is the national language here. Good thing to know. I’ll begin speaking it immediately.”
Yes sir, you want a solution, call a Republican. …
… By all means, reform immigration with this deep obeisance to the Republican right-wing nut faction and their open contempt for “foreigners.” But do not pretend for one minute that it is not a craven political bow to racism (yes, racism–I am actually calling them racists, although they pretend it hurts their feelings. Try reading their websites and see for yourself), and to nativism, to xenophobia and to Know-Nothingism.
The Know Nothings, you might recall, were members of a semi-secret nativist organization of the 1840s and 1850s formed mostly in reaction to political activity by Irish Catholic immigrants. While the nation lurched toward constitutional crisis and civil war over slavery, secession, and states’ rights, the nativist Know Nothings directed their energies toward such “reforms” as allowing only native-born Americans to hold elected office and requiring 25 years of residence to become a citizen. They also touched off at least a couple of riots and burned some Catholic churches to the ground.
The Know Nothings broke apart as a political organization in the late 1850s, as realization that the Union was about to dissolve finally eclipsed fear of Catholicism. Nothing like a real crisis to distract people from a fake crisis, I guess. I wonder what those guys would say if they knew that in the future about the whole dadblamed nation would celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?
Conservatives are quick to point out that the current immigration crisis is about illegal immigration, and I appreciate that. But it is possible to be in favor of secure borders without dissolving into hysteria over “reconquista.” You can hope to protect American jobs from illegal (and cheap) workers without getting one’s knickers in a twist over display of a Mexican flag.
Making English the “national” language has nothing to do with illegal immigrants; it’s just good old-fashioned xenophobia. It’s not clear to me what the “national” designation even means. Apparently the Senate was split over whether English should be the “national” language or the “common and unifying” language. At least one senator, Oklahoma Republican Jim Inhofe, supported “national” but not “common and unifying.” And the difference is, what, exactly?
Most descendants of earlier immigrants believe their people learned English as soon as they stepped off the boat, but historians tell us that’s not true. The common pattern in the 19th and early 20th centuries was for the first generation to learn just enough English to get by; the second generation would be bilingual, and the third generation would be English-speaking only. But there were exceptions:
For example, German speakers in the Midwest were successful in maintaining their mother tongue across generations. They founded many public school systems that were bilingual in English and German; such schools lasted until World War I. French Canadians in New England used bilingual and French-speaking parochial schools as an anchor for maintaining French, which was widely spoken until the 1950s.
I remember reading that some time after the Civil War, Irish immigrants in St. Louis complained about the bilingual German-English school system; they wanted their children to be taught in Gaelic and English. Now people are in a flap over “bilingual ed” in Spanish and English. The bilingual approach may or may not be the best way for ESL students to learn English, but “bilingual ed” isn’t new, nor is it the end of civilization as we know it.
Xenophobes tremble in fear that the U.S. will become a multilingual nation, but in fact it always has been a multilingual nation. And that’s going back to the time when those languages included Cherokee and Navaho, but not English. A great many nations are multilingual; Switzerland, Belgium, and China come to mind.
Even on the island of Britain, birthplace of the most holy English language, the Welsh finally defeated centuries of English attempts to eradicate the Welsh language, and Wales is now officially bilingual. Traffic and other signs must be in both languages, and the BBC dutifully provides Welsh language television and radio programming to gwlad beirdd a chantorion. Somehow, Britain seems to be struggling along, none the worse for wear.
At the Washington Post, E.J. Dionne describes his French-English bilingual family and comments on the “national language” nonsense:
As it considered the immigration bill last week, the Senate passed an utterly useless amendment sponsored by Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) declaring English to be our “national language” and calling for a government role in “preserving and enhancing” the place of English.
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.
If the Welsh are any example, the best way to be sure Spanish speakers resist learning English is to make a Big Bleeping Bigoted Deal out of it. If Spanish speakers are made to feel that speaking English is a capitulation to bigots and a betrayal of their heritage, they might feel inclined to resist. Otherwise, I suspect most Spanish-speaking immigrants will go through the same transition other immigrants have gone through.
This historical perspective is very helpful. Incidently, there are descendents of people who emigrated to Massachusetts from the West of Ireland after the Great Famine (1840-1845) who still speak Gaelic as a second language in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Shouldn’t our president be able to speak english before we declare it our national language?Righties don’t like it when people speak other than english because they are afraid the non-english speakers may be talking about them. Also I think it makes them feel stupid to not have the ability to understand what is being said… righties are a VERY insecure group .. they are ruled by fear of what they do not know.
I am afraid to tell anyone here how I feel about the illegal situation, because it doesn’t reflect the view of the left….or the right….but I will risk the hate mail…..
We are a nation of laws…I am a stickler for the rules….I know, I know.. pretty square.I want every person in my country who is here illegally to be returned to their homes….If I broke the law I would be punished and none citizens should not be allowed to commit crimes and expect less.Like it or not, coming to America the way they are is a CRIME…change that law if you don’t like it, but don’t just turn your head away and pretend to overlook the law…even changing the law now does not change the fact that we have 11 million people on the streets who started off breaking the law the minute they walked into the country … changing the law to make illegals legal AFTER the fact sound very much like what Senator specter is doing for bush regarding spygate.
Before you call me a bigot…be clear that I welcome every single one of the 11 million to return legally…no matter what their faith or color, and I could care less what language they speak when they return….I don’t come to my feelings in this case based on the “I hate mexicans” meme….I can’t stand the laws of my country being pissed on is the big issue for me.
I know I opened a big old fat can of worms here, and I am ready to be yelled at…but the whole thing seems so unfair when you consider how many Americans sit in prison for their crimes (did I read 1 of 36 people are in jail?) , while the government says they cannot enforce the laws for immigration…if your an illegal criminal in America you get a break,, but if your an American you will rot in jail.
And one more thing: What kind of bullshit is this when our government says it cannot do it’s job and enforce the laws?We should take them at their word when they tell us they cannot do their jobs and ask them to step aside for a government who can. After 911 I am not amused at all to hear the government say they know there is 11 million people here illegally and they are not going to do anything about it….I don’t find it cute at all given the fact we have no way of knowing the intentions of said 11 million..Before you tell me most are poor and just want to work I should remind you if they are so poor why would they not make a deal with a bin laden type to do Americans harm for money?
ok you can yell at me now……just don’t kick me out of the left please.
Okay, justme, I’ll take a shot… (No, no! Not at you!)
You represent many reasonable people, but here are some factors to mull over.
First, NAFTA. Many of these folks from south of the border are what would be called “economic refugees.†In other words, our great race for globalization has displaced them from their farms and villages (who could compete with U.S. agribusiness?). They CAN’T WAIT, while our out of date, ineffective immigration system cranks out permission. And they are hungry. They have no opportunities, so what do they do while their children are cry from hunger? Say, “Okay, I’ll just wait a few years and maybe…?†Add to that, that many are primarily indigenous to this continent. And big business and the service industries and the yuppies want them. Now this brings up many issues of what to do about these thorny issues (think inflation, massive arrests, and resentment). Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like this situation either, but it’s where we are. I personally worry much more about our own middle class absorbing so many at once so that our wages might be taking a hit. I also don’t like this underground economy where so many undocumented workers are being mistreated.
The U.S isn’t alone in this, as you probably know. Europe is being hit by it, too, big time. It’s globalization that’s triggered it. That and the fact that Western culture wants cheap labor. This just in today:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5010102.stm
Second, terrorism. Most of the terrorists came here on doctored documents – or stayed longer than they were supposed to. And let me reassure you – as long as the workers feel this is a life raft for them, they’ll be watching out for those al Qaeda types, too. I’m concerned about the drug element of course. More focus should be on that.
This just isn’t the same old world anymore. Time to think outside the box (borders?) maybe?
Molly is always brilliant.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune started an interesting series on sunday (thru tues) about immigrants, legal or not, from one town in southern Mexico working in Minn. Good reporting, puts real faces on people and also talks about this being a global trend.
I think justme’s comment (#2) and Sam’s response (#3) underscore just how much meshugass there is over this subject. (Whoops, deviated from the national language there! Some things are just better said in other languages. I mean, what’s the English for Oy vey or Ay caramba anyway?)
I see no easy answer, but I suspect that “This too shall pass.” Probably in November.
Maha’s right about the generational bi-lingualism…
One of my many “Godfathers” (friends of my Dad) was a bloke named Eddie “Kraut” Ehlers…His parents had immigrated from Germany pre-WWI and settled on a farm just east of Poplar Bluff…
Eddie and his sister grew up speaking German at home and English in the community…Worked just fine for them…
WWII (The “Big One”, according to Herbert J. Gillis) comes along and Eddie got draftred and sent to Iceland…For more than a year he froze his ass off guarding the treeless tundra…
And then one day they asked if anyone spoke German…Eddie had been in the Army long enough to learn the “why” of “Never Volunteer”…But he’d been in Iceland long enough to develope a desperation that overcame his fear…
“Kraut” hit Normandy several weeks after D-Day and spent the rest of the war as a Translator…Much better duty than guarding fog…
And by the way…In the early part of the 20th century (pre-WWI) there were SIX German-lauguage daily newspapers published in St. Louis…
Wow, D.R., a farm near Poplar Bluff. You can’t get classier than that. Some of my Ma’s people sharecropped around there sometime in the 1930s.
I remember a lot of German speakers still around when I was a girl, but they were elderly.
Having lived in Southern California most of my life, I’ve grown up with the Spanish language. Many of our streets and cities have Spanish names. Even if we don’t speak Spanish, our ears are tuned in. Back in the fifties, we beach town teens would crack up when Midwesterners would mispronounce the names of towns such as La Jolla. (La Hoya, not La Jolla as in “jolly”) A friend’s grandfather actually said that he had always wanted to visit it because it sounded so jolly. He was disappointed when given the correct pronuciation.).
In a very basic sense, Spanish always has been a part of our national language base. It’s not like it’s coming from somewhere exotic. It’s always been right here to those of us near the border.
Some say that the problem with Quebec has been the dual language “problem.” But I’ve always wondered if it wasn’t simply the attitude toward it by English speakers.
Everyone around the world feels it necessary to learn English. As long as we’re the economically vibrant nation we’ve always been, it’s likely to stay that way. I’d worry more about keeping our predominence in science and education, as well as a healthy economy, myself.
justme, you recoil at the unfairness of illegal immigrants ‘getting out of jail free’ cards while Americans who break the law ‘rot in jail’.
I believe that the two issues, 1] millions of foreigners being in America illegally and 2] millions of Americans rotting in jail, arise from and share a common consideration which is profiteering.
It is exactly the illegal status of the foreign workers that has been PREFERRED and perpetuated by the business world because those illegals are so easily exploited to work for low wages and without benefits or other rights, including safe working conditions. That profit motive is why there’s been a ‘looking the other way’ for years.
It is BECAUSE we have draconian drug laws, that our prison system keeps expanding, providing growing profits to the corporate entities who win extended contracts to build and run the prisons. [I am amazed at the sheer numbers of new prisons cropping up throughout my state…..and I understand that towns keenly compete to be awarded a ‘prison industry’ site for their community].
I think the ‘rule of law’ has been trumped by the profit motive for a long time in America…….and the corporate/government collusive partnership has become so entrenched that we have innumerable instances of absurdities such as the one you addressed.
I might have more respect for the republican senators (not) if it really were about racism or xenophobia. But I don’t give them that much credit. This was a no-lose amendment at a time they really needed one for the win column. It gives the appearance of party unity despite the fact that they are split on the immigration issue. They also hope to appease the base so as not to lose their votes in the upcoming elections. Let’s face it- even some democrats voted for it.
While I don’t intend to give away my position on the illegal immigration issue (hint: my husband loses more and more contracts to companies that hire illegal aliens), I find this amendment to be nothing more than lowest form of political grandstanding.
An interesting note – according to yesterday’s Boston Globe, the FBI is actively recruiting people that speak foreign languages (maybe they should add “as a second language”).
Great comments Sam …and Donna you are so right about profiteering… the implications there are terrifying when you think about it..”Prisons for profit” (private owned) are springing up like corn here in the midwest..some are empty and waiting for whom I wonder?, and others take in prisoners from other states for a fee.
I also think your are correct when you say that the rule of law has been trumped by the profit motive…as they say, sad, but true.
Sam: I agree with you that these folks don’t have time to wait.But using that to justify breaking the law just won’t work.Instead we should fix the immigration policy NOW for these suffering people,,but they must return home first and apply….perhaps we could give food to them while they wait…perhaps for situations of life or death we could arrange some refugee status…Perhaps we should do something to improve conditions in haiti and Mexico(and other countries where people need to flee or starve).. because if it is as bad as you say in Mexico(and I believe it is) everyone is going to need to leave mexico sooner or later and we can’t take them all….no matter how big our hearts are, or how hard they work when they get here…we can’t take all of the worlds poor in(no matter how much I would love to)…I dare to say the suffering in Durfur is far greater but we are not all tripping over ourselves to adopt them and bring them all home….the reality for them is that millions have died and millions more will die and no one will stop it.Talk about some people who can’t wait!
I don’t pooh- pooh what you are saying by any means I understand the politics that have created the situation , but I also feel we should do all we can within our laws and if need be(it does in this case) we should change our policy to be more humane in cases as vital as you describe(life or death type situations) ….I never meant that we should send these folks home and to hell with them,, but I think we should be taking a smarter approach….there are so many issues involved to consider.
I still am not convince that people in such dire straits are not for sale to the highest bidder,, be it terrorist or scum bag employer. These folks have no loyality to this country in most cases..it would make more sense for an illegal to do one job for the bad guys and be set for life then to come over here and scrub a white guys toilet for $3.00 per hour…..but I hope your right,, thanks for the comments!
justme –
I think we actually agree on much of what you’ve said. It all comes down to How we do it. And then, after we’ve figured that out, the Will to do it.
About your last paragraph, though – most of the workers coming up here are decent people and they take great pride in their hard work. They’re very old fashioned that way. Also, they are our neighbors. (I think of them as family, myself. I’ve grown up alongside these people.) We share a history together, good and bad, of which, sadly, many US citizens are uninformed or forgetful. 150 years ago, the porous border issue was a problem in reverse! Look up filibustering in Mexico and you’ll get some really colorful history. And just so we don’t forget our history from the Mexican side:
http://www.californiahistory.net/ranchos_frame_mexamwar.htm
And part of their economic difficulties today can be attributed directly to us.
To me, that’s the difference in comparing them to other nations like Sudan.
But as I said, I do worry about the criminal/drug element. However, the real terrorists tend to favor the Canadian border. What do we do about that? Put up a fence? http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20050407-090715-2323r.htm
And what about our shoreline?
As has been said before, here at Maha’s, we can’t live our lives in fear. It’s exactly what the terrorists want. Remember bin Laden’s prediction that we’d start dismantling the protections to our liberties? I’ve never forgotten it. He understands his business very well. We should do what we can to protect our harbors, our chemical and nuclear plants, our transportations systems and Work on our Immigration Procedures. The borders have always been porous – I don’t know why we’re kidding ourselves. It’s the economy that’s triggered this massive explosion lately.
zeus – I totally understand your husband’s concerns. I’ve seen it happening under my very nose as well. That’s exactly what I was referring to when I mentioned my worry over the middle class taking a hit. It is the Employer who has made this decision, however. Just so you know where I personally am coming from, I always give work such as house painting, plumbing, etc, to my fellow citizens here in town, even though it is more expensive to do so and it’s not easy for me to afford. It’s partly because I identify with my middle class compatriots and partly because I really do not like this underground economy. Donna is right; it can get immoral and creepy. But I don’t fault the undocumented workers I see.
It’s like we’ve let the Genie out of the bottle and don’t know how to put it back in. Things have always “evened out” in our past history, but we’ve got the big corporations and globalization as factors now that make things so much more complicated.
Basically, it comes down to this. This is what Mexico is hearing from us:
Stop bringing your drugs up here so our citizens won’t have so much.
Stop bringing your workers up here so our citizens won’t have cheap labor.
It’s so much easier to blame the other side. I think it’s time the citizens looked in the mirror. (Corporations are our citizens, too.)
Thanks for this information. I learned of the “know nothing” group when in grade schoool, and had forgotten it till an article about how Republicans are using the fear factor (especially Palin) about traitor, and actually verbalizing the hate and “kill him” regarding Obama. Thanks for keeping the public informed.