Speak English Damnit...Even Though It's Not Our National Language!
If Our Ancestors All Had to Speak English to Remain in America, We'd All Be Still Living Elsewhere
Naturally, he was born in America, and naturally, he was born speaking his native language - not English. That is not a truly American language. This athletic genius, an American original, "The Greatest Athlete of the 20th Century," - He died with an accent. A truly American one. Not like yours, I promise. This one was authentic.
No, I am not everything there is to be in the world. I have no Zambian ancestry, and I am not directly Asian (via the Indians, I suppose I have indirect Asian ancestry). But I am a profound genetic contradiction. I have said this before, and I am fiercely proud of my ancestors ability to bravely "mix it up".
I have a father with a Jewish mother and a Scotch/Irish father.
I have a mother with a half Indian/half Irish father and a mostly Irish mother.
So, I guess, technically, I am mostly Irish, but that little bit of Oklahoma Indian has gone a long way - especially where my nose is concerned and that equal amount of Jew has made my eyes look exactly like my father's, like my great-great grandmother's from Budapest.
I am a Burnett, a Fitzgerald, a Borgos, a Goloby, a Preszlar, and a few million other things. After contemplating this subject for, about, the 600th time, I have decided that this makes me a true American.
My ancestors spoke Choctaw and Cherokee, Gaelic and varying Celtic dialects. They spoke Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, Hungarian, German, and Ukrainian. They probably knew Polish, too, just for good measure, and none of them spoke English much at all. Not even the Irish ones. Almost none when they arrived and little more by the time they died. No English. My great-great grandmother ran a Kosher restaurant in Brooklyn this way - without ever knowing English. She died in the 1930's. Today, she would have to move her babushka scarf over her eyes when she walked down the street. Otherwise, she might be subject to a bumper sticker, like the one I saw last week. It read, "Speak English or Go Home!"
Yeah, all of you Oaxacan Indians from Mexico that get randomly shot in the street by armed government militia at night because you want the rights of whiter Mexicans, learn English! Or go Home! God knows all American ancestors spoke English fervently! New York was the center of the English language! So was Mexican Texas, California,Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado! All English speaking! All White. Get it straight, immigrants! To be American you must be perfect as we are perfect.
That's what that bumper sticker means today. She would have read it as, "Go home Jew! Who cares if they will kill you for existing in your native Hungary. We don't! We're America and you're dumbing it down!"
They all were less than dirt when they fell off the boat, got kicked off their beloved land of more than a thousand years, fled progroms for the very last time. They were nothing special to anyone viewing them through American eyes, and even the ones who became citizens eventually, were still not seen as Americans even unto death, even after living in New York, Texas, or their Native Land for most of their lives. My stepfather's Italian grandfather used to send all his money home to Italy, even as he suffered during the Great Depression, but we scowl at those who send money home now. Because everything in America, belongs to America. Period. Mine. Mine. Mine, damn it! When White old ladies start walking on the other side of the street when they see my Puerto Rican husband, I feel like the other motto we used to repeat in America is getting squeezed out:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
When you vote this coming November, remember your dirty ancestors. Remember the people who have given you the opportunity to be born an American. If we close the doors to all but the desireable then, we are no longer America. We are no longer our own signature on the planet. We are just like everyone else - exclusive, single, unshared - just as the rest of the world is.
And if we become this way, where will everyone else run to when they are being pushed out as part of the whole that makes up the home that no longer wants them?
I would like to send the jerk with the bumper sticker back to Poland. That's where he was "Proud to Be!" from. It seems he did not forget his non-English speaking ancestors, but we should forget all of ours and those who come today.
Published by Tiffani Burnett-Velez
Tiffani has been a successful freelance writer for more than a decade. Her work has appeared in many national and local magazines and journals. She is the author of two novels and the senior editor of an on... View profile
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11 Comments
Post a CommentFor some reason the rest of my comment was deleted. While I appreciate your comment, it falls short of reality here. Immigrants have always struggled with learning English when they have come here. And as I said to Michelle, most of the rest of the world speaks, at least, some English, and when Americans go to foreign countries, we and our English language is easily accomidated. Rarely, does the foreign American have to learn the language of the country they are visiting or living in. Someone always knows English and can help us find our way around.
Stephanie,
I have no idea if you are a bigot or not. What I do know is that this is a country of many languages. If you are fighting for jobs where English is not a requirement, then there is something wrong with the quality of jobs you are hunting so vigorously for. This is not just an English-speaking country. There has been more than English here since our very beginnings as a nation. There are so many options in this nation, even if you do not speak English, speak English and another language...and you cannot be possibly welcoming all who want to come if you insist that everyone speak to your liking or get out. Also, your family came before the Revolutionary War and yet you know exactly, first hand, of their abilties to speak English so well right away?? What's up with your claim to know their exact language abilities? I think you believe what you have been told, handed down through the generations. No one in your family could possibly know how quickly they spoke English. That
(continued from above) Some of them actually resent it when Spanish only people come into our office, and they are asked to interpret. Why, they ask, don't these people, some of whom have been here for thirty or more years learn English? Others in my office came here from Haiti. Same deal, They learned English.
I found myself going back down to Miami many years later for a gathering. I got lost. Everywhere I stopped to ask for directions, I was greeted with "No speaky english".
Do you seriously believe that it makes me some sort of bigot because I resent this? Generations of people have come here from all over the globe. They all learned English, and why shouldn't they.
If I chose to live in a non-English speaking country, I would expect to learn the language. In fact, I would make it a point to learn it before I even moved there.
I don't want anybody from any country to go home. I want them not to make me feel that I am a foreigner in MY home.
This is my country, land of my birth. And I welcome all who want to live free, who come to this country legally. I was born in Miami. I left there in 1969 because I couldn't find a job unless I was bilingual.
My home town, and the home town of my mother and all my aunts and uncles. What's up with that!
My maternal grandfather's ancestors came here from Germany, before the revolutionary war. They learned to speak English. Nobody created a dual language government for them. Nor for the Italians, or for anybody else.
My cousin is married to a lovely woman who was born in Cuba. She speaks English. My step-sister's deceased husband was also born in Cuba. He spoke English. I work with a woman who came here from Columbia (the country, not South Carolina). She speaks English. Her accent is pretty bad, and sometimes I have to ask her to repeat herself, but no problem. She's trying, and getting better at it all the time. Ditto for the other Hispanics in my office. So
Hee-hee:) Happy 4th to you too!:) As much as I am in love with my country, I couldn't agree with you more:)
Well said Tiffani! Oh, and Happy White-Male-Protestant-Slave-Owning-Tax-Desenter's Day! Cause that's what we celebrate when we celebrate the Fourth of July. Which happened to be a few hours ago. I haven't gone to bed yet, so it's still the fourth on my planet!
I realize these comments were made several long months ago, but, I haven't back-tracked until today. Actually, Michelle, most of Europe speaks English. Most of the rest of the world knows some of it, and it isn't too much to ask someone who's just arrived to be less than perfect with our language. Unless your ancestors came from England, they came here speaking something else, and most likely, it was their children who learned English - not the newest comers.
I understand that no one should forget about their heritage. When most of our ancestors came to this country, they learned the English language. They did not expect everyone to learn theirs. That is the problem. I don't care that they speak another language but I should not be expected to learn theirs to get a job or go into a store and not be able to ask the clerk a question because they do not speak English. If I went to their country, they surely would not learn my language to accomodate me.
Very true, Derek, and while I believe immigrants should be cut some slack for not knowing all the fundamentals of English, I also think in situations where it might be dangerous for them to be ignorant of it, they should master, at least, the basics. But when they are new, are living in an area where their old language is mostly spoken, we should really be kinder to them. And never should I read a bumper sticker that demands that they learn English immediately or go home. Most Americans can't even speak it correctly. Look at me...a writer and I start sentences with "and":)
Bravo! I agree with you in many points, however, since I deal with many immigrants in my job as a truck driver (yes, most dock workers are hispanic, or russian, or polish, etc), I also want to disagree. I believe all people should hang on to their heritage. I like to think of myself as a "Heinz 57" I am English, Scotish, Welsh, French, German, Jewish, Seneca (Iroquios Nation), Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and a few other nationalities. I wish I had someway to connect to my ancestors, like via speaking and understanding the language(s). However, when I am on a dock, loading or unloading my truck, and the forklift operator cannot understand a single word I say, it can be very frustrating and even dangerous at times. America was founded primarily by the English, and English (or should I say "American") has been the "native" language since the days of the settlers.