Another sign of language frictions in the United States surfaced this week when the Dallas News reported that at least 20 Dallas police officers since 2007 wrote tickets to at least 38 drivers for not speaking English. According to the newspaper, nearly all of those 38 were Spanish speakers.
Despite what the officers thought, it is not a crime for drivers to speak only Spanish in Dallas, a city with a large Spanish-speaking minority, except for certain commercial drivers where English is a requirement for safety reasons.
The good news is that those who fought the $204 tickets apparently had the charges thrown out of court. Also, once the tickets came to light, the police chief acted quickly to prevent the problem from recurring. City officials are trying to track down the drivers who didn't challenge the tickets so they can be given refunds.
The department seems to be taking concerns about ethnic profiling seriously in its response to revelations, and that's good. What causes me more concern is the reactions of the type that has surfaced among some viewers and readers of the Dallas media — suggesting that if speaking Spanish isn't a crime, it should be, and that anyone who speaks Spanish only is stupid at best.
I wonder how many of those saying that have bothered to learn any Spanish before driving across the border into Mexico.
Comments
I think such reactions are more to people who live here and speak Spanish, rather than those who are just visiting, so I don’t think your counterexample of people who drive into Mexico is fully valid. Of course, for all we know, many of those who got ticketed might have been tourists in the first place, but most probably were not. (Though I do think that blindly assuming that they are immigrants and not tourists would be a bit of an ignorant move.)
Moreover, the problem here isn’t that they were speaking Spanish, but they couldn’t speak English. If they are permanent residents, they ought to learn English — which doesn’t mean that they should stop speaking Spanish, only that they should use English when required. I realize, of course, that not all immigrants have had time to do that. But there are, sadly, many who have had the time and still don’t speak a word of English.
And when I went to vote last year, I saw voting instructions in English and Spanish. Now, if you’re voting, that means you’re a full citizen, not an alien — either you were born here, or you’ve assimilated enough that you might as well have been. I think that, generally, a citizen should definitely speak English and not need instructions in Spanish. Likewise, if I were to move to Mexico, Costa Rica, or wherever, and I became a citizen there, I’d expect to learn Spanish (well, I’ve already learned a good deal of it, but that’s aside from the point).
Diversity is a good thing, but there’s a lot to be said for the simplicity of having a single national language. So a lot of people don’t really want Spanish to become a national language here — sometimes out of bigotry, yes, but sometimes out of pragmatic concerns — so I think people tend to get annoyed at the whole thing. Hence why people overreact to news like this: they just see yet another symptom of the problem.
- Kef
I definitely agree that immigrants, wherever they come from, to here should learn English. And most of them do — if not in the first generation, then in the second. But I also believe in compassion and understanding for those who, for whatever reason, don’t.
And I agree with you that there’s definitely a value in having a single national language — Switzerland and Canada are exceptions in being able to avoid serious fractures along linguistic lines while maintaining more than one language. (Even Spain continues to struggle in this area.) My problem with the “official English” movement isn’t so much with the idea of a national language (which, for all practical purposes, we have even if it isn’t official) but that prohibitions on Spanish (or other non-English languages) come across as incompassionate and, sometimes, bigoted.
Anyway, thanks for your excellent thoughts.
It is interesting that emotional issues erupt the instant conflict is mentioned over a language access issue. I came up here from Texas and there experienced the hostility I assume others may experience when I was overheard speaking Spanish on the telephone. Apparently since I speak English very well I was originally assumed to be “one of us” rather than “one of them” and upon discovery assumed to be a “spy” or “traitor”?
The first amendment guarantees us freedom of expression. I think people who drive on the streets need to have demonstrated their knowledge of the laws and the ability to drive safely. This does not necessarily have to be done in English. We have many communities in US territory where English may not be the first language. We have many Navajo and Hopi who do not speak English for example. These examples are too numerous to mention.
There are still German-speaking communities as well. Of course those who speak English well will be more successful in this society and everyone knows that. Nevertheless, there are those who don’t have the capacity to learn a second language very well no matter how many years they try to do so. They may have other, very valuable contributions to make.
where i live in northern indiana we have ALOT of spanish speakersbut they arent a nuisance so much as the Amish…not only do the Amish not speak engligh exclusively, they drive horse and buggy…and they are a huge nuisance on the road believe me…I think this country needs to show more compassion…and not everyone here who speaks Spanish is an illegal immigrant…thats ignorant…many people who were born and raised here dont speak great english..in many spanish speaking communities the stores, media, everything is in spanish. they arent exposed to english. think about chinatowns. i take this issue way to personally. my son is half mexican, and im a spanish teacher…if i vented here how i really feel id be in aguas calientes…
way “too” personally sorry before the grammar police look for me
The wheel has gone full circle here, eh? Texas was once part of Mexico and Spanish was the language spoken there. Now the ‘New Texans’ have totally taken over and are insisting on English, with some idea of Spanish speakers being suspects, or not quite citizens.
Hard to believe.
Can I suggest that Texans would benefit immensely from reading James Michener’s ‘Texas’ and have a greater understanding of the history of their own state and the people within it?
With understanding, comes tolerance!
Let’s not forget that Texas is where intelligence goes to die.
‘Immigrants should learn English’ is an easy thing to say. And having a common language is an easy thing to agree on. But immigrants come here at all ages, and as an ESL teacher who has tackled 7 languages and only obtained fluency in 2 (Thai and Spanish) I can say that not everyone has an easy time mastering a foreign language. Even for those who have the time and will to persist, what do you mean by ’speak English?’ I have functional conversational ability in my other languages, but I would not understand the voter pamphlet. Politics requires an academic level of fluency..and depending on the officer, some of that same legaleze can crop up in a traffic stop, or an arrest (the Miranda rights are terribly worded). Those who ask ‘do you speak English’ and expect a YES or NO meaning 100% or 0% have no understanding, and thus little empathy, for the learner. English proficiency is part of the Citizenship test; but it is not academic level, nor should it be. Voter pamphlets should be available in any language needed; the language of democracy transcends all tongues.
While Spanish may not replace English as the majority language in the US, it will be strong second language as long as there is a huge influx of Hispanic immmigarints This change can either scare us or we can embrace it. I am tired of the language divide, which is part of the reason why I am learning Spanish.
However, I don’t believe in offical bilingulism because it will never get anyone to be bilingual. It has be to matter of desire and in some cases survival . For example, In Canada hardly anyone speaks both French and English even though they are both the offical languages.
In the USA we have tended to be arrogant in our view of language. Almost every other civilized nation has a majority of their population that speak at least two languages. In today’s global community we are out of step as a nation and need to develop language skills in our children.
Sad to say that the US took three other states from Mexico: New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Four states had native Spanish speaking populations that were required to learn English. That’s not going into all the different Tribal languages from First Americans…Understanding English is important, but so is respect. Quit treating non speakers as under class. Give them respect. Isn’t that why the first English speakers came over here? For freedom from ill-treatment?
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